[Dialogue] Fw: Obama's Theologian - David Brooks and E.J. Dionne on Reinhold Niebuhr (13 Feb 2009)

Mon Feb 16 14:40:46 EST 2009

I listened to this and subscribe to "Speaking of Faith."  It's a terrific resource.  Thanks for sending it to all.
Diann McCabe, San Marcos, TX

On 2/16/09 11:18 AM, "Janice Ulangca" <aulangca at stny.rr.com> wrote:

----- Original Message -----
From: George W Ensinger <mailto:drkrmdr7 at msn.com>
To: Janice Ulangca <mailto:aulangca at stny.rr.com>
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2009 11:38 AM
Subject: Re: Obama's Theologian - David Brooks and E.J. Dionne on Reinhold Niebuhr (13 Feb 2009)

Certainly.
GE

----- Original Message -----

From: Janice  Ulangca <mailto:aulangca at stny.rr.com>

To: George W Ensinger <mailto:drkrmdr7 at msn.com>

Sent: Monday, February 16, 2009 9:50  AM

Subject: Re: Obama's Theologian - David  Brooks and E.J. Dionne on Reinhold Niebuhr (13 Feb 2009)

This is great, George!  Thanks much.  I'd like  to forward this to the Dialogue list serv - is that OK with you?

Janice Ulangca

----- Original Message -----

From:  George W  Ensinger <mailto:drkrmdr7 at msn.com>

Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2009 8:36  PM

Subject: Fw: Obama's Theologian - David  Brooks and E.J. Dionne on Reinhold Niebuhr (13 Feb 2009)

----- Original Message  -----
From: Speaking of Faith <mailto:newsletter at speakingoffaith.org>

To: drkrmdr7 at msn.com

Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 3:04 PM

Subject: SOF: Obama's Theologian - David Brooks and E.J. Dionne  on Reinhold Niebuhr (13 Feb 2009)

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David Brooks, E.J. Dionne, and Krista visit  with attendees after the live event at Georgetown University.  (photo: Marc Zielinski for Speaking of Faith)

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This week on  public radio's conversation about religion, meaning,  ethics, and ideas:

Obama's  Theologian: David Brooks and E.J. Dionne on Reinhold  Niebuhr and the American Present <http://www.elabs7.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=fj6,dxai,dv,ghzb,7w60,9bue,leph>
Barack  Obama has cited the 20th-century theologian Reinhold  Niebuhr as one of his favorite philosophers who has  influenced his understanding of the world, of religion and  of politics. In a public conversation in Washington, D.C.  with political commentators David Brooks and E.J. Dionne,  we explore how Niebuhr's merger of intellect, faith, and  realism might be speaking to a new era of American turmoil  and American power. This live conversation took place on  January 29, 2009 at the invitation of Georgetown's Berkley  Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs.

Proceeding  with Humility and Hope in Our Common Present
This  is our  second program on Reinhold Niebuhr's fascinating thought  and legacy <http://www.elabs7.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=fj6,dxai,dv,h6g2,882i,9bue,leph> . And as I prepared to discuss Niebuhr again  with David Brooks and E.J. Dionne - in a whole new era of  American politics, foreign policy, and economics - I was  stunned by how resonantly Niebuhr's writing speaks to our  common present. These lines from his 1952 book, The  Irony of American History, are a good example, ". we  have thus far sought to solve all our problems by the  expansion of our economy." Later on he elaborated:
"Yet the price which American culture has  paid for this amelioration of social tensions through  constantly expanding production has been considerable.  It has created moral illusions about the ease with which  the adjustment of interests to interests can be made in  human society. These have imparted a quality of  sentimentality to both our religious and our secular,  social and political theories. It has also created a  culture which makes "living standards" the final norm of  the good life and which regards the perfection of  techniques as the guarantor of every cultural as well as  every social-moral value."
David Brooks was  widely cited in the midst of the 2008 presidential  campaign when he reported how a weary Barack Obama  brightened at the invocation of the very name of Niebuhr,  delivering a 20-minute, ad-lib summation of Niebuhr's  complex view of politics, religion, and life. And as I  delved into Niebuhr's words and Obama's words in tandem in  preparation for this conversation, I was struck by the  echoes.

Consider, for example, this classic  Niebuhrian injunction: "We take, and must continue to  take, morally hazardous actions to preserve our  civilization. We must exercise our power. But we ought  neither to believe that a nation is capable of perfect  disinterestedness in its exercise, nor become complacent  about particular degrees of interest and passion which  corrupt the justice by which the exercise of power is  legitimatized [emphasis mine]." And hear then the  concise, more pointed reasoning with which Obama has ended  torture as a policy and promised to close Guantanamo and  secret CIA prisons abroad: "We reject as false the choice  between our safety and our ideals," he said at his recent  inaugural address. Later he said, "We intend to win this  fight. We're going to win it on our own terms."

Brooks, Dionne, and I discuss these parallels  between Niebuhr and Obama, and others. My two guests are  often set up to present contrasting points of view on  NPR's All Things Considered, but this evening at  Georgetown was not a point-counterpoint between a liberal  and a conservative. It was more of a shared inquiry that  ranged from politics and the new administration to the  economy and even to recent events in Gaza. Niebuhr's way  of thinking tends to deepen analysis and temper sectarian  stridency. This evening was no exception.

Brooks  suggests that Niebuhr himself may have been unnerved by  Obama's idealistic campaign catch words of "hope" and  "change." Yet Dionne finds a Niebuhrian influence in  Obama's careful distinction between "hope" and "optimism"  - the one more focused, pragmatic, and theologically  resonant; the other more soupy, idealistic, and culturally  defined.

And while Obama ran on hope, he has  inherited calamity - a situation that embodies the kind of  irony writ large that Niebuhr urged Americans of his day  to expect. The humility that Obama invoked three times in  his inaugural address is, like Niebuhr's, an active  stance, not a passive one, in the face of vast and  risk-filled challenges. Obama's pre-election and  pre-recession paraphrase of Niebuhr, as reported by David  Brooks, seems all the more poignant now. From Niebuhr,  Obama said, "I take away . the compelling idea that  there's serious evil in the world, and hardship and pain.  And we should be humble and modest in our belief we can  eliminate those things. But we shouldn't use that as an  excuse for cynicism and inaction. I take away . the sense  we have to make these efforts knowing they are hard, and  not swinging from naive idealism to bitter realism."

  <http://www.elabs7.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=fj6,dxai,dv,5343,1ttf,9bue,leph#slideshow>
I  Recommend Viewing:
Brooks  and Dionne, Live with Krista <http://www.elabs7.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=fj6,dxai,dv,5343,1ttf,9bue,leph#slideshow> [video,  82:56]

With one video camera remaining, we  filmed my public conversation with David Brooks and E.J.  Dionne, including the invocation by Jean Bethke Elshtain.  You can stream or download the complete, unedited event at  Georgetown University.

For good  introductions to Reinhold Niebuhr <http://www.elabs7.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=fj6,dxai,dv,8tww,i1et,9bue,leph> and his writings, I  recommend Robert McAfee Brown's book, The Essential  Reinhold Niebuhr: Selected Essays and Letters. It is  an excellent place to begin exploring the breadth of  Niebuhr's thought. And, The Irony of American  History set a critique of communism against a  critique of virtues of American culture which, untempered  by realism about history and human nature, might be its  triumph but also its undoing. Yet much of this analysis  speaks with uncanny aptness to the economic ideology that  has so calamitously hit its limits in 2009.

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