Drama In Excelsis

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 208, 3 September 1938, Page 10 (Supplement)

Drama In Excelsis

DURING the last few years the ranks of the protagonists for the Christian faith have been swelled by the addition of several literary and journalistic people of note. The latest is Miss Dorothy L. Sayers, whose essay as a religious writer must have caused something of a sensation in literary circles in London. Published by Hodder and Stoughton, it is a brochure on what she calls "The Greatest Drama Ever Staged," the drama in which Christ was the chief Figure. It is a remarkable booklet. The vigour and brilliance with which it is written, its unconventionality of language and, even more, its way of defending Christian dogma, along with its slashing criticism of the "intellectual®" and psychologists who ridicule or ignore the story of the Saviour, makes it, small though it is, one of the most startling books of a religious nature published in recent years. Miss Sayera is not always accurate, theologically, in her references to Christ, and uses the word Church where she should use Bible, but that, doubtless, is due to lack of acquaintance with theology and the precision with which it makes use of terms. She is right all through in what she means. And that is the main thing.