Creed or Chaos?

by Dorothy L. Sayers

Book Overview

Dorothy Sayers, author of the Peter Wimsey mystery novels, shows why every Christian needs a creed to live by. Sayers writes about the Faith with wit, charm, and humor.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0918477271
• ISBN13: 9780918477279
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Sophia Institute Press
• Length: 116 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Choices, choices...

Dorothy Sayers, best known as the author of typically wonderful British mysteries, was also known in her lifetime as an engaging public speaker, and one of the topics she would speak about is the life of the church. A staunch and solid Anglican of Anglo-Catholic persuasion (read here, 'more Catholic than the Pope', in many respects), she in some ways shared a spotlight (and variously competed for the spotlight) with other such luminaries as C.S. Lewis. This particular book, 'Creed or Chaos?' is a particular favourite of mine. Written in the 1940s, it is actually a compilation of pamphlets (or, perhaps more appropriately, tracts) that were issued along with her speaking engagements. This is a book of lectures, but these are no mere lectures. Sayers is a woman of wit and wisdom in addition to being a scathing and no-holds-barred critic of those things she finds deserving of critique. There are seven essays in total, which deal with issues of art and culture, church and state, public and private morality, virtue, and more. The title of the collection comes from the fifth essay, 'Creed or Chaos?' in which Sayers argues for the necessity of strong dogma in the face of declining stability in the world. Watching the unfolding of events at the beginning of the second world war, after having lived through the aftermath of the first (which included the collapse of the old order in Russia), she lays part of the blame on the kind of touchy-feely Christianity that had come into vogue that was more concerned with feelings than with understanding and order. 'The thing I am here to say to you is this: that it is worse than useless for Christians to talk about the importance of Christian morality, unless they are prepared to take their stand upon the fundamentals of Christian theology. It is fatal to let people suppose that Christianity is only a mode of feeling; it is vitally necessary to insist that it is first and foremost a rational explanation of the universe.' Perhaps my favourite section of the entire collection comes from the fourth essay, 'The Dogma is the Drama'. In this, Sayers puts forward a catechism based upon popular conceptions and misconceptions of what Christianity and its attendant dogmatic points are, and suggests that, as misleading as her witty answers might be, they still bear remarkable relation to the way in which Christian orthodoxy is perceived, not only by those outside the dogmatic faith, but also those inside. Sayer's play, 'The Zeal of Thy House', was high in her mind during several of these lectures. In her essay, 'Why Work?' she looks at the vocation of work and labour, spinning the question around from being 'should we work for the Lord?' to becoming 'how can our work be work for the Lord?' Any work, artfully done, can be sacred in this context. She has particular ire for those who insist on the moral or pietistic purity of those who should really be chosen for their work for their directly related skills.

A simple choice.

The last chapter of this book (chapter 7 - "The Other Six Deadly Sins") is alone worth the purchase price; an analysis of the seven deadly sins, and how, be it grossly or subtly, we commit them every day. This chapter can serve as a good guide for those who wish to examine their own consciences. We tend to dismiss our own sins by comparing ourselves to those who have sinned worse, but this is not part of Christian life. Our sins, even the small ones, adversely affect ourselves and a lot of other people. So, it is imperative for moral Christians to, with brutal honesty, ask themselves, "What sins, no matter how small, am I committing?"But then, how does one know what is and is not a sin? That's where creed comes in. Without a creed, a Nazi can say that it is not evil to kill Jews, and who can tell him authoritatively that he is wrong. Without a creed, a slave-trader can say that it is OK to enslave human beings, and even use the Bible alone to justify it (as slave owners in this country did). Who can tell him authoritatively that he is wrong?It is not surprising at all to hear so many people who say that the author sounded Catholic (one reviewer even mistakenly said that she WAS Catholic); this because her views DO sound very Catholic. This "call to holiness" is exactly what we teach, and we have a firmly established creed to follow.A good book for Catholic and protestant alike.

From the pen that wrote life into Peter Wimsey.

What a treat to find this book to enjoy right along with Sayers' fiction. While Sayers was not Roman Catholic, there's not a thing here a Catholic could complain about. In fact, it made clear for me some of the recent teaching of John Paul II, and this from a book written at the beginning of World War II. I read the first several chapters with great enjoyment, savoing Sayers' beautiful use of the language, and finding myself lifted in prayer. Then the last two chapters, I found myself reading with a growing conviction that I need to retool some of my thinking. Warning: this book may shock some who think capitalism is unadulteratedly Christian!

An equal to C.S. Lewis as an apologist for orothodoxy.

Dorothy L. Sayers is the best christian apologist I have read next to C.S. Lewis. These two contemporaries both defend orthodoxy in the christian faith in a way that is enjoyable to read (in terms of scathing wit and very appropriate humor) and disturbing for its clear presentation of the failings of both modern christianity and modern society.