Summary of this Alan Wolfe piece on Reinhold Niebuhr:
The problem of intellectuals today is that they don't take religion seriously; the problem with Niebuhr was that he took his religious positions seriously. All well and good to have beliefs, so long as one is a standard left-liberal, and one doesn't let a petty matter like doctrine affect one's views of the validity of certain religious outlooks.*
Also, can you believe that he never wrote at length about the pressing issues of the 21st century?
*(n.b. how strange an argument this is to make about a theologian)
"Thou shalt not extinguish thine anger, but shall master it,
that thy conscience may not be blunted by adjustment
to wrong causes."
-The Dutch Ten Commandments to Foil the Nazis
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