- Paperback: 206 pages
- Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group; New edition edition (Jan 17 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0826476783
- ISBN-13: 978-0826476784
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 13.7 x 1.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 272 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #453,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Best known for her Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, Dorothy Sayers was also a playwright, essayist, and a translator of Dante. C.S. Lewis said that he liked her "for the extraordinary zest and edge of her conversation--as I like a high wind." The reader gets a fair taste of that wind in this book, her study of the human (and divine) creative process. Beginning with some stingingly humorous words for the education process (which has produced, she says, "a generation of mental slatterns") she then explores the Trinitarian nature of creativity. Here she identifies the Christian concept of the Holy Trinity--God, Son, Holy Spirit--with three elements of creation. First, the Idea: "passionless, timeless, beholding the whole work complete at once, the end in the beginning"; then the Creative Energy: "begotten of that idea, working in time from the beginning to end," manifesting the Idea in matter; and finally the Creative Power: "the meaning of the work and its response in the lively soul"--in essence, what she calls "the indwelling Spirit."
In a plain, matter-of-fact style that readers will recognize from her mysteries, she reflects on the question of free will and miracle, evil, and, ultimately, "the worth of the work." It is especially here, I think, in this final chapter that the book remains both timeless and profoundly timely. The artist stands for the true worker, she writes, who, while requiring payment for his work, as an artist "retains so much of the image of God that he is in love with his creation for its own sake." So too, ultimately, should it be for all human work: "That the eyes of all workers should behold the integrity of the work is the sole means to make that work good in itself and so good for mankind. This is only another way of saying that the work must be measured by the standard of eternity." --Doug Thorpe --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Book Description
Dorothy L Sayers' great lay contemporaries in the Church of England were T. S. Eliot, C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams, but none of them wrote a book quite like The Mind of the Maker. In this crisp, elegant exercise in theology, Sayers illuminates the doctrine of the Trinity by relating it to the process of writing fiction, a process about which she could speak with complete authority. She illustrates her thesis with many examples drawn from her own books, and even illuminates the Christian heresies by analysing certain failures of creation which regularly occur in literature. This marvellous classic describes the creative process in terms of the arts and shows that literature can cast light on theology and vice versa.
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First Sentence
THE word "law" is currently used in two quite distinct meanings. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
THE word "law" is currently used in two quite distinct meanings. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
fresh,
By
This review is from: The Mind of the Maker (Paperback)
Sayers claims this is not her apology, and it is not, but she deals with many theological concepts in this work. Sayers wonderfully depicts the idea of the Trinity by comparing it to literature. The ideas are fresh, and profound, which makes the book tough to get through at times. The chapter on God being analogical is great and should be read by all. It perfectly captures the idea that God is truly unknowable until we die, which is why so many of us are on a quest to grow closer to him throughout our life.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Helpful analogy of the Trinity,
By
This review is from: The Mind of the Maker (Paperback)
The doctrine of the Trinity may be the hardest doctrine for Christians to grasp. Sayers uses the creative process (Idea, Energy, Power) as an analogy for exploring the Trinity, Incarnation, free will versus sovereignty, etc. Her logic is generally well-thought, though her analogy is limited by the lack of a distinct personality of each part of the creative process. Still, this gem is a deeper exploration of God than most of us will hear elsewhere. Must reading for all.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent! Amazing discussion of the creative process.,
By
This review is from: The Mind of the Maker (Paperback)
Sayers' uses the analogy of the creative process to explore the trinity, transcendence vs immanence of God, and other diffucult theological concepts. Her discussion not only enlightens our understanding of God, it has interesting implications for the creative process in general.
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