What are Christians to make of detective fiction in which a Priest, Monk, or Minister is the detective - amateur of course? Most clerical detectives are obscure, but a few, like Father Brown and Cadfael, have sold well, and have even made it onto TV. In G.K. Chesterton’s short stories it's Father Brown’s pastoral skill and spiritual perception that allow him to peer into the soul of the accused. The stories aren’t bad, though I found the TV adaptation rather saccharine.
My problem with these faux detectives is that they’ve no physicality, and no earthy or dark side. They may be cerebral but they lack humour, and they could do with some flaws.
Worst of all, holy crime solvers are never crime fighters. They’re too patient, and are never blessed with the sheer bloody stubbornness and resilience that marks the great biblical figures as much as it does our favourite detectives.
If you really want to see a detective made in the biblical mould, forget the gentle Priests and Monks, look instead to the hardboiled and profane detectives.
Now I definitely don’t want to say that Carter and Regan, Frost, Rebus, Resnick, Phillip Marlowe or Sam Spade are in any way Christ-like. But they are a mixture of two types found in the Tanakh (Old Testament). Firstly, they are like the prophets - stubborn, zealous, angry, and compassionate. They also resemble figures like Joseph, Jonah, and David, who overcome the odds, and are read by Christians as types that are perfected in Jesus.
Like the prophets, these weatherbeaten tough guys are driven by a thirst for justice so overwhelming that it frequently costs them all comfort in life. Where all around them (police colleagues) have come to shrug at the endless flood of sins in their community, our detective has such a zeal for justice that they will not, cannot, accept this. They endure physical danger, face impossible odds, and although they pay a terrible price, they are vindicated and victorious in the end. And as with the prophets, they are frequently at odds with their superiors, whose love for the law is lukewarm. They face violence, mockery, and obstacles placed in their way by the very people who should be helping them. They are close observers of the grimy undergrowth of society, raging at its corruption, and weeping at suffering.
Most of all, they never, never give up. They come through. They always get their man. They go into the heart of darkness and let in some light. Like Joseph, Joshua, King David, or Jonah, their victories show us a glimpse of how things could be. Even Jesus himself, in his first coming, does no more than demonstrate how things will be at the point when our hearts of stone are made flesh, and God’s ways become our ways.
The massive and enduring popularity of detective stories should convince us of how deeply we yearn for such figures. We all want a saviour. We all ask: won’t someone take on the evil? They may not solve all our problems, but we love someone who, day in, day out, resists the world’s apathy about sin and injustice. We can’t get enough of these figures, because we have such a desire for a saviour we can depend on, and we need a vision of a world in which justice prevails.
Humans need heroes, even if they have to invent them. The way the public responds to good detective fiction should give us heart that they could love the Bible too, because faith pushes so many of the same buttons. And whereas the detective story is a holiday from how things really are, the biblical narrative can take you deeper into reality. Hardboiled prophets offer more than a good read, because they prophesy more than just the occasional glimpse of light. In the end , the TV detectives offer you empathy, excitement and entertainment. Our biblical heroes give us all that, plus truth and hope. What’s not to like?
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| Crime Fiction & The Christian: Part One |
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