Robust Liberalism: A Conversation with Tim Beach-Verhey on H. Richard Niebuhr

April 18, 2012 by Greg Garrett

Continued from Page 3

If I were given a chance to ask Niebuhr something about political life today, I would ask him about how he sees the first term of Barack Obama. Barack Obama appreciates the work of H. Richard's brother, Reinhold, and a minor cottage industry has grown out of interpreting Obama's first term through the lens of Reinhold Niebuhr. But I wonder what new insights H. Richard's thought might provide for interpreting Obama's approach to public policy and political negotiations. Sometimes Obama has been accused of being too professorial, too dialogic—as though politics were about dialogue and persuasion. This is thought by many to be naïve. On the other hand, he is sometimes accused of political machinations and manipulations. And thus he is accused of being excessively Machiavellian. What light might H. Richard's conception of responsibility and his covenantal vision of American liberal democracy shed on the strengths and weaknesses of Barack Obama as a president? That is one of the many things I would like to ask him.

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About Greg Garrett

Greg Garrett is (according to BBC Radio) one of America's leading voices on religion and culture. He is the author or co-author of over twenty books of fiction, theology, cultural criticism, and spiritual autobiography. His most recent books are The Prodigal, written with the legendary Brennan Manning, Entertaining Judgment: The Afterlife in Popular Imagination, and My Church Is Not Dying: Episcopalians in the 21st Century. A contributor to Patheos since 2010, Greg also writes for the Huffington Post, Salon.com, OnFaith, The Tablet, Reform, and other web and print publications in the US and UK.

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