Reading as a Spiritual Practice

How we read may matter as much as what we read. What can we learn from the Christian tradition about how to read the Bible spiritually? In this course, we will look in particular at Dorothy L. Sayers's way of reading. Raised by an Anglican priest, Sayers was well-versed in the tradition’s way of reading Scripture. She was also a scholar herself, studying classical and modern languages.

Although Sayers became famous for her mystery novels, her plays are her most theologically rich works of art, and she wrote nonfiction in defense of their meaning. Sayers teaches us how to read spiritually, not through from her plays (some of which are adaptations of the Gospel) but also through her translations (particularly her Divine Comedy) and her apologetics.

In this course, we will read The Mind of the Maker, Letters to a Diminished Church, Sayers's essays on Dante, as well her plays The Zeal of Thy House and Man Born to Be King.