Text size related tags  Cass Seltzer, the mild-mannered hero of
Rebecca Newberger Goldstein's new novel, 36 Arguments for the
Existence of God(Pantheon, 416 pages, $27.95 ), has recently
emerged as one of America's favorite public intellectuals.
Dubbed an "atheist with a soul" by a fictional Time magazine,
for the kindler, gentler argument against God he presents in his
best-selling book, "The Varieties of Religious Illusion," he is
a palatable alternative to more strident deniers of the divine
like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris. Descended from a line of
Hasidic rabbis, Cass is a professor of psychology at
"Frankfurter University" outside Boston (named for a legendary
Jewish Supreme Court justice ), but is being wooed away by
Harvard. He's also recently begun living with the woman of his
dreams, and he can't get over the feeling that somehow his life
is blessed, even if he lacks belief in the greater force that
might have blessed him.  Cass seems to share a great deal with
his creator. Goldstein, 59, is desc