Who watches the watchmen?
I began hearing the question in seminary. It became louder as I started writing. “Who will be the next Reinhold Niebuhr?” In 1948, Niebuhr was on the cover of Time Magazine. He commented on politics, and since his death in 1971, his voice has been missing from popular discourse.
In 2014, Barbara Brown Taylor was on the cover of Time, but we’re still asking the question as if Taylor’s appearance never happened. Or as if William Barber never rocked the DNC. I guess because it’s part of a larger query, “How did Christian intellectuals lose their voice?” There are many (interrelated) theories:
- The media ignored Christian intellectuals as their attention became distracted by the clanging cymbal of Pat Robertson and James Dobson. Our 24-hour media cycle is driven by sex and anger. So pure outrage will garner more clicks than a wholesome dose of BBT goodness.
- Christian intellectuals won the culture war, so their voice isn’t needed as much. If Christian intellectuals are saying the same thing as intellectuals, why would they need a spotlight?
- Christian intellectuals are boring. They don’t make the news, because there’s nothing to cover.
- Christian intellectuals have become so entrenched, they become flummoxed when talking to anyone outside the American Academy of Religion's hotel ballroom gathering.
The latest person to ask how Christian intellectuals lost their seat at the discourse table is Alan Jacobs in Harpers, in an article entitled “The Watchmen.” Jacobs didn’t rehash the same reasons. In fact, I was stunned at his answer. It takes a good long while to get there, so I’ll go ahead and deliver the punchline. Jacobs answered the question through the embodiment of Richard John Neuhaus’s career, who was supposed to be the next Niebuhr:
