Niebuhr ‘08?
Reinhold Niebuhr
This week NPR’s Morning Edition has run back-to-back interviews with Newsweek editor Jon Meacham discussing the memoirs of Barack Obama and John McCain. The idea is to get beyond sound bites and offer an analysis of the major people and events that have shaped the two men, at least according to their own published work.
The fascinating conclusion is that this country’s two major-party presidential candidates have both been strongly influenced by the same theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr.
My initial question is about the way it seems that Niebuhr was seized upon as a hidden, explanatory link between the characters of Obama and McCain. Is this just another example of an almost obsessive fascination with the interplay of politics and religion during this election cycle? Or is something else going on here?
In one sense, there’s nothing surprising about finding references to Reinhold Niebuhr in the writings of both candidates. Niebuhr is generally regarded as one of the most influential Protestant theologians of the twentieth century–if you’re an an adult American who is going to be influenced by a theologian, there’s a statistical likelihood that it’s going to be Niebuhr. Nonetheless, I don’t recall the policies and perspectives of George Bush or John Kerry or even Al Gore (who studied at Vanderbilt’s Divinity School) being discussed in light of a major theologian who influenced their thinking, at least on a mainstream national radio broadcast (and no, I guess I don’t count Bush’s famous remark about Jesus Christ being his favorite philosopher)
There’s a local angle to all this, of course, since Niebuhr was from Missouri and began his theological training at Eden Seminary in Webster Groves.
But it’s the potential philosophical implications that are really striking. Is Niebuhr’s work really so broad that two very different men with utterly divergent backgrounds could both find compelling guidance there, or is it a case of two people reading the same thing and coming to entirely different conclusions? Meacham seems to think the candidates’ references to Niebuhr mainly show that Obama and McCain share a basically tragic view of life. But that suggests only that both of them found in Niebuhr’s work a world view that resonated with their prior experience and perhaps their innate personalities, not that their particular world views were in fact shaped by his thinking. The latter, I think, is the larger claim, with more far-reaching implications, although I don’t have a clear sense of how accurate it is.
To that end, I know I’ll be spending some of my weekend reading this Atlantic article, this New York Times piece, and maybe even digging out my old copy of Moral Man and Immoral Society to see if anything occurs to me. Just to take one famous Reinhold Niebuhr quote, one wonders how a President Obama or McCain would act on the insight that, “Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.” Would agreement with that proposition, for instance, incline one to “spread democracy” abroad or to work harder to ensure that democracy is being upheld here at home? Seeing humanity as fundamentally sinful is a classic Protestant formulation; not every Protestant, though, takes the same view of how that theological stance should influence public policy. Niebuhr was renowned for bridging the gap between academic theology and political reality, so how is it that both the right and the left have since used his writings as justifications for their actions?
In a September 2007 article about the renewed public and political interest in Niebuhr during the early stages of the campaign, Benedicta Cipolla of the Religion News Service wrote:
Niebuhr’s unrelenting gaze inward — at a United States he refused to herald as the world’s unquestioned savior — runs counter to the renewed sense of American exceptionalism that followed the 9/11 attacks.
Niebuhr’s Christian realism — his recognition of the persistence of sin, self-interest, and self-righteousness in social conflicts — highlights the distinction between the acknowledgment of evil’s existence and America’s own involvement in that evil.
Whichever man wins the election, it will be fascinating to see if we can discern the traces of Niebuhr’s influence in how they govern.
Pamela Dolan is on staff at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Webster Groves and is a Candidate for Holy Orders. After high school in Hawaii and college in California, she earned a master's degree in theology from Harvard before spending several years in New York studying medieval religion and literature. Pamela is married with two children. 
This is very interesting. I have found myself thinking of Niebuhr often lately with this political season. It even was lurking in the background of my thoughts on the market. I think that I actually find it a sign of the ongoing relevance of his theology that both candidates can find relevance in him.
I think it is funny how the Obama camp can’t stand a little heat from the news media. Joe Biden was interviewed on October 23rd by Barbara West with WFTV in Orlando, Florida. Barbara asked Joe Biden a question about their ties with ACORN and if they were embarrassed about their attempt to register phony voters. Joe Biden flat out lied about ACORN and said they haven’t given anything to ACORN, Oh, what about the $800,000 that Obama’s campaign gave to an ACORN affiliate Joe? After quoting Karl Marx- “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs” she then asked about Obama’s famous gaffe when he told Joe the Plumber that “when you spread the wealth around it’s good for everybody”. Joe Biden got upset and said we’re not spreading the wealth, we’re just giving tax breaks back to the middle class that they once had. O.K. Joe I pay less Fed Taxes (25%) now under the Bush tax plan then what I paid back under the Clinton tax plan (28%). So what tax break are you going to give me back? About the Marxist question, well let’s look at Barrack Obama’s friends. Obama has seemed to have a pattern surrounding him with people that share the idea of Marxism and he doesn’t deny it. He mentions in his book Dreams from My Father a man named Frank. Frank was a poet that was a friend of his grandfather in Hawaii. Barrack mentions him because he looked up to this guy when he was a young boy growing up in Hawaii with his grandparents. It turns out this man is Frank Marshall Davis a known poet, journalist and political and labor movement activist. He was also a member of the Communist Party USA. Hmmmm, that’s a nice influence to have in your past along with all the others that we know about, Ayers, Rev. Wright, Rezko, and Rashid Khalidi etc…. Barrack Obama laughs off charges of socialism. Joe Biden scoffs at references to Marxism. Both men shrug off accusations of liberalism, but yet Obama writes about it in his book. “To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully,” the Democratic presidential candidate wrote in his memoir, “Dreams From My Father.” “The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists.” These are the friends that Obama says he “chose carefully.” That’s carefully? I don’t understand why people are so blinded by this guy.
Once Again we’ve learned something else about Barrack Hussein Obama. We have learned that he has an aunt from Kenya that has been living in government housing in Boston, MA. illegally for the past 4 years. She has even contributed $260 to his campaign, which is illegal. I can’t believe that he didn’t know about her. He writes about her in his book plus she was at his Swearing-In Ceremony as a U.S. Senator 2 years ago, but he didn’t know about her immigration status. Come on people. We as citizen of this country need to quit drinking this guy’s kool-aid and really look at the character here. He wants to tax the rich, because he thinks spreading the wealth is good for everybody. My question is why he didn’t see to it that his aunt was taken better care of financially with all his money (millions) that he has made from his books. This nonsense he doesn’t have to keep up with all his relatives is bull. It’s obvious he only cares about his agenda. If his grandmother (the one that raised him) is gravely ill, why did he put off going to Hawaii for a few days? I know if I was as close to somebody like he claims he was to her. I believe I would have dropped everything and went to be by their bedside. I think there is a lot more to this guy that we don’t know. I think the saying goes, birds of a feather, seem to always flock together. I’m very nervous about the CHANGE he keeps preaching, because I think he is hiding just behind the surface of CHANGE and not telling us the truth. Look at his ideological ways of thinking, its scary. Wake up America before Tuesday so we don’t turn this country over to a Marxist.
“My object in life is to dethrone God and destroy capitalism.” – Karl Marx (Remember Obama chooses his friends carefully.)
It amazes me to read how people think the bible teaches socialism. In the book of Acts chapters 2 and 4 it talks about the early church (new believers in Christ). The early church was able to share possessions and property as a result of the unity brought by the Holy Spirit working in and through the believers’ lives. This way of living is different from communism/socialism because (1) the sharing was voluntary not taken by a government body; (2) it didn’t involve all private property, but only as much as was needed; (3) it was not a membership requirement in order to be a part of the church. The spiritual unity and generosity of these early believers attracted others to them. This organizational structure is not a biblical command, but it offers vital principles for us to follow. Yes Jesus does talk about helping those in needs and not to be preoccupied by building up wealth here on earth, but in heaven instead. It is our job as Christians to do just as Jesus commanded, not the government to do it for us. If you don’t have a problem of the government taking some of your tax money to supposedly help the needy, well your missing out on the joy that being generous and giving brings to ones heart. After Hurricane Katrina the amount of relief efforts that went into the Gulf Coast area was done more by churches and non-profit organizations then the government. If you think the Bible teaches Marxism, why didn’t Karl Marx embrace the Christian faith?
“The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.”-Karl Marx
“My object in life is to dethrone God and destroy capitalism.”-Karl Marx
Had never heard of Mr. Niebuhr before reading your article. I will definitely look for some of his writings. Pamela, can you or Travis suggest a good place to begin? By the way, the entry by this “whysoblind” is so obviously off the topic, I hope you feel free to remove it, free expression notwithstanding.