"A Sense of Irony"

"Had he lived long enough to witness the American response to September 11, 2001, Niebuhr would have recoiled in shock. Unlike George W. Bush, who was capable of finding God on his side no matter which side he was on, Niebuhr, as Diggins rightly points out, 'was a realist because he was religious.' If we need Niebuhr now, it is because that particular combination is no longer with us. Our realists are too cynical and focused on power in this world to acknowledge any higher authority. And all too many of our believers evoke God only to secure more power for the United States."

Alan Wolfe reviews John Patrick Diggins's Why Niebuhr Now? in The New Republic.