Abstract
Pastor, theologian, and public intellectual, for over four decades Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) engaged the social, cultural, religious, and political American context in creative and provocative ways. To assess his relevance and legacy by examining his training, achievements, and publications, Robin Lovin and Joshua Mauldin gather the remarkable contributions of many expert scholars. While being aware of the different historical period and of his limitations (as feminist scholars have stressed), the volume shows how Niebuhr continues to accompany us in interpreting history critically. What surfaces is the impressive stature of this twentieth-century theologian engaging his times and continuing to refine his theological thinking and proposals for action. Niebuhr’s Christian moral realism exemplifies how religious perspectives join diverse ethical approaches in the shared task of promoting a just society.
With its six parts and thirty-nine chapters the volume first situates Niebuhr in his own historical context, which spans from the 1930s to the 1960s (part I); second, it portrays allies and adversaries engaging him and his thought (i.e., H. Richard Niebuhr, Karl Barth, George Kennan, John Dewey, Paul Tillich, John Courtney Murray, Abraham Heschel, and Martin Luther King Jr.). Part III explores his theological signposts—God, sin, and love—and, in more articulated ways, Christology, ecclesiology, and eschatology. Part IV discusses his ethics by focusing on moral realism, human nature and moral norms, justice, responsibility, tragedy, irony, and democracy. Part V explores Niebuhr’s contributions by discussing violence, pacifism, and the use of force; economic and racial justice; nature and the environment; family and sexuality; American foreign policy; international relations theory; nations and nationalism. Finally, four shorter chapters explore Niebuhr’s legacy, and there one notices the critical assessments of Stanley Hauerwas and Jeffrey Stout.
The volume stresses Niebuhr’s dialectical thinking informed by the biblical prophetic literature, Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and in dialogue with Barth and Tillich. Focusing on the pervasive presence of power and sin—whether original, personal, or social—Niebuhr continues to inspire our reflection on political matters by inviting us to unmask power, pride, and disordered self-interest. More Catholic contributions could have further highlighted Niebuhr’s relevance beyond Protestant circles.