Charles Lemert is "University Professor and Andrus Professor of Social Theory Emeritus at Wesleyan University and Senior Fellow of the Center for Comparative Research at Yale University." The Yale University Press saw fit to have him write about Reinhold Niebuhr in its "Why X Matters" Series. I am not sure why. Certainly the writings of Niebuhr could be classified as Sociology or Cultural Studies but that would be missing the main source. Would it not make sense to have someone who has some background in theology or history? Lemert apparently has not touched these subjects since his undergraduate days. His understanding of theology would embarrass a layman, his knowledge of history is embarrassing to a historian.
Theologically Lemert does not grasp the impact of the Social Gospel on Urban American Christianity. His convoluted attempts to explain Augustine make the simple complex. His snide comments are a constant distraction, such as "Anglicanism (a faux Protestant cult). "
Historically, Lemert does somersaults in keeping Niebuhr as a member of the Old Left while downplaying the threat of Communism. Yet, if one reads the work of Niebuhr, it is obvious that he did not do likewise. One only has to turn to the opening page of The Irony of American History to see this. Niebuhr writes:
Everybody understands the obvious meaning of the world struggle
in which we are engaged. We are defending freedom against tyranny and trying
to preserve justice against a system which has, demonically, distilled
injustice and cruelty out of its original promise of a higher justice.
(3)
To put it succinctly, Lemert does not answer the question why Niebuhr matters.
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