1 talking about this. by Reinhold Niebuhr 5.0 out of 5 stars 6. Using a distinction found in the work of the philosopher of language Wilbur Urban, we can say that Niebuhr viewed the eschatology of the Book of Revelation as an evocative “symbolic truth,” at the center of which is “the truth of the symbol.” In his academic rendering of this truth in The Nature and Destiny of Man , Niebuhr asserts his belief that history has a definite “End,” in the sense both of conclusion and goal. In the latter case, an odd coupling of self-identified theological liberals and theological conservatives took his talk about Christian “myth” to be a sign that he considered Christianity a pious fiction covering up a secular agenda. . According to Hauerwas, it lacks “high Christology” and offers only “‘the ethics of Jesus’ without the need to engage in any further Christological claims.” But Paul Lehmann, who has done an extensive study of the “Christological claims” of his Union Seminary colleague, concludes that “Christology has been and is the principal passion and purpose of his theological work . This book is a primer on the political prophet and Christian social ethicist Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971), who is widely cited for his political realism in the aftermath of George W. Bush’s presidency. By Elsabeth Sifton. Niebuhr, Reinhold. He… As a pastor, teacher, and writer, he bridged the divide between religion and politics with perspicacity, grace, and singular intelligence, whether writing about pacifism and “just war” theory, the problem of evil in history, or the crises of war, the Depression, and social conflict. Peter B. Josephson, R. Ward Holder. She introduces his prayers with his own outline of a biblical sequencing to be observed by the “priestly function” of a pastor: “praise and thanksgiving . Judging her husband’s prayers to be key to his faith, Ursula Niebuhr assembled a representative collection of them in Justice and Mercy (1974), along with some of the sermons from his decades of circuit-riding in college and seminary chapels. Engages the question of why politicians and social commentators have returned to Niebuhr now. . . In Europe optimism is not …, Continue reading “Our Secularized Civilization”. The prayer comes in various formulations, of which the most common is “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” What about Niebuhr’s teaching on such central Christian convictions as the Incarnation and the Atonement? First, he was a thinker and doer who united faith and practice. Among the most memorable prayers is the “serenity prayer” that was circulated among soldiers in World War II by the USO and incorporated by Alcoholics Anonymous and others into their twelve-step programs. The Contribution of Religion to Social Work. “Religion, by whatever name, is the inevitable fruit of this spiritual stature of man; and religious intolerance and pride is the final expression of his sinfulness. Germane to the question of a Niebuhrian “naturalistic view of the world” is his prayer life. Book Review: Reinhold Niebuhr: A Biography by Richard Wightman (Pantheon, 340 pp. Or, as historian David Hollinger puts it, “Reinhold Niebuhr made war safe for American Protestants.” In the process, he silenced some of the most trenchant critics of American power. . But can’t such passages simply be dismissed as myth-mongering? Niebuhr, Reinhold. Get it as soon as Thu, Mar 25. In my seminary days, the self-styled “Niebuhrians” were not above carving Niebuhr’s offhand comments in stone in order to crush their opponents in dormitory debates, often betraying rather than emulating their mentor, and their contemporary counterparts frequently seem …, Continue reading “Reinhold Niebuhr: His Theology in the 1980s”, Book Review: The Serenity Prayer: Faith and Politics In Times of Peace and War. Reinhold Niebuhr: the theologian politicians read One could argue that having an influence on public leaders more than on his theological colleagues was an intentional strategy on Niebuhr’s part. Norton. . It is now 50 years since Reinhold Niebuhr published his little book Leaves from the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic. Niebuhr’s inordinate emphasis on the doctrine of sin derives from the anxiety inherent in the paradox created by the conflict between man’s freedom and his tendency toward the prideful self-dependency which is a universal human tendency. Paperback $28.94 $ 28. Niebuhr’s theology is based on his doctrine of man as self-transcending yet finite and capable of evil in not accepting his finitude. Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971), dubbed “America’s theologian” by the mid-twentieth-century media, had a host of critics during his lifetime. Christian Realism and Democracy in America in the Twenty-First Century. expresses the whole genius of the Christian faith more neatly than just that despised phrase, ‘I believe in the resurrection of the body.’” Niebuhr has often been taken to task for saying that he understands such terms “seriously, but not literally.” But he intended such comments as expressions of modesty, since we are incapable in our finitude of describing the “furniture of heaven and the temperature of hell.” Yet Niebuhr wrote that while “it is . As a founder of the journal Christianity and Crisis , and the political group Americans for Democratic Action, he exercised considerable influence in American religious and political thought. It was the issue of creeping US involvement in the war against Nazi Germany throughout 1940–41 that catalyzed, defined, and popularized Reinhold Niebuhr’s approach to international relations. Despite ideological shifts over his lifetime, Reinhold Niebuhr consistently desired to connect Christianity with the social and political realities of his day. — A Study in the Social Resources and Limitations of Religion in Modern Life. Certainly it is one of his lesser works, but its influence may have been as great as that of his Gifford Lectures, published 14 years later; for of all his writings, Learns has had the …, Continue reading “Reflections on ‘Leaves from the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic’”. His works are on the favorite reading list of Barack Obama. Leaves from the Notebook of a TamedCynic. As a pastor and teacher in the church he helped to found-the Evangelical and Reformed Church-I saw for myself his deep immersion in and love for the Church. A few went much further, doubting his belief in God. Fifth, we can learn something about how to communicate the gospel in a secular age by taking seriously the biblical revelation that God revealed in Christ. The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness. It is discredited though it boasted tremendous triumphs in the technical conquest …, Continue reading “The Christian Witness in a Secular Age”. Fox acquaints his readers with the Niebuhr who was a preacher, perhaps pre-eminently a preacher; the Niebuhr who was pastor as well as professor to generations of seminary students; the Niebuhr who was (as a Jewish … This anthropology forms the basis of Niebuhr’s ethics, view of history, Christology and eschatology, and is the foundation of his rejection of idealism, naturalism and romanticism as inadequate to deal with man’s paradoxical nature. (ENTIRE BOOK) Dr. Patterson presents an overview and summary of Niebuhr’s thought and its relevance to the theological and secular issues of his day, and offers a running dialectical critique that also reveals areas Niebuhr neglected or even misunderstood. Indeed, those who remember him as a pastor and knew him as a theologian do not doubt that Niebuhr’s “courage to change” rose from an abiding serenity of faith in the One to whom he prayed and about whom he faithfully preached and taught. It was such a question that led Niebuhr to modify his language by 1956. . It so happens that the …, Continue reading “Let Liberal Churches Stop Fooling Themselves”, Unqualified optimism on the present state or future prospect of religion in modern civilization can emanate only from a very superficial analysis of modern life. . Reinhold Niebuhr became the most influential American theologian of the twentieth century by vigorously addressing every social and political crisis of his time. 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