Biography
Reinhold Niebuhr was born 21 June 1892, in Wright City, Missouri to
Gustav and Lydia Niebuhr. His father was a Protestant minister. According
to several sources, at the age of ten Niebuhr decided that he wanted
to become a
minister like his father.
Niebuhr’s education was focused on theological concerns. He attended
Elmhurst College and Eden Theological
Seminary from 1910 to 1913. He then attended Yale University, from which he obtained
both his undergraduate and master’s degrees in divinity. After graduating
in the spring of 1915, Niebuhr was ordained by the Evangelical
Synod of North
America (today the United Church of Christ).
The church assigned Niebuhr to the Bethel Evangelical Church inDetroit,
Michigan, where he served as pastor from 1915 to 1928. It was a small,
close-knit congregation of workers. Serving the community, Niebuhr came
to view modern industrialism as dehumanizing, making the individual
subordinate to industrial production. Increasingly, Niebuhr was aligned
with progressive politics and concerned with issues of social justice.
Though increasingly liberal, Niebuhr was also fearful of totalitarian
governments. His distrust of Communism was more about the political practices
he saw in the Russian Revolution and within the Communist Party than
a disagreement with the philosophy of Karl Marx.
Niebuhr wrote:
Among the many weaknesses of the Protestant
movement, surely its indifference to the social substance of human
existence is the most grievous one. In an industrial civilization and
in an age of nuclear terror, the renewal of the church must certainly
include full awareness of the fact that we are all involved in the
virtues and the vices, the guilt and the promises of our generation.
In a sense it is true that we cannot be saved unless we are all
saved.
In 1928, Niebuhr left Detroit for a teaching post at
Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He served as an associate
professor of the philosophy of
religion from 1928 to 1930. In 1930, he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in
the United States Congress as a Socialist.
From 1930 until 1955, Niebur was a junior professor
of applied
Christianity. During this time he was increasingly involved in progressive causes
and was, for a time, a avowed pacifist.
Niebuhr
married Ursula Mary Keppel-Compton, a scholar and theologian in 1931.
Before the start of World War II, noted theologian Paul
Tillich fled Germany and emigrated to the United States. Niebuhr
was instrumental in Tillich joining the faculty of Union Theological
Seminary. Tillich, like many intellectuals, had been dismissed from
a teaching post by the National Socialists. It was increasingly clear
that Hitler was an opponent of academic and personal freedoms.
Pacifism became untenable after
the Nazi occupation of the Rhineland in 1936. Niebuhr urged U.S.
intervention on behalf of the Allies. Niebuhr viewed the
Hitler and his tactics as profoundly anti-Christian — and a threat to
the Western democracies.
Through a series of promotions, Niebuhr steadily advanced his career
at Union Theological. He was made a graduate professor
of Ethics
and theology in 1955. Five years later, in 1960, he was appointed vice-president
of the seminary.
Niebuhr remained politically active throughout his life. He was a co-founder
of Americans for
Democratic Action and also a co-founder of the Fellowship of Socialist
Christians. Though he never doubted the need to respond militarily to
Hitler, Niebuhr wondered what could be done to avert another such war.
He was appointed a research associate at the Institute of War and Peace
Studies, housed at Columbia University.
Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man’s inclination
to injustice makes democracy necessary.
In 1960, a professorship was established and funded in his honor at
Union Theological Seminary. Sponsors of the chair included T. S. Eliot
and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Niebuhr died 1
June 1971.
Chronology
| 1892 June 21 |
Born in Wright City, Missouri, to Gustav (a minister) and
Lydia (Hosto) Niebuhr |
| 1910–1913; |
Attended Elmhurst College, 1910, and Eden Theological Seminary |
| 1914–1915 |
Yale University, B.D., M.A. |
| 1915 |
Ordained to ministry of Evangelical Synod of North America (United
Church of Christ) |
| 1915–1928 |
Pastor of Bethel Evangelical Church, Detroit |
| 1928–1930 |
Associate professor of
the philosophy of religion, Union Theological Seminary, New York |
| 1930 |
Runs for United States Congress as a Socialist. |
| 1930–1955 |
Professor of Applied Christianity |
| 1931 |
Marries Ursula Mary Keppel-Compton (a scholar-theologian) |
| 1955–1960 |
Graduate Professor of Ethics and Theology |
| 1955–1960 |
Vice-president of Union Theological Seminary |
| 1960–1971 |
Professor emeritus |
| 1971 June 1 |
Dies |
Works
It should be noted that many of the works listed are
pamphlets and lectures, not texts or essays. Niebuhr’s political pamphlets
are among his more important works, especially in light of his rejection
of pacifism during World War II. And yes, many of his works have very
long titles.
- Does Civilization Need Religion? A Study in the Social Resources
and
Limitations of Religion in Modern Life: 1927
- Leaves from the Notebook
of a Tamed Cynic: 1929, 1976
- The Contribution of Religion to Social Work, Lectures:
1932, 1971
- Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics:
1932, 1960
- Reflections on the End of an Era: 1934
- An Interpretation of Christian Ethics, Lectures: 1935,
new preface by the author, 1956
- Beyond Tragedy: Essays on the Christian Interpretation of History:
1937, 1976
- Do the State and Nation Belong to God or the Devil? Lecture: 1937
- The Protestant Opposition Church Movement in Germany, 1934-1937,
Pamphlet: 1937
- Christianity and Power Politics: 1940, 1969
- Christian Realism in Contemporary American Theology: 1940
- Europe’s Catastrophe and the Christian Faith: 1940
- Why the Christian Church Is Not Pacifist: 1940
- The Nature and Destiny of Man: A Christian Interpretation, Lectures, two volumes, 1941, 1943
- Jews after the War, Pamphlet: 1943
- The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness: A Vindication
of
Democracy and a Critique of Its Traditional Defence: 1944, 1972
- Discerning the Signs of the Times: Sermons for Today and Tomorrow, Sermons:
1946
- Faith and History: A Comparison of Christian and Modern Views of History: 1949
- The Irony of American History: 1952, 1962
- Christian Realism and Political Problems: 1953, 1977
- Religion and Freedom of Thought, Lectures: 1954
- The Self and the Dramas of History: 1955
- Pious and Secular America: 1958
(In England: The Godly and the Ungodly: Essays on the Religious and Secular Dimensions
of Modern Life)
- A Nation so Conceived: Reflections on the History
of America from Its Early Visions to Its Present Power, with Alan Heimert:
1963
- Man’s Nature and His Communities: Essays on the Dynamics and
Enigmas of Man’s Personal and Social Existence: 1965
- The Democratic Experience: Past and Prospects, with
Paul E. Sigmund: 1969
- Reminiscences, Oral History (film):
1972
Commentaries
Reinhold Niebuhr is probably best known for his leftist politics, but
he always considered himself a Christian theologian dedicated to the
concept of social justice and equality. He viewed his political efforts
as part of his Christian duty to help others. Niebuhr’s effort to integrate
Christian beliefs with current philosophical trends, especially in political
theory, appealed to a wide audience that included Arthur Schlesinger,
Jr., Dean Acheson, and James Reston.
Time magazine described Niebuhr as, “the greatest Protestant
theologian born in America
since Jonathan Edwards.” Edwards (5 October 1703 — 22 March 1758) was a leading
Calvanist theologian whose writings influenced American theology for
nearly 200 years. While Edwards was a fundamentalist, Niebuhr represented
a more modern version of orthodox theology: conservative only in theological
terms.
Niebuhr’s Protestant theology combined the teachings of Augustine,
Luther, and Calvin. Unlike the emerging liberal movement within the faith,
Niebuhr adopted the traditional Christian view of man as flawed, condemned
by the effects of original sin. He regarded liberal theologians as “utopian.”
He rejected what he considered two
extremes within Protestantism: total withdrawal from
the
secular, and total immersion into politics and the affairs of the world
through “social
gospel.” Niebuhr sought a middle
course by developing a workable political philosophy
built on the foundation of Christianity.
Politically, Niebuhr was described as socialist, liberal, and pragmatist.
By the start of the twenty-first century, such a mixture of orthodox
Christianity and liberal political beliefs might best be described as
unusual.
Bibliography
Niebuhr, Reinhold; Remembering Reinhold Niebuhr: Letters of Reinhold
and Ursula M. Niebuhr (New York: Harper, 1991)
