Choosing Community

Few writers in the twentieth century were as creative and productive as Dorothy L. Sayers, the English playwright, novelist, and poet. Her justly renowned works include detective fiction featuring Lord Peter Wimsey, theological reflections, literary criticism, and her translation of Dante's Divine Comedy.
Among the prominent themes of her work was the need for and challenges of developing community. Sayers, who was herself an active member of various writing groups throughout her lifetime, offers her readers visions of both fractured and harmonious communities.
In this Hansen Series volume, Christine Colón explores the role of community in Sayers's works. In particular, she considers how Sayers offers a vision of communities called to action, faith, and joy, and she reflects on how we also are called to live in community together.
About the Series
The Hansen Series celebrates the literary and spiritual contributions of seven British authors whose works have captivated readers across generations: Owen Barfield, G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, George MacDonald, Dorothy L. Sayers, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams. These seven authors were all deeply involved in the friendships and intellectual exchanges that shaped the Inklings, a mid-twentieth-century group of Christian writers and thinkers in Oxford, England. This series invites readers to deepen their engagement with these timeless voices and their enduring influence on literature, faith, and the life of the imagination.

Christine A. Colón (PhD, University of California at Davis) is professor of English at Wheaton College. She is the author of Joanna Baillie and the Art of Moral Influence and Writing for the Masses: Dorothy L. Sayers and the Victorian Literary Tradition. She is also the coauthor of Singled Out: Why Celibacy Must Be Reinvented in Today's Church.