In this article, the author reviews "Theory and Educational Research" and concludes that given some misgivings, the collection arrives at a nonfetishized appreciation for the role of theory in empirical research in education. Jean Anyon and her colleagues give theory its due, not more but also not less. In the same move, they recognize that theory is made concrete when it speaks with the empirical world, not as something waiting to be discovered (the limitations of which one can chalk up to positivism) or randomly constructed (the casualty of ludic postmodernism), but part and parcel of an explanation that affirms the power of socially engaged inquiry. In short, this is education in its finest hour. (Contains 4 notes.)