Spiritualizing Sherlock Holmes

sh-and-god

There are a number of fiction and nonfiction writings on the topic of Sherlock Holmes and religion. These works explore the likelihood that Holmes belonged to any certain faith and provide details from the canon that might suggest which one, although Holmes’ beliefs were never officially stated. Read on and form your own opinion on Sherlock Holmes and religion. If you're curious about Arthur Conan Doyle's religion, read our biography of Holmes' Creator.

Books, non-fiction

  • Stephen Kendrick, Holy clues: The gospel according to Sherlock Holmes (1999)
  • Wayne Wall, God and Sherlock Holmes: A study in the life and literature of Arthur Conan Doyle (1984)
  • Samuel Rosenberg, Naked is the best disguise: The death and resurrection of Sherlock Holmes (1974)

Books, fiction

  • Guy Adams, Sherlock Holmes: The breath of God (2011)
  • Stephen Kendrick, Night watch: A long lost adventure in which Sherlock Holmes meets Father Brown (2003)
  • Alexander Jack, 221A Baker Street: The Adamantine Sherlock Holmes (Translated from the Coptic The Victorian Book of the Dead), by Hapi [pseud.] (1974)
  • Jamyang Norbu, Sherlock Holmes, the missing years: The adventures of the great detective in India and Tibet (2001)
  • Jamyang Norbu, Mandala of Sherlock Holmes (2003)
  • Richard Wincor, Sherlock Holmes in Tibet (1968)
  • J. Regis O'Connor, The Sacred Seal (1989)
  • Ann Margaret Lewis, Murder in the Vatican (2010)

Articles

  • Henry T. Folsom, "`My Biblical Knowledge Is a Trifle Rusty ...,'" Baker Street Journal, 15, No. 3 (September 1965), 174-182.
  • Stephen F. Crocker, "Sherlock Holmes Recommends Winwood Reade," Baker Street Journal, 14, No. 3 (September 1964), 142-144.
  • Francis Hertzberg, "There Is Nothing in Which Deduction Is So Necessary as in Religion," The Liberal Catholic, 37, No. 2 (June 1968), 56-58.
  • Leslie Marshall, "Behind the Abbey Door: A Meditation Upon the Religious and Philosophical Beliefs of Sherlock Holmes," A Baker Street Four-Wheeler. Edited by Edgar W. Smith. [Maplewood, N.J., and New York: The Pamphlet House, 1944.] p. 20-24.
  • Horace Reynolds Stahl, "Sherlock Holmes's Religion," Saturday Review of Literature, 10, No. 35 (March 17, 1934), 559.
  • Edgar S. Rosenberger, "The Religious Sherlock Holmes," Baker Street Journal [OS], 3, No. 2 (April 1948), 138-147.
  • William R. Cochran, "The Sleeper Awakens," Camden House Journal 35, No. 10 (October 2013), 2-3.
  • Karen Campbell, "And Love Will Still Be Lord of All: The Bright Heart of 'The Devil's Foot'," Baker Street Journal 62 no. 1 (spring 2012), 34-37.
  • Erinn Fry, "However Improbable: Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, and Spiritualism," Baker Street Journal 62, no. 1 (spring 2012), 38-47.
  • Isaac Alderman, "The Quest for the Historical Sherlock, or, A Schweitzerian Critique of the Investigation of HolmesÕ Religious Values," online.
  • Andrew Solberg, "The Philosophy of Sherlock Holmes," Baker Street Journal, 26, No. 4 (December 1976), 197-202.
  • John Gillard Watson, "The Religion of Sherlock Holmes," The Literary Guide, 70, No. 12 (December 1955), 12-14.
  • Anthony L. Williams, "Sherlock Holmes and Religion: With a Note on His Early Life and Eccentricities," Sherlock Holmes Journal, 8, No. 2 (Spring 1967), 44-46.
  • William P. Collins, "Sherlock Holmes and the Baha’i Faith," Herald of the South (July-September 1990), 37-42. Also, Sherlock Holmes Review, 3, No. 1 (1991), 16-19.
  • David Pearson, "Did Holmes Believe in God?" Beyond Baker Street: A Sherlockian Anthology. Edited and annotated by Michael Harrison. Indianapolis/New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Co., [1976]. p. 211-225.
  • E. C. D. Stanford, "The Beliefs of Sherlock Holmes," Sherlock Holmes Journal, 13, No. 4 (Autumn 1978), 104-107.
  • Mary P. De Camara, "Holmes's Level of Moral Thinking," Baker Street Journal, 28, No. 2 (June 1978), 90-91.
  • Nick Dunn-Meynell, "Hasn't a Prayer" (letter), Baker Street Journal, 62, No. 1 (Spring 2012), 71.
  • Evan M. Wilson, "Sherlock Holmes and the Bible, or `For God's Sake, Watson,'" Baker Street Journal, 23, No. 3 (September 1973), 172-175.
  • Wayne Wall, "Was Holmes Converted to Religion?" Baker Street Journal, 23, No. 4 (December 1973), 237-243.
  • Wayne Wall, "The Theology of Sherlock Holmes" Baker Street Journal, 29, No. 3 (September 1979), 134-142, 146.
  • Jeffrey L. Michaelman, "Was Sherlock Holmes Jewish?" Baker Street Journal, 35, No. 4 (December 1985), 232-236.
  • John A. Dern, "A Moment of Prayer," Baker Street Journal, 42, No. 4 (December 1992), 231-232.
  • Karl Krejci-Graf, "The Philosophy of Holmes," Sherlock Holmes Journal, 11, No. 4 (Autumn 1974), 117-121.
  • Richard Milner, "Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Red Rose," Baker Street Journal, 37, No. 3 (September 1987), 162-164.
  • Christopher Todd, "Sherlock Holmes as Literary Christ Figure," Baker Street Journal, 35, No. 4 (December 1985), 229-231.
  • Kelvin I. Jones, "The Great Return," Sherlock Holmes Journal 14, No. 2 (Winter 1979), 44-46.
  • Albert J. Menendez, "Sherlock Holmes and Religion," Baker Street Journal, 25, No. 2 (June 1975), 80-83, 97.
  • Robert F. Fleissner, "An Exegesis of Sherlock Holmes's `Faith,'" Baker Street Journal, 36, No. 4 (December 1986), 207-210.
  • Raymond L. Holly, "Bible Citations in the Sherlockian Canon," CHJ, 15, No. 8 (August 1993), 2-3.
  • Harriet E. Crosby, "Famous Shamus a Closet Presbyterian," Books & Religion [Trinity Church, N.Y.], 17, No. 1 (Spring 1990), 3-4, 35. Also, BC, 8, No. 3 (April 1991), 8-11.
  • Bob Coghill, "Lessons Learned from the Theological College of St. George's," Canadian Holmes 29 no. 2 (Christmas 2005), 4-14.
  • William P. Collins, "It Is Time That I Should Turn to Other Memories : Sherlock Holmes and Persia, 1893." Baker Street Journal 31.4 (1981), 213-23.
  • Drew Thomas, "Sherlock Holmes on Religion", online.
  • Hugh Ashton, "Was Sherlock Holmes Brought Up as a Catholic?", Baker Street Journal 63 No. 2 (2013), 29-31.
  • James McGrory, "The Great Perennial Problem: The Religion of Sherlock Holmes", Baker Street Journal 61 No. 3 (2011), 32-38.
  • Sean Fitzpatrick, "He Is Risen! Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of Easter", Crisis Magazine April 6, 2015, online.