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Found an interesting link via buddy Clement Wen on Prez Obama’s “favorite philosopher”, Reinhold Niebuhr (h/t cnn.com). The article does a good job summarizing Niebuhr’s practical theology, sometimes called “Christian Realism”, w/o divulging too much of the controversial qualities (alleged Marxism, social gospel – ha! I just did it). But there was one thing I really appreciate about Niebuhr’s approach; as a pastor among Detroit auto factory workers, he wrestled with a religion that was fast becoming bourgeois; that is to say, the intellectual religion of the upper and middle classes. He sought a reversal that was uncommon for his time, re-interpreting the faith for the blue-collar class, for the average midWesterner. He was ascending the commoner; he was the original advocate of “main street”, and while an intellectual, he kept it real. Now the question is, has Obama done the same?

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