Ilkley Baptist

Last week, a group of Baptist ministers met to do some theology, and were led by Philip Clements-Jewry who read a paper about theological issues raised by detective stories.

You can't do anything much without it suggesting some theological themes, and the detective stories many people read are no different. I was particularly interested by the theme of reading between the lines. Detectives not only amass information, but make intuitive leaps, notice the things that are so obvious as to be hard to see, and pay attention to the gaps. (Isn't there a Sherlock Holmes story about the dog that didn't bark?) The task of interpretation is fundamental to theology and preaching, and it's interesting to think hard about the point where interpretation looks behind the plain meaning.

We had an intriguing discussion afterwards about whether detective fiction is a peculiarly Protestant thing, and why. Something about judgment and sin.