CHAPTER I
How This Canon Is to Be Read
A rule against confusing history, mythology, doctrine, and metaphor
Core Canon & Doctrine
The Book of Iambe
The complete founding canon: ancient witness, modern sacred tradition, doctrine, ethics, worship, stewardship, rites, and institutional life.
The Church distinguishes the Ancient Witness from the New Cycle. Modern myths and doctrines are identified as modern Iambist tradition rather than presented as recovered ancient Greek material.
CHAPTER II
The Ancient Witness
Iambe in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter
CHAPTER III
The First Laugh
The foundational myth of the New Cycle
CHAPTER IV
The Human Condition
Burden, dignity, absurdity, and the need for fellowship
CHAPTER V
Sacred Mirth
The central doctrine
CHAPTER VI
The Five Lamps
The virtues by which Sacred Mirth is judged
CHAPTER VII
The Twelve Tenets
The ordinary discipline of an Iambist life
CHAPTER VIII
The Five Warnings
The boundaries of mirth
CHAPTER IX
The Closed House
A parable of perfection without life
CHAPTER X
The Empty Chair
The doctrine of hospitality
CHAPTER XI
The Second Loaf
Stewardship and the duty to tomorrow
CHAPTER XII
The Crown and the Joke
Satire, power, and the discipline of punching upward
CHAPTER XIII
The Broken Cup
Harm, apology, and reconciliation
CHAPTER XIV
Grief and the Returning Smile
Why Iambism does not worship compulsory happiness
CHAPTER XV
The Open Table
Food, celebration, and communal worship
CHAPTER XVI
Holy Foolishness
Play as a discipline against vanity
CHAPTER XVII
Truth, Doubt, and the Right to Question
An anti-dogmatic discipline within a real creed
CHAPTER XVIII
Art, Poetry, and the Sacred Meter
Why Iambism adopts iambic pentameter
CHAPTER XIX
Work, Rest, and Play
A theology of human time
CHAPTER XX
The Perpetual Feast
Wealth, investment, and institutional continuity
CHAPTER XXI
Charity and the Gift of Joy
Why the highest mirth is not reciprocal
CHAPTER XXII
Community, Membership, and Belonging
The congregation as a recurring practice
CHAPTER XXIII
The Gathering of the Returning Smile
The ordinary form of worship
CHAPTER XXIV
The Sacred Calendar
How Iambists mark the year
CHAPTER XXV
Rites of Passage
Membership, marriage, naming, ordination, reconciliation, and death
CHAPTER XXVI
Clergy and the Receiving of the Lamp
Authority as service rather than personal status
CHAPTER XXVII
The Ethics of Humor
A practical moral framework for jokes
CHAPTER XXVIII
Embodiment, Intoxication, and Consent
Pleasure without coercion
CHAPTER XXIX
Private Benefit and Sacred Property
Why the Church’s assets are not the members’ assets
CHAPTER XXX
The Laughter Archive
Religious literature, memory, and the preservation of the jest
CHAPTER XXXI
Interpretation and Development of Doctrine
How a young religion changes without pretending it never changed
CHAPTER XXXII
Prayer, Reflection, and the Inner Life
Iambism beyond public laughter
CHAPTER XXXIII
Death, Memory, and the Last Toast
Mirth at the edge of mortality
CHAPTER XXXIV
The Rule of Religious History
How Iambe remembers its own beginning honestly
CHAPTER XXXV
The Covenant of Iambe
The concise rule of faith and practice
CHAPTER A
Appendix: The Iambist Creed
A public statement of belief
CHAPTER B
Appendix: Canonical Symbols and Terms
A working glossary
CHAPTER C
Appendix: Historical Note and Source Boundary
For public accuracy and future curriculum writers
CHAPTER D
Appendix: Editorial Rules for Future Canon
Standards for adding new sacred material
CHAPTER E
Appendix: Reading Map
How the canon supports worship, curriculum, and public website content