The detective and the created order

Detective fiction as seen through the eyes of biblical theology and the doctrine of creation

Why are people so fond of detective fiction? Why are detective novels almost exclusively about murder?
I think we need to take a theological approach to answering these questions, and in addressing this subject. The answer in brief, in both cases, is the Christian system of truth; but let's unpack it.

All murder is first and foremost an attack upon God. Since all men bear (via Adam) God's image, murder is an attack upon God's image, and thus upon God. Since all men belong to God, murder is an attack on what belongs to God. No one has the right to try to steal from God what belongs to God. When we look at murder in this light (the way it should be looked at) we see how profound murder is. Murder is not foremost an attack upon a man, his family or friends, or upon his tribe or upon the state, but upon God. It is god alone who made man. Man is to serve God; not himself or the state.
- The death penalty was instituted (as far as we know) at the time of the Flood, and the reason given to Noah was that it was an attack upon the image of God.

Next we have to point out that in biblical terms all sin is worthy of death; although not all sin (in our day) has the death penalty attached to it. Adam's sin of eating the forbidden fruit was worthy of death. (No doubt Adam would have committed any other sin god had placed before him; broken any rule god had placed before him.)

Sin is rebellion against God; it's a refusal to live as God demands. All sin is worthy of death. This makes the reader of a detective story as much a sinner as the perpetrator of the crimes involved in the story. Everything the murderer does thus 'resonates' with the reader. The murder has committed a crime/sin and the reader has committed crimes or at least sins of his own. (We might think of this in terms of music. Everything thing the murderer does might be seen as a theme that 'calls forth' a similar theme from the reader.) When the murderer commits crimes, the reader becomes aware (at some level) of sins he's committed. When the murderer tries to protect himself from being discovered, the reader is reminded of attempts he's made (or is making) to protect himself from being discovered. When the murderer commits crimes trying to protect himself, the reader is reminded of sins he's committed trying to cover his tracks as it were. (e.g. lies he's told)

The murderer is seen acting in an immoral and criminal fashion; this reminds the reader of how he's acted in an immoral and sinful fashion. The murderer ought to stop his criminal behavior, to confess, and to try and make restitution. This reminds the reader (via his god given, and god informed conscience) that he ought to quit his sinful behavior/s, and to confess (at least to god) and to try and make restitution for the wrong he's done to other people through his sin/s.

The detective novel (in its basic or true form) takes the law seriously. This reminds the reader that he ought to take God's law seriously. (The best detective novels are those that most closely track the biblical view of what is right and wrong. The further a novel strays from this biblical standard the worse it is.) The serious manner in which crime is taken or treated (and in many times and places crime is Not taken seriously; nor is the attempt to stop it or to discover and root out the person/s responsible) reminds the reader of how seriously God takes all sin. (i.e. that all sin is worthy of death.) The detective novel awakes the conscience if I can put it this way. The reader becomes sensitive to sin while reading the story; his sleeping conscience is pricked and is stirred into feeling things on a deeper level.

The reader of detective fiction is (in some sense) both the murderer (sinner) and the detective trying to see that justice is brought to the victim and to the person responsible for the crime. Both these figures evoke a response from the reader. He's the one who has done wrong, and he knows that someone is 'on his trail' as it were; someone is out to bring him to justice. (It sounds odd to portray God as this detective; but God does indeed demand justice for sin; and all men will be found out, and will be called upon to answer for the crimes (sins) they've committed.) He may not be hiding from a detective, but he's hiding from God. As the murderer thinks he will (or might) get away with what he's done, so the reader thinks he'll get away with the sins he's committed. Reading the novel might cause the reader to wonder if he'll be successful in getting away with his sins. It doesn't look like the murderer will; so why should he imagine he will. (God is no mere detective after all; he's not imperfect, and he has perfect knowledge.) The reader is provoked and made to wonder why he should think he'll get away with his sins. He's made to think that one day he too will have to pay for what he's done.

As the detective comes ever closer to discovering the murderer, the reader finds himself (at times?) in an ambivalent frame of mind. Does he want the murderer to be found out? Would he want to be found out? If he wants the murderer to be found out, why shouldn't he want his own sins to be found out? Does he want the murderer to pay? Does he want to be made to pay for his own sins? Does he want the murderer to meet justice? Does he want justice to be done in his own case? Does he have some sympathy for the murderer? Why? Does he want people to have sympathy (compassion) for him over the sins that he himself has committed? Does he want the detective to take the law into his own hands and let the murderer go? Does he want to be let off the hook himself? Does he want the detective to finish the job? Does he want to go on sinning himself? Or does he want whatever wrong he's engaged in to come to an end?

The detective novel (when handled well) evokes a lot of questions in people. The why question is evoked time and time again; and the reader can't help responding to this theme. The sleeping why questions of his life stir and come to life. The detective wonders why the murderer committed his crime or crimes, and the reader wonders why he's committed the sins he's committed, and he wonders why he's committing sin now... why he committed sin that very day. Why does the murderer do what he does? Why does the reader do what he does? Why did the murderer commit such an irrational act, the detective wonders. This causes the reader to wonder why he acts in irrational ways.

The detective novel is sometimes called a mystery; this genre of novels are often called mysteries. There is mystery in every detective novel and this evokes the various mysteries of life... and the huge mystery of human life in general. We don't have all the answers to our questions, and we're reminded of this when we meet with the 'small' mysteries of the detective novel. Detective fiction deals with mystery; and even in the dealing with it (instead of ignoring or suppressing it) the reader finds some comfort. Despite claims to the contrary he knows that life involves mystery; that some questions will never be answered... no matter how much people might desire them to be. He doesn't want cheap answers (that are no answers) but prefers to struggle with mystery.

The novel ends; the detective exposes the murder, and he's apprehended and taken in. He's made to pay (in some way) for what he's done. The reader should feel (if the novel has been a good one) that he too will one day be taken in and made to meet justice. He too will be asked to give an accounting of what he's done.

Notes;
1. 'At every point we run into mystery,'' Van Til says. [Common Grace/p.10]
- the detective novel admits mystery, while the positivist and scientist do not... and hence the reason people prefer to read detective novels. People sense that there are and always will be mysteries... that no amount of research will dispel. As the detective might find the person who murdered the victim, he can't fully comprehend why the criminal did what he did. (The murderer himself doesn't likely know... not in any true or comprehensive way.) Even if the killer is sent to jail or even if he's executed, there's still mystery remaining. (As one example of these 'eternal' mysteries; why does man care what happens in the world? why does he care what happens to strangers? if he's just matter in motion why does he care about anything? why does he care about what happens in a work of fiction? why does he care about fictional characters? The mysteries face us every where we look; we run into them at every point. The detective novel gives us a way to deal with them... or gives us an opportunity to deal with them. The novelist doesn't deny mystery like the positivist, or like the devotees of scientism. This makes him welcome on the book shelf.
2. Has anyone written on murder from the perspective of Reformed theology? Has anyone written on detective fiction from a Christian perspective? I haven't seen it.
3. Since all things were created by God, it's my belief that the doctrine of creation has implications for all areas of study. As an example of this I've tried in this brief post to apply it to a popular cultural genre. (How successful I've been I don't know.)
4. A biblical model of crime affirms both that the criminal is responsible, and that God is the ultimate cause of all things. In so far as detective fiction affirms responsibility it is biblical. (I think this accounts for much of its appeal.)
5. If men were not responsible for what they did, detective fiction (as it exists) wouldn't be possible, and I doubt if it would exist. That it's so popular shows us that people know God, and know that his word is true.
6. Detective fiction depends upon God making man in his image, and upon his declaring murder to be both a sin and a crime. If we were just animals (as the Darwinians claim) crime wouldn't exist; not even murder. The popularity of the genre shows us that people are aware that the evolutionary model is false. They they've been repeatedly been told by their school teachers that man is just an animal, they don't believe it.