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Dorothy L. Sayers Research: Welcome

DOROTHY L. SAYERS and OTHER RESEARCH

Kathryn Wehr's research focuses on Dorothy L. Sayers's The Man Born to be King, a 12-part life-of-Christ radio play cycle. Other areas of research include theology and the arts, spirituality, formation, and Church history. See below for a list of publications.

Kathryn Wehr has edited a new Wade Annotated Edition of The Man Born to be King (IVP Academic, 2023) with introductions and annotations of each play, in partnership with the Marion E. Wade Center - the archives that are home to the largest collection of Sayers materials in the world. 

The Man Born to be King was first broadcast on the BBC from December 1941 to October 1942 and the 1943 published scripts continue to delight readers and has been reprinted numerous times.  Sayers's friend C.S. Lewis often re-read them during Holy Week.  Kathryn loves writing about Sayers's deeply theological and relevant portrayal of Christ that is yet a quirky artifact of its own day.

Sayers and Wehr, The Man Born to be King_cover A0533.jpeg

Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) is best known for her Lord Peter Wimsey mystery novels but also wrote poetry, drama for the stage and radio, non-fiction books and essays, and translations of Medieval French and Italian poetry, notably Dante's Divine Comedy.

Sayers Research

Dorothy L. Sayers - Books

  • The Man Born to be King, Wade Annotated Edition. By Dorothy L. Sayers, Edited by Kathryn Wehr.  IVP Academic: 2023.

  • PhD Dissertation: Bible and Theology at Work: The Creative Energy of Dorothy L. Sayers' The Man Born to be King, University of St Andrews, School of Divinity, 2017.

Dorothy L. Sayers - Peer-Reviewed Articles

  • “The Zeal of Gervase of Canterbury; Politics and Intrigue Behind the Source Text for Dorothy L. Sayers’s The Zeal of Thy House.” VII: Journal of the Marion E. Wade Center 39 (forthcoming 2023).

  • "Dorothy L. Sayers's Christology in The Man Born to be King" Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture  23.3 (Summer 2020). Read it here or read an excerpt in  the St. Thomas Lumen, Winter 2020. 

  • “Sayers’ Use of Secondary Sources in The Man Born to be King.” VII: Journal of the Marion E. Wade Center 35 (2018).

  • "‘Nobody…must be allowed to 'talk Bible'; Dorothy L. Sayers’ Use of the Authorized Version and the Coverdale Psalms in The Man Born to be King.” The Journal of Inklings Studies 8.2 (2018).

  • “Disambiguation: Sayers as a Catholic.” VII: Journal of the Marion E. Wade Center 33 (2016).

  • “Dorothy L. Sayers’ Use of the Four Gospels in The Man Born to be King.” The Journal of Inklings Studies 6.2 (2016).

Dorothy L. Sayers - Magazines, Newspapers, and Blogs