“Very few of us will write off someone and entirely ignore their works — be they in the world of writing or acting or sports — just because of what we know about them.”
Well, I guess I’m one of the “very few.” Roman Polanski. Yes, good director, but raping a child crosses a line for me.

I love the writings of Scot McKnight. But he is a shady character because he is a Cubs fan.

The issue of the character/personality of a writer versus his works is an interesting one. The cult of the writer means writers are almost bound to disappoint, and we tend to impose our values on writers of different eras. Sayers, eg, took good care of her child financially, even though it was impossible to be a single mother at that time (at least, it would have been career suicide.) Coleridge arrogantly refused his wife’s request for a 3-year hiatus in the child-bearing that was wearing her to a frazzle. I still read and appreciate Coleridge’s poetry and realize he was a person of his time. Another irony is that a poor writer do good works and/or are very decent humans–am I going to read Michener because he gave generously? No, but I honor him for his decency.
Thus, I tend to focus on the works. While I deplore some of SInger’s problems as outlined above, it’s hard for anyone to be a saint. And a great writer too.

Yes, this author vs. character dynamic applies to musicians as well. Billy Joel has always been my favorite musician, primarily because of the difficulties and troubles he writes about. His character however has at times been darker and more violent than his music.
Peace,
Randy Gabrielse

A related area that I recently encountered regarding the biblical book of James:
A commentator noted how parts of the epistle read like a classical guide to virtue. But the commentator then notes that James has two characteristics that deviate from classical guides to virtue. First, he refers to the MORALITY of a COMMUNITY, rather than the character of an individual. Second, James writes of a people accountable to God in an open system where God provides gifts, rather than of a person or people simply trying to maintain their defined social position in a closed system where they attain status and virtue on their own.
Peace,
Randy G.

Ernest Hemingway comes to mind. I’ve read most everything he’s written because he represents a continental shift in writing. On the other hand, his character (morality), while robust and wild, was nothing to emulate. Skill isn’t dependent on character (as this post affirms). Some very skilled athletes, musicians, Hollywood stars, authors are moral dunces. Perhaps that’s why Christian writing is so mediocre, often insipid, hoping that good character will cover deplorable writing and acting. Something to think about…

I remember being crushed when I found out that “Forrest Carter” was a fabricated persona for the man who wrote “The Education of Little Tree.” I had come to love the book, which passes itself off as memoir, and was disappointed to learn that not only was it actually a novel, but its author, Asa Earl Carter, was in real life something of a racist scumbag.

It teaches us that public figures, be they authors, celebrities, athletes or prominent members of our communities, are flawed individuals as we are. They may be talented and extraordinarily gifted, yet have an Achilles heel. I’ve gotten better over the years at listening to people whom I may have disagreements with, although there are still individuals with whom I have deep, fundamental disagreements that I won’t listen to. I feel their arguments are the same thing that they’ve always espoused and I don’t see an openness to thinking broadly. It is probably those types of individuals that I have the harder time listening to.

It seems to me Martin Luther fits this bill.

Moses and David come to mind . . .

The ethos of a speaker was classically regarded as the most important part of rhetoric. When you moved to publishing, you could have a public ethos and a private one.
I hate to say it, but for most authors the public ethos or the author heard in the work is probably what they wish they were. But, the real world is tougher. It doesn’t just require mental assent, but physical and emotional agreement. (A living faith and not just a philosophical one.)
Given a belief in original sin, I would expect the two to be different. The people who amaze me are the public figures of history who seem to have been the same people in life as in writing: Washington, Grant, Coolidge in politicians. Unlike comment #9, I think Luther fits this pretty well. He was very salty in person and in writing. Read Melanchthon’s eulogy. His contemporaries new it.