“The Most Theologically Astute President Since Jimmy Carter”

Sociologist John Schmalzbauer teaches in the Department of Religious Studies at Missouri State University, where he holds the Blanche Gorman Strong Chair in Protestant Studies. He really likes Barack Obama.

Writing in a blog for the Social Science Research Council, he says, “Americans have elected the most theologically astute president since Jimmy Carter. Like his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama is partial to the writings of Paul Tillich and Reinhold Niebuhr. Obama’s Facebook page (the first ever for a president-elect) lists Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead as a favorite novel.”

Schmalzbauer is particularly impressed with Obama’s “vision of reconciliation” which, he informs us, in the classic typology of literary genres “could be described as comic.” And then this:

As Northrop Frye writes in Anatomy of Criticism , “the theme of the comic is the integration of society, which usually takes the form of incorporating a central character into it.” In Barack Obama’s case, the central character is often Barack Obama.

To the consternation of many good friends, I am no big fan of Niebuhr, nor, to the consternation of almost nobody, am I a big fan of Tillich. So I will leave it to the fans of both to explain why these illustrious theologians just might not be all that enthusiastic about lending their name and reputation to such narcissism. Or why, perhaps, the “integration of society” around a single “leader” might not be such a great idea.