The Curmudgeon in Cyberspace

I was pleased to learn that Doug Groothuis, philosophy professor at Denver Seminary and author of The Soul in Cyberspace and nine other titles, has decided to experiment with blogging. Why the name, The Constructive Curmudgeon?:

....because I believe that truth-tellers, no matter how maligned or ignored, are crucial for living a serious and honest life. The curmudgeon is bothered by poppycock, humbug, bovine excrement, and any form of lies or intellectually lazy communication or inauthentic living. Curmudgeons have little tolerance for trendiness, cliches, or fashionable nonsense. Although they may be old and jaded, their hero is the little boy in the fable who said, "The emperor has no clothes." Indeed, curmudgeons denude pretense and prevarication for the sake of truth. That is the aim, the goal, the ideal--however inadequately realized. The curmudgeon himself needs to be corrected by fellow curmudgeons.

The curmudgeon is constructive in that half-truths, bovine excrement, fashionable nonsense, unfashionable nonsense, and other offenses to the Good, the True, and the Beautiful need to be exposed that the light may dawn and reality be revealed. Reality denudes us all in the end, no matter how much we hate it. The curmudgeon tries to love reality, whatever the cost. She or he encourages others to love reality as well, come what may.

In this sense, Jesus was the ultimate Constructive Curmudgeon. He brooked no spin. He exposed all pretense. His life was in perfect harmony with Reality. He was the truth teller extraordinaire. If you knew him, you either loved him or hated him. He is my model, although I will fall far short.

I've profited from Dr. Groothuis's writing, particularly his reflections about the wise use of information technology. Therefore, I'm eager to see what shall come forth from his keyboard in the near future.