Yesterday, CNN ran an article entitled: How Obama’s favorite theologian shaped his first year in office.

Read more about Niebuhr here.

So, it’s one thing if theology has influenced a particular politician. But one has to also ask, what is theology for? Ben Myers has some great thoughts for us about that:

“the whole purpose of theological education: not simply to make students cleverer, but to help them learn better ways to speak to God in prayer, and to one another in witness.

Who is this God who comes to us and meets us in Jesus Christ? That is the basic theological question. Answering this question requires broad knowledge, sharp thinking, scholarly discipline, and a good dose of intellectual creativity. But it also demands much more than that: if we’re really to grapple with the significance of God’s self-witness in Christ, we’ll also need to respond to that witness.”