Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Is Reinhold Niebuhr the most important American theologian of the twentieth century — or the most convenient one?
Week 2 of Theology for Troublemakers takes on the towering and complicated figure of Reinhold Niebuhr: the preacher who became a Marxist, the pacifist who became a Cold War hawk, the socialist who ended up inside the Democratic Party establishment. Niebuhr changed his politics in nearly every decade of his career — and changed American Protestant theology along with it.
In this live Q&A, Gary Dorrien joins Aaron and Tripp to wrestle with the questions Niebuhr still forces on us:
— What did Niebuhr actually get right about power, sin, and political life?
— Where did his realism become a cover for American empire?
— What does it mean that the man who wrote Moral Man and Immoral Society ended up advising the political establishment he once called corrupt?
— And what's left of Niebuhr worth saving for the left today?
Niebuhr is still being claimed by everyone from Barack Obama to neoconservatives. This conversation is about why — and whether any of them should.
---
Want to go further? Theology for Troublemakers is a full course with Gary Dorrien — one of the leading voices in Christian social ethics, professor at Union Theological Seminary, and author of the landmark Black Social Gospel trilogy. The course covers the social gospel, Reinhold Niebuhr, democratic socialism, community organizing, and more.
Join the class at homebrewedclasses.com
Is Reinhold Niebuhr the most important American theologian of the twentieth century — or the most convenient one?
Week 2 of Theology for Troublemakers takes on the towering and complicated figure of Reinhold Niebuhr: the preacher who became a Marxist, the pacifist who became a Cold War hawk, the socialist who ended up inside the Democratic Party establishment. Niebuhr changed his politics in nearly every decade of his career — and changed American Protestant theology along with it.
In this live Q&A, Gary Dorrien joins Aaron and Tripp to wrestle with the questions Niebuhr still forces on us:
— What did Niebuhr actually get right about power, sin, and political life?
— Where did his realism become a cover for American empire?
— What does it mean that the man who wrote Moral Man and Immoral Society ended up advising the political establishment he once called corrupt?
— And what's left of Niebuhr worth saving for the left today?
Niebuhr is still being claimed by everyone from Barack Obama to neoconservatives. This conversation is about why — and whether any of them should.
---
Want to go further? Theology for Troublemakers is a full course with Gary Dorrien — one of the leading voices in Christian social ethics, professor at Union Theological Seminary, and author of the landmark Black Social Gospel trilogy. The course covers the social gospel, Reinhold Niebuhr, democratic socialism, community organizing, and more.
Join the class at homebrewedclasses.com
