Frederica Mathewes-Green – I’m sure you’re familiar with her. If all of the Eastern Orthodox writers wrote with the same grace and beauty with which she writes, I might be tempted to convert! Her tiny book “The Illuminated Heart” is worth its weight in gold.

Leanne Payne – a charismatic Anglican author whom Dallas Willard referred to as a “seasoned and daily associate of Jesus”. Much of her writing is focused on ministering to folks living with profound brokenness, but her book “Listening Prayer” should be required reading for all followers of Christ.

Another female author that I am really interested in is Marva Dawn. Interestingly, she is reputed to draw quite a bit from the work of Jacques Ellel, mentioned above. I’ve recently purchased her book “Powers, Weakness, and the Tabernacling of God”, and have enjoyed the first few pages. I’m looking forward to learning from this highly respected theologian and teacher.

Greg

On the more serious side, I know what you mean in terms of Merton and the reaction you get when you mention you read him. I get the same in my SBC Bible study if I mention any author that wrote prior to the Reformation, as if the church popped into existence in A. D. 1500.

I try to find value in all Christian writers; therefore, I never fully side with the Catholics or the Protestants, conservatives or liberals, or the creationists and (theistic) evolutionists. As a result, I end up being a Heretic to all concerned.

I have decided to just live with it. Maybe it is just stubborness on my part, like yours. Maybe it is because I just see value in all these authors, as I said. It seems a shame to lose out on an insight or perspective just because it bears the wrong label.

Even in my first year theology class at the very conservative Dallas Sem, we managed to read a postmodern theologian (Stan Grentz), a charismatic (Jack Deere), a Roman Catholic (Avery), as well as Alistair McGrath (whatever he is).

Love your last paragraph. Funny enough, one of the authors God used to teach me about sin and depravity was Albert Camus, a French atheistic existentialist. His essay “The Myth of Sisyphus” and his books “The Stranger,” “The Plague,” “The Fall,” and “The First Man” impressed on the the reality of the sinfulness of humanity more than any other author. So you never know. . .