[asa] truth with love award

There is a category of authors that I think most of us recognize – or
flatter ourselves that we do – which might be called passionate truth
seekers/revealers who are obviously in love with the grandeur and the
minutiae of creation. They may be Christian, but not necessarily overtly
so. Maybe they are even anti-Christian (often reacting against perverse
aspects of institution) – but their iconoclasm doesn't always single out
"religion" per se as the "bad guy". They are too open-minded for that.
But they do delight in swimming upstream against any popular trends they
prophetically deem damaging.

I'm curious what names all of you would put on such a list. I will risk
venturing one to know your reaction. I have only read a few books by
Stephen Jay Gould, the last being "I have landed" (perhaps the last one
published before he died – or at least it would have to be nearly so.)
Anyway I would award him such status despite his (in my exposure to him)
gentle, sometimes sharp mockery of Christianity. Even without assenting
to all his religious criticism (much of which is doubtless well-deserved
by Christian establishment), I still see in his writing a tenacious
commitment to truth. He inspires trust in his readers, even religious
readers whom I would suspect could forgive him much of his suspicions
and often wayward musings and assumptions just because he has so much to
offer from the expansive domains his knowledge does command. And he
shows a basic respect to his opponents. I suspect he knows scripture
better than most well-read Christians.

What other famous (or not so) authors who attempt to connect with an
intelligent lay public would all of you nominate for such a list? (I
know there are some good authors participating here, but I wasn't going
to venture there so not to promote sticky popularity contests.)

Perhaps one last defining feature for the category I'm describing would
be that they inspire a readership among a class of people that doesn't
necessarily share their ideological basis. Hence my nomination of Gould
– I presume I'm not alone as a Christian beneficiary of Gould's writings.

--merv

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Received on Fri Jul 28 23:15:13 2006