Dan Clanton, associate professor of philosophy and religious studies at ɫ since 2008, recently wrote a textbook, “God and the Little Grey Cells.” The textbook explores how Agatha Christie uses religion and the Bible throughout her Hercule Poirot novels.
Clanton had watched a few film adaptations of Christie’s Poirot mysteries and was a casual reader of the books. The BBC television adaptations particularly inspired him, though.
“I love a good procedural, and this series [the BBC TV adaptations] really made an impression on me and made me want to revisit the Christie novels I'd read years earlier,” Clanton said. “I was surprised to discover that Poirot is a deeply religious character, and that Christie included a variety of content related to various religious cultures. And I also discovered that no one had ever written at any length on this aspect of Christie's work, so I took it upon myself to do just that. That research and writing became my pandemic project, and it probably kept me sane during that insane time.”
Aside from being a professor and a published author, Clanton is also known for his research topics, which include artistic, musical and literary interpretations of biblical literature and the intersection between religion and culture.
Buy Clanton’s textbook on Bloomsbury:
