Saturday, December 16, 2006
Dorothy Sayers on Christ, the Controversialist
The people who hanged Christ never, to do them justice, accused him of being a bore--on the contrary, they thought him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him 'meek and mild,' and recommended him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies.
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2 comments:
Ha! If anything, Eldridge stole from her. She died before he was born (roughly). She is also in another league than he is. Read Sayers; avoid Eldridge.
I've read very little of her work, but chanced upon a re-issue of her book of essays called "Letters to a Diminished Church: Passionate Arguments for the Relevance of Christian Doctrine" at the public library. I like her style and especially her economy of words. She is another voice from the past who can cut through the dense post-modern fog and especially Christian fog.
A Sample:
"Official Christianity, of late years, has been having what is known as bad press. We are constantly assured that the churches are empty because preachers insist too much upon doctrine—dull dogma as people call it. The fact is quite the opposite. It is the neglect of dogma that makes for dullness. The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man—and the dogma is the drama."—from Chapter 1
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