The Lost Tools of Learning / The Mind of the Maker

by Dorothy L. Sayers

This is a single volume containing "The Lost Tools of Learning" and "The Mind of the Maker".

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Religion, Christianity

180 pages, Paperback

First published February 26, 2010

About the author

The detective stories of well-known British writer Dorothy Leigh Sayers mostly feature the amateur investigator Lord Peter Wimsey; she also translated the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri.

This renowned author and Christian humanist studied classical and modern languages.

Her best known mysteries, a series of short novels, set between World War I and World War II, feature an English aristocrat and amateur sleuth. She is also known for her plays and essays.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy...

Reviews

[Wally Metts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps my favorite explanation of the Trinity is in the Mind and the Maker. Very interesting treatment of creativity. She reminds us that the Scripture refers to God more often as Maker than as Father.

[Kevin Gray · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started out promisingly. Sayers’ purpose was to try to think about the Trinity in a way that we can comprehend by looking at examples in our existence of trinities. She is right in pointing out that language is inherently metaphorical and analogical, and she mentioned many examples that are potentially helpful in explaining the Trinity. Unfortunately, all analogies break down eventually, and her analogies broke down quickly and occasionally approached heresy. (The Trinity is not like an egg or water or the sun.) Her overall approach could be helpful for some (as long as we are aware of the inherent dangers of Trinitarian analogies), so I do not want to take that away from her or others who could use this treatise to make the doctrine of the Trinity more palatable. However, I found it overly philosophical, increasingly speculative, and progressively distant from a tangible treatment of the Trinity.

[David Doel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first essay in this book, The Lost Tools of Learning, is about 20 pages long and capable of being read in one sitting. I largely agree with its thesis, and see the ill effects of the loss of training in the Trivium in our society today. I'm not sure how it can be reinserted into the educational process (teaching Latin grammar in the early grades is likely a nonstarter; might Spanish work in its place?). But, I agree that we should attempt to teach our students how to learn, to criticize and to reason from an early age.

The second essay, The Mind of the Maker, is much longer and largely philosophical / theological in its nature. It addresses a trinity in the makeup of the earthly creator akin to the Christian God. It is an interesting analysis worth the time to read it. The editing is unusually poor; mistakes are frequent. Fortunately, they do not distort the message.

[Cris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is only for the Lost Tools of Learning. If not THE seminal work of the classical revival, this speech by sayers is certainly regarded by most as one of the chief markers. I have to say that although I have read about it, it worth reading for myself to appreciate better what her aims were. After reading it, I feel very keenly how badly prepared my generation was to grapple with ideas. I'm itching to go out and take a class in logic. For even though those of us who learned formal logic at some point, in math, were not taught it deeply enough or early enough. We are prone to fall into faulty logic merely because we do not know what constitutes a basic IF/THEN statement. True there are stubborn people who will not admit distinguo but there are also smart people who do not know how to make distinctions in an argument. One of my favorite logicians once said: Make few absolute rules, but make a lot of distinctions. And another gentle friend once reminded me that we need to be aware that we do not all have the emotional and mental capabilities to see arguments, so we must be humble for ourselves and patient with others. Many generations now have been brought up to believe that facts are not necessary for creativity. Nothing could be further from the truth. The best artists, poets and mathematicians have always been those who could extrapolate from already known facts. I know that many educators object to the stages methodology to say that mental skills are not necessarily tied to biology. It is true, but its important to distinguish between necessarily and generally. Again: Make few generalizations, make a lot of distinctions.

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, logical, insightful, thought-provoking, Sayers' has given me much to think of, and I expect I'll be returning to this book more than once. While it can't be called an "easy read," it is well worth putting the effort into comprehending her extended metaphor of the creative-mind as illustrative of the Trinity in action.

For those looking to purchase a book, however, I would caution that this edition has an inordinate number of distracting type-setting erros.