“You shall have no other gods before me.

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

• Deuteronomy 5:7-10

SPOILER ALERT WARNING

If you intend to read this book, the following may give away the mystery

None here.

“This word – this idea of art as creation is, I believe, the one important contribution that Christianity has made to aesthetics. Unfortunately, we are apt to use the words ‘creation’ and ‘creativeness’ very vaguely and loosely, because we do not relate them properly to our theology. But it is significant that the Greeks had not this word in their aesthetic at all. They looked on a work of art as a kind of techné, a manufacture. Neither, for that matter, was the word in their theology – they did not look on history as the continual act of God fulfilling itself in creation.”

• Dorothy L. Sayers, Lecture – Towards a Christian Aesthetic

Boilerplate

In this mini-series, I will fulfill a promise.  Some time ago, published 14 January 2025, I wrote a brief synopsis of the book, Subversive by Crystal Downing.  The post is called A Subversive Christian.  In that book, I talked about the three books in the photo above.  And I especially wanted to do a mini-series on the book on the right, The Gospel in Dorothey L. Sayers.

Note that the title uses the preposition “in.”  Dorothy L. Sayers did not write a fifth gospel.  She did not write as if inspired directly by God.  The canon of Scripture is complete.

But in stating what this is not, then what is it?  All Christians have the Holy Spirit within them, guiding them.  When being a Christian is something you have inside you and through you, then your life will reflect that.  This book is how you can see various aspects of the Christian life in the works of Dorothy L. Sayers, mystery novels, plays, letters, and essays.

After the Introduction, it starts with Whose Body?  The editor’s attribute of a Christian that she focuses on is “Conscience.” Whose Body? is her first detective fiction novel featuring her main character, Lord Peter Wimsey.  Then in Death Must Advertise, we find Lord Peter has a couple of middle names.  His full name is Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey.

But we will stay in the Introduction for more than a week.  There are at least a half dozen quotes just in the introduction that look interesting.  I am not in a hurry to speed through this book.  I was not in a hurry to start it with me being over a year since I promised to make it into a mini-series.

But I would hope people could read my short stories and see the gospel being acted out in the characters in my fictional stories.  Deviled Yeggs grew up in a family of safe crackers, robbing from others.  He set out as a policeman, and then homicide detective, to redeem the family name but learning each person must have Christ redeem them individually.  Deviled’s wife, Trinity Naomi Tesla (TNT) Yeggs, was nicknamed “Nitroglycerin” (Glyce for short) by her parents because she was explosive when shaken.  But she found calm and peace in her husband’s arms, and eventually she found the same comfort and peace in the arms of Jesus as she faced “shaky” experiences.

Even when not writing about Jesus directly, the Good News (Gospel) appears in many ways in what a Christian writes.  Let’s enjoy this journey with possibly my favorite author (outside the Bible with C.S. Lewis in a tie with her), Dorothy L. Sayers.

Discussion

Frankly, the portion of the play, Just Vengeance, that was in the book turned me off.

My wife was raised Roman Catholic.  The pope would not let her parents obtain birth control.  After nine children, my wife, the second oldest, went to bed hungry so that the younger children could grow up healthy.  Her father made good money, but not enough to support an immigrant family with nine children.  And something was done without the church’s approval or there would have been more.

That said, a portion of a play where the “Virgin Mary” is prayed to turned me off.

D.L. Sayers was Catholic, and those portions of her theology are off in my opinion, but she ends this lecture with “The great thing, I am sure, is not to be nervous about God not to try and shut out the Lord Immanuel from any sphere of truth. Art is not He – we must not substitute art for God; yet this also is He, for it is one of his images and therefore reveals his nature. Here we see in the mirror darkly – we behold only the images; elsewhere we shall see face to face, in the place where Image and Reality are one.”

But even then, my question is why?

The Orthodox church has icons.  They justify them because the illiterate can see an image of God and believe.

Why not teach them how to read?

The Roman Catholic church has so many statues that it is sickening.  They might have the same excuse as the Orthodox church, but why did they start presenting the Word of God in something other than Latin within the last 20-30 years?  Two thousand years of those hearing having no idea what was said.

But even the protestant churches have their crosses.

The problem with all of this is what Ms. Sayers places as a warning at the end of the lecture.  We should not think the Art to be the God.

Truly if that happens, the Art becomes a false god.

I was watching an old episode of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In, at least I think I heard this there.

Someone asked, “Why do Christian churches build multimillion dollar church buildings in order for a preacher to tell the few people who show up that they should feed the poor?”

Have I seen people bow down to Christian artworks?  Yes.

Have I been a member of a church who paid millions for a church expansion and now half as many people attend? Yes, but they paid the mortgage off a few years ago, and the community food bank is housed in the church.  But I knew a lot of members that were unsure about Jesus, but they worshipped the church.

Closing Prayer

Father, guide me.  Lord, You are a spirit.  It is one of many weaknesses that we have to worship the seen while You are unseen.  Forgive us for doing that.  You, as unseen, are sufficient for all our needs.  We humbly bow down before You.  May we see the unseen in our mind and forget the images and symbols that stand in our way of true worship.  It is one thing to have a reminder, but at some point, someone will worship the reminder instead of You.
In Thy Name I pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.