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Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (June 21, 1892 – June 1, 1971) was a Protestant theologian best known for his study of the task of relating the Christian faith to the reality of modern politics and diplomacy. He was an important contributor to the modern "just war" thinking. Image File history File links Emblem-important. ... is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 152nd day of the year (153rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar, known as the year of cyclohexanol. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... Theology finds its scholars pursuing the understanding of and providing reasoned discourse of religion, spirituality and God or the gods. ... For other uses, see Christian (disambiguation). ... Just War theory is a doctrine of military ethics studied by moral theologians, ethicists and international policy makers which holds that a conflict can and ought to meet the criteria of philosophical, religious or political justice, provided it follows certain conditions. ...

Personal history

Niebuhr was born in Wright City, Missouri, USA, the son of a liberal-minded German Evangelical pastor, Gustav, and the older brother of Helmut Richard Niebuhr. Both sons decided to follow in their father's footsteps and enter the ministry. Reinhold Niebuhr attended Elmhurst College in Illinois — where a large statue of him stands today — and graduated in 1910. He subsequently went to Eden Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. Finally, he attended Yale University, where he received his Bachelor of Divinity Degree in 1914 and was a member of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity. In 1915, Niebuhr was ordained a pastor. Wright City is a city in Warren County, Missouri, USA. It is located on Interstate 70 at mile marker 200 approximately 50 miles west of downtown St. ... The Evangelical Synod of North America (originally known as the German Evangelical Synod of North America) was a denominational body of Protestant churches in the United States existing from the mid-1800s until its 1934 merger with the Reformed Church in the United States to form the Evangelical and Reformed... Helmut Richard Niebuhr (1894-1962) was an American Christian ethicist best known for his 1951 book Christ and Culture and his 1960 book Radical Monotheism and Western Culture. ... Elmhurst College was founded in 1871. ... Official language(s) English[1] Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Largest metro area Chicago Metropolitan Area Area  Ranked 25th  - Total 57,918 sq mi (140,998 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 390 miles (629 km)  - % water 4. ... Eden Theological Seminary is a seminary closely related to the United Church of Christ. ... Nickname: Location in the state of Missouri Coordinates: , Country State County Independent City Government  - Mayor Francis G. Slay (D) Area  - City  66. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... Yale redirects here. ... Year 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Alpha Sigma Phi (ΑΣΦ, commonly abbreviated to Alpha Sig) is a social fraternity with 68 active chapters, colonies, and interest groups. ... Year 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday[1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

The German Evangelical mission board sent him to serve in Detroit. The congregation numbered sixty-five on his arrival and grew to nearly 700 by the time he left in 1928. The increase reflected the tremendous growth of population attracted to the automobile industry centered there. Motto: Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus (We Hope For Better Things; It Shall Rise From the Ashes - this motto was adopted after the disastrous 1805 fire that devastated the city) Nickname: The Motor City and Motown Location in Wayne County, Michigan Founded Incorporated July 24, 1701 1815  County Wayne County Mayor...

During his pastorate, Niebuhr was troubled by the demoralizing effects of industrialism on the workers. He became an outspoken critic of Henry Ford and allowed union organizers to use his pulpit to expound their message of workers' rights. Niebuhr documented inhumane conditions created by the assembly lines and erratic employment practices. Henry Ford (1919) Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. ...

Niebuhr also spoke out against the Ku Klux Klan, which during the 1920s had a revival in several major Midwestern and Western cities, including Detroit. Half of Michigan's 70,000 Klan members lived in Detroit at the height of the group's power. A Klan candidate nearly won the race for mayor in 1924. Under pressure of white and African American migrants from the South, and greatly increased immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe, the city had an especially volatile social mixture. The Klan had most support among lower class whites who had to compete directly against other new residents. Niebuhr said the Klan was "one of the worst specific social phenomena which the religious pride of peoples has ever developed."^[1]

In 1923, Niebuhr visited Europe to meet with intellectuals and theologians. The conditions he saw in Germany under the French occupation dismayed Niebuhr and reinforced the pacifist views he had adopted in disgust after World War I. Year 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Pacifist redirects here. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ...

In 1928, Niebuhr left Detroit to become Professor of Practical Theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York, where he remained until 1960. Before arriving at the seminary, Niebuhr captured his personal experiences at his Detroit church in his book Leaves From the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic. While teaching theology at Union Theological Seminary, Niebuhr influenced German minister Dietrich Bonhoeffer of the anti-Nazi Confessing Church. Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The tower at Union Theological Seminary Birds-eye view at Claremont Ave. ... Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer [] (February 4, 1906 – April 9, 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, participant in the German Resistance movement against Nazism, and a founding member of the Confessing Church. ... Nazism in history Nazi ideology Nazism and race Outside Germany Related subjects Lists Politics Portal         Nazism or National Socialism (German: Nationalsozialismus), refers primarily to the ideology and practices of the Nazi Party (National Socialist German Workers Party, German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) under Adolf Hitler. ... The Confessing Church (German: Bekennende Kirche) was a Christian resistance movement in Nazi Germany. ...

In 1931, Niebuhr married the English theologian Ursula Kessel-Compton. They had a son and three daughters. He served as editor of the magazine Christianity and Crisis from 1941 through 1966.

Political efforts

During the 1930s, Niebuhr was a prominent leader of the militant faction of the Socialist Party of America. He promoted adoption of the United front agenda of the Communist Party USA, a position in sharp contrast to ideas later in his career. According to the autobiography of his factional opponent Louis Waldman, Niebuhr even led military drill exercises among the young members. The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known as the [[. In East Asia, the rise of militarism occurred. ... The Socialist Party of America (SPA) is a socialist political party in the United States. ... In Leninist bogus, a united front is a coalition of Clinton likeleft-wing working class forces which put forward a common set of demands and share a common plan of action, but which do not subordinate themselves to the front, retaining their abilities for independent political action and continuing to... The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) is a Marxist-Leninist political party in the United States. ... Louis Waldman (January 5, 1892 - 1982?) was a leading figure in the Socialist Party of America during its first 30 years and a prominent labor lawyer. ...

During the outbreak of World War II, the pacifist leanings of his liberal roots were challenged. Niebuhr began to distance himself from the pacifism of his more liberal colleagues and became a staunch advocate for the war. Niebuhr soon left the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a peace-oriented group of theologians and ministers, and became one of their harshest critics. This departure from his peers evolved into a movement known as Christian Realism. Niebuhr is widely considered its primary advocate. Christian Realism provided a more tough-minded approach to politics than the idealism held by many of Niebuhr's contemporaries. Within the framework of Christian Realism, Niebuhr became a supporter of US action in World War II, anti-communism, and the development of nuclear weapons. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FoR or FOR) is the name used by a number of religious nonviolent organizations, particularly in English-speaking countries. ... Christian Realism is a philosophy advocated by Reinhold Niebuhr. ... Ideologies Communist internationals Prominent communists Related subjects Anti-communism refers to opposition to communism. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 km (11 mi) above the epicenter. ...

Philosophical writings

In 1952, he wrote The Irony of American History in which he shared with his readers the various struggles (political, ideological, moral and religious) in which he participated. His writings reflect a penetrating criticism of the social gospel liberalism of his youth and his search for alternatives. For a while he tried to synthesize various elements of Marxism and Christianity. Both his political experience and his deepening Christian values, however, caused him to abandon the work in favor of an ideology he called Christian Realism. These views meshed the Augustinianism of the Reformation with his own hard-won political wisdom. His concepts were crystallized in the Gifford Lectures of Edinburgh University in 1940 as The Nature and Destiny of Man, which is his magnum opus. In it he comes as close as he ever did to a systematic presentation of his theology. The Social Gospel movement is a Protestant Christian intellectual movement that was most prominent in the late 19th century and early 20th century. ... Augustinus redirects here. ... The Protestant Reformation was a movement which began in the 16th century as a series of attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church, but ended in division and the establishment of new institutions, most importantly Lutheranism, Reformed churches, and Anabaptists. ... The Gifford Lectures were established by the will of Adam Lord Gifford (d. ... The University of Edinburgh was founded in 1583 as a renowned centre for teaching in Edinburgh, Scotland. ...

The writings of Niebuhr are placed squarely in the middle of a very painful time in the history of the world and of America. Having suffered one World War and the Great Depression, Niebuhr wrote about the injustice of humanity and the need for people to tear down the systems that increased the injustice in the world. In the rise of fascism and the horrors of World War II in Europe, Niebuhr saw an evil which demanded opposition by force, even by Christians. Taking this lesson further, he wrote concerning the need for a form of democracy that would empower people and rid the world of the human sin of lording power over others. For other uses, see The Great Depression (disambiguation). ... Fascism is a term used to describe authoritarian nationalist political ideologies or mass movements that are concerned with notions of cultural decline or decadence and seek to achieve a millenarian national rebirth by placing the interests of the individual as subordinate to that of the nation or race and promoting... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

In the beginnings of his work as a vocal social justice proponent, he was a strong democratic socialist. Having once railed against Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal as being unattainable, after the war Niebuhr became more pragmatic and began to support the New Deal and the Vital Center of the Democratic Party. Niebuhr’s work was a great voice within the rising tide of welfare capitalism. Social justice refers to the concept of an unjust society that refers to more than just the administration of laws. ... Democratic socialism is a political movement propagating the ideals of socialism within the framework of a parliamentary democracy. ... Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882–April 12, 1945), 32nd President of the United States, the longest-serving holder of the office and the only man to be elected President more than twice, was one of the central figures of 20th century history. ... This article is about the policy program of US President Franklin D Roosevelt. ... This article is about the policy program of US President Franklin D Roosevelt. ... In politics in the United States, the Vital Center is a term used to describe where the Presidential nominees of the two major political parties go to look for votes, traditionally after they have wrapped up their own partys nomination at the party convention. ... The Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. ... Welfare capitalism was the response of the West to remedy what many perceive as shortcomings of capitalism. ...

Influence and honors

Niebuhr was read widely by Christian leaders in the postwar years. Among the most famous was the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., who gave credit to his influence. Niebuhr was one of the major thinkers who contributed to the evolving postwar American national identity. His work inspired an American psyche that evoked a mythological worker of justice in the world—a notion that he stressed was a vision of what might be, not a description of America at the time. Niebuhr saw America as moving in the direction of justice, despite failures of racial equality and foreign policy in Vietnam. Writing about class equality, he said "We have attained a certain equilibrium in economic society by setting organized power against organized power". Niebuhr was also the author of many aphorisms. Martin Luther King redirects here. ...

Despite the accolades Niebuhr received during his lifetime, after his death his politics and theology fell sharply out of favor among many mainline Protestants. Liberation theology, with its radical Marxist aims and roots in concrete struggles of the oppressed, became a more dominant paradigm, in seminaries if not in pulpits. Others turned to a "postliberalism," a theological neo-conservatism roughly aligned with Karl Barth's version of neo-orthodoxy. Still others, reacting negatively to the pessimism and supposed militarism which Niebuhr's thought seemed to endorse, returned to liberalism, beginning with the "Death of God" movement in the mid-1960s. The increasingly dominant conservative evangelicals in the U.S. have never addressed his thought much at all, probably in parallel to the majority of the church-going public. Liberation theology is a school of theology within the Catholic Church that focuses on Jesus Christ as not only the Redeemer but also the Liberator of the oppressed. ... Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... Narrative theology was a 20th-century theological development which supported the idea that the Churchs use of the Bible should focus on a narrative presentation of the faith, rather than on the exclusive development of a systematic theology. ... Karl Barth Karl Barth (May 10, 1886 – December 10, 1968) (pronounced bart) a Swiss Reformed theologian, was one of the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century; Pope Pius XII described him as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas. ... Time Magazine, April 8, 1966 God is dead (German: Gott ist tot) is a widely quoted phrase by Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900). ... Evangelicalism, in a strictly lexical, but rarely used sense, refers to all things that are implied in belief that Jesus is the savior. ...

Nonetheless, some politicians and thinkers continue to esteem the theologian highly. Recently, Sen. Barack Obama cited Niebuhr as "one of his favorite philosophers." Obama told journalist David Brooks, "I take away ... the compelling idea that there’s serious evil in the world, and hardship and pain. And we should be humble and modest in our belief we can eliminate those things. But we shouldn’t use that as an excuse for cynicism and inaction. I take away ... the sense we have to make these efforts knowing they are hard, and not swinging from naïve idealism to bitter realism."^[2] “Barack” redirects here. ... David Brooks (b. ...

Niebuhr was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964. The Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is one of the two highest civilian awards in the United States and is bestowed by the President of the United States (the other award which is considered its equivalent is the Congressional Gold Medal, which is bestowed by an... Also Nintendo emulator: 1964 (emulator). ...

Niebuhr is referenced heavily, alongside St. Augustine, Baruch Spinoza, and Hans Morgenthau, in Kenneth Waltz's seminal work on international relations theory, Man, the State, and War. In the book, Waltz emphasizes Niebuhr's contributions to political realism, especially "the impossibility of human perfection."^[3] Augustinus redirects here. ... Baruch de Spinoza (‎, Portuguese: , Latin: ) (November 24, 1632 – February 21, 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese Jewish origin. ... Hans Joachim Morgenthau (February 17, 1904 – July 19, 1980) was an International Relations theorist and one of the most influential to date. ... Kenneth Neal Waltz (born 1924) is a member of the faculty at Columbia University and one of the most prominent scholars of international relations (IR) alive today. ... Main International Relations Theories and derivates Realism & Neorealism Idealism, Liberalism & Neoliberalism Marxism & Dependency theory Functionalism & Neofunctionalism Critical theory & Constructivism The term realism or political realism collects a wide variety of theories and modes of thought about International Relations that have in common that the motivation of states is in the...

Niebuhr was the author of the Serenity Prayer used by Alcoholics Anonymous (in a slightly different form from the version he wrote). An Alcoholics Anonymous website reports: "What is undisputed is the claim of authorship by the theologian Dr. Rheinhold [sic] Niebuhr, who recounted to interviewers on several occasions that he had written the prayer as a 'tag line' to a sermon he had delivered on Practical Christianity. Yet even Dr. Niebuhr added at least a touch of doubt to his claim, when he told one interviewer, 'Of course, it may have been spooking around for years, even centuries, but I don't think so. I honestly do believe that I wrote it myself.'"^[4] The Serenity Prayer is the common name for an originally untitled prayer written by the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr in the 1930s or early 1940s. ... AA meeting sign // Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an informal meeting society for recovering alcoholics whose primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety. ...

His claim to authorship was supported in detail by Elisabeth Sifton in The Serenity Prayer (2003), but some believe it to be a paraphrase of Oliver J. Hart (1723-1795).^{[citation needed]} German philosopher Ernst Tugendhat identifies theosophist Oetinger (1702-1782) as the author.^[5] Ernst Tugendhat (b. ... Seal of the Theosophical Society Theosophy is a body of belief which holds that all religions are attempts by man to ascertain the Divine, and as such each religion has a portion of the truth. ... Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (May 2, 1702 - February 10, 1782), was a German theosophist. ...

New York City named the section of West 120th Street between Broadway and Riverside Drive, Reinhold Niebuhr Place, in his honor. This is the location of Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan.

Bibliography

• Leaves from the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic, Richard R. Smith pub, (1930), Westminster John Knox Press 1991 reissue: ISBN 0-664-25164-1, diary of a young minister's trials
• Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study of Ethics and Politics, Charles Scribner's Sons (1932), Westminster John Knox Press 2002: ISBN 0-664-22474-1
• Interpretation of Christian Ethics, Harper & Brothers (1935)
• Beyond Tragedy: Essays on the Christian Interpretation of Tragedy, Charles Scribner's Sons (1937), ISBN 0-684-71853-7
• The Nature and Destiny of Man: A Christian Interpretation, from the Gifford Lectures, (1941), Volume one: Human Nature, Volume two: Human Destiny, 1980 Prentice Hall vol. 1: ISBN 0-02-387510-0, Westminster John Knox Press 1996 set of 2 vols: ISBN 0-664-25709-7
• The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness, Charles Scribner's Sons (1944), Prentice Hall 1974 edition: ISBN 0-02-387530-5, Macmillan 1985 edition: ISBN 0-684-15027-1
• Faith and History (1949) ISBN 0-684-15318-1
• The Irony of American History, Charles Scribner’s Sons (1952), 1985 reprint: ISBN 0-684-71855-3, Simon and Schuster: ISBN 0-684-15122-7
• Christian Realism and Political Problems (1953) ISBN 0-678-02757-9
• The Self and the Dramas of History, Charles Scribner’s Sons (1955), University Press of America, 1988 edition: ISBN 0-8191-6690-1
• Love and Justice: Selections from the Shorter Writings of Reinhold Niebuhr, ed. D. B. Robertson (1957), Westminster John Knox Press 1992 reprint, ISBN 0-664-25322-9
• Pious and Secular America (1958) ISBN 0-678-02756-0
• The Structure of Nations and Empires (1959) ISBN 0-678-02755-2
• The Essential Reinhold Niebuhr: Selected Essays and Addresses, (1987), Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-04001-6
• Remembering Reinhold Niebuhr. Letters of Reinhold & Ursula M. Niebuhr, ed. by Ursula Niebuhr (1991) Harper, 0060662344

The Gifford Lectures were established by the will of Adam Lord Gifford (d. ... For other uses, see 1941 (disambiguation). ...

References

<!— See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref> and </ref> tags, and the template below. —>

1. ^ Kenneth T. Jackson, The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915-1930. Oxford University Press, 1967; reprint, Chicago: Elephant Paperback, 1992, pp.129,134-138, 142.
2. ^ Brooks, David. "Obama, Gospel and Verse", The New York Times, April 26, 2007. Retrieved on May 7, 2007. 
3. ^ Kenneth Waltz, Man, the State, and War, p. 33}}
4. ^ The Origin of our Serenity Prayer. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
5. ^ Whom to thank? - on religion as a need and the difficulty of satisfying it. Retrieved on 2008-04-14.

The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed internationally. ... is the 116th day of the year (117th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 282nd day of the year (283rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 104th day of the year (105th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

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Reinhold Niebuhr

• Reinhold Niebuhr books and articles online
• Quotations from Niebuhr's Love and Justice
• Reinhold Niebuhr quotations from BrainyQuote
• Reinhold Niebuhr lectures and sermons on compact discs available from Union Theological Seminary
• Reinhold Niebuhr Papers (Library of Congress)
• The Niebuhr Society