In this essay I will make a brief introduction to Norman Maclean's (1902-1987) life and intellectual contributions to the American intellectual tradition. Norman Maclean was a graduate of Dartmouth, an English Professor at the University of Chicago, a charter member of the Chicago School of Critics, a Pulitzer Prize nominated author, a strict Aristotelian, and an accomplished fly-fisherman from Montana. To illuminate his intellecual commitments, this article takes a very close look at his final work Young Men and Fire that was published in 1992.

This author's personal introduction to Norman Maclean came in the spring of 1998 at Luther Seminary in Minnesota. James Nestingen was teaching a seminar on "The Theology of the Cross," and as was usually the case, there were students standing in the hallway to hear the lectures. Nestingen first worked through the material theologically, making the position clear, and then in a historical manner from Luther to the contemporary landscape. The final figure introduced as a theologian of the cross in this now-famous class was Norman Maclean. The text Nestingen concentrated on to introduce Maclean was Young Men and Fire. After that seminar, a question occurred to this author. It was quite obvious why the others (Luther, Bach, Kasseman, Forde) were selected as representatives of this rather slim but sophisticated theological tradition; but how did Maclean end up on the list? It was clear after the seminar that one cannot accidentally `back into' this position, and there must be a serious theological and philosophical undercurrent in Maclean's work.

Norman Maclean: His Life as a Scholar and a Close Look at Young Men and Fire, intellectual contributions, American intellectual tradition, intellecual commitments, contemporary landscape, sophisticated theological tradition, representatives, time compression, sporting events.