Abstract
In recent decades, the study of Reinhold Niebuhr has been in a state of perpetual renaissance. From use of Niebuhr’s thought to support and criticize the Afghan and Iraq wars, to Barack Obama’s appeal to Niebuhr as he ran for president, on to James Comey’s fondness for Niebuhr, the storied twentieth-century theologian keeps making waves in American culture. The most recent surge of interest in Niebuhr has been aided by Martin Doblmeier’s recent biopic An American Conscience: The Reinhold Niebuhr Story. Jeremy Sabella’s book by the same title is a companion volume to the movie, and it provides an excellent forum for expanding on themes that could not be adequately treated in a 60-minute movie. For anyone looking to become oriented to Niebuhr’s life and Niebuhr scholarship, this book is an excellent starting point.
Niebuhr must be one of the most biographied theologians of the twentieth century, and Sabella’s book follows a well-worn pattern of mixing the history of the person with the history of his ideas. Sabella opens with a chapter covering from Niebuhr’s early years as pastor and gadfly in Detroit to Niebuhr’s first years at Union Theological Seminary in New York. The narrative diverges and slows for short sections on important figures, like Ursala Keppel-Compton and H. Richard Niebuhr, and Niebuhr’s major works—in this case Moral Man and Immoral Society. This establishes the general flow of the book which continues on, alternating treatments of Niebuhr’s activities, other major figures in his story, and major statements of Niebuhr’s positions as they evolve through time. Chapter 2 moves from Niebuhr’s early academic work through the publication of his magnum opus, The Nature and Destiny of Man. Chapter 3 covers the time from the end of World War II until Niebuhr’s death. The fifth and final chapter turns from biography to an assessment of Niebuhr’s legacy. Here, Sabella includes sections on politics, society, race, gender, and religion.
In general Sabella’s treatment of Niebuhr is charitable. In contrast to some readings, Sabella takes Niebuhr seriously as a theologian. The theological differences between Niebuhr and Barth are given one section in the book, but Niebuhr is given the last word and the later tensions between Niebuhrians and post-liberal theologians do not make an appearance. Critiques of Niebuhr’s work on race and gender are given comparatively more attention in Sabella’s last chapter, but they are used to suggest that we have reasons to revisit and revise Niebuhr’s thought, not reject it. In short, the book is more an appreciation of than a critique of Niebuhr. This makes sense given that it is a companion book to a film emphasizing the need to (re)engage with Niebuhr’s life and works.
While the work is written primarily to introduce readers to Niebuhr, there is also fruitful content for those who are already familiar with Niebuhr’s work. The greatest advantage Sabella has over other intellectual biographers is access to the interviews collected during the filming of An American Conscience. Sabella sprinkles quotes from these interviews throughout his book, and the back cover of the book goes so far as to call the interviewees “contributors” (which is misleading). Usually the insights of the interviewee are used to support general points about Niebuhr’s life or thought, but occasionally, especially when the interviewees had personal experiences with Niebuhr, they provide fresh anecdotes, context, and perspective. Here, I think especially of the comments taken from Elisabeth Sifton, Susannah Heschel, and William H. Hudnut III.
The greatest value of Sabella’s work here is providing a truly accessible introduction to Niebuhr’s life and work. Sabella is a talented writer who both enjoys Niebuhr’s ability to turn a phrase and is able to turn a few phrases himself. The book is thoroughly researched. Sabella is careful to elaborate the historical context in addition to the personal history. The style of the book is engaging. Sabella does an excellent job of bringing Niebuhr to life. In this case, it is no slight to the scholarship involved to note that the book is also fun to read.