Journal: Global Journal of Classical Theology
Volume: GJCT 18:1 (Jul 2021)
Article: God’s Own Wind: Sherlock Holmes As Conan Doyle’s, And Modernity’s Post-Christian Search For Meaning
Author: Brett Graham Fawcett

God’s Own Wind: Sherlock Holmes As Conan Doyle’s, And Modernity’s Post-Christian Search For Meaning

Brett Graham Fawcett

Newman Theological College

Abstract

Still popular after well over a century, the Sherlock Holmes stories of Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) continue to fascinate and communicate with each new generation. The first of the Holmes stories, A Study in Scarlet, was accepted for publication in 1886 and published a year later. Since then, Doyle wrote numerous other adventures about the scientific detective. As intriguing as the detective is the author, who studied medicine, was a gifted athlete, and had a deep interest in spiritual issues, including Spiritualism and life after death. “God’s Own Wind” takes up Doyle’s fascination with spiritual matters and how they relate to society today in its post-Christian search for meaning.

The last few years have seen a spike in popularity of the character of Sherlock Holmes, who currently headlines blockbuster films set in his original era, television series like Sherlock and Elementary which set him in modern day, and even comic books like Watson and Holmes which depict him as contemporary African-American operating out of the ghetto. These diverse settings for this timeless character reveal how attractive and relevant he is to many different demographics.

Not coincidentally, these years have also seen a surge in popularity of what might be called “popular devotion to science,” with a kind of fetishism for scientific inquiry—particularly as a supposedly more reliable alternative to religion—sweeping the culture. This phenomenon is particularly widespread on the Internet and amongst enthusiasts of popular secular spokespeople like Neil deGrasse Tyson or Bill Nye. The Sherlockian craze is almost certainly, at least in many cases, an expression of this scientism and skepticism.

The culturally alert Christian, however, should notice analogy between the culture that rediscovered the Holmes character and the individual who created him. Both, it can be argued, sought in the scientific method he signifies a source of truth and stability as a replacement for a never-fully-forsaken Christianity. Both equally experienced the limitations of the Baconian project and ultimately must strain to look beyond it, and specifically into the existential abyss of death. This paper will not only consider this historical parallel, but will also argue that the Holmes mythology provides material for the Christian to use in communicating with such a culture.

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