Joe Hoffmann

Media Assignment

 

Moral Man and Immoral Society: The Public Theology of Reinhold Niebhur

 

 

            In Moral Man and Immoral Society many renowned thinkers and theologians discussed the life of Reinhold Niebhur.  Reinhold was a popular thinker and activist of the 20^th century.  He was born in 1892 to a Protestant minister but went on to become Christian.  At 23 he went to Detroit to become a force for labor rights and race relations.  In 1928 he moved to New York City to teach Social Ethics at Union Theology Ceminary for three decades.  Reinhold Niebhur died in 1971.

            Reinhold was a popular thinker who confronted the problems of his time.  Reinhold was critical of his fellow Christians failure to face the world’s complexities head on.  Reinhold believed in Christian Realism, the middle way between idealism and arrogance.  He was looked upon highly by society and he was often looked to for political advise and views. 

            According to Niebhur “man has been his own most vexing problem.”  Niebhur sees us as being our own challenge to faith.  Another insightful quote of Niebhur is “humans live in the tension between nature and spirit, between knowledge of mortality and our intimations of transcendent meaning.”  These tensions also pose a challenge to our faith.  If we are constantly pulled between the tensions in our conscience it can warp our views on faith and life.  In one of his sermons Niebhur said, “natural instincts are to close the great structure of life’s meaning prematurely.”  If we close off our world prematurely we loose the ability to grow and learn.  All of these challenges can be detrimental to our faith.

            Another problem Niebhur said that we have is “we try to put religion with politics, try to put morals of religion in politics but we don’t.”  We can say we have faith in our religion but many of us don’t show that in our actions.  We try to use good morals in politics but we never seem to do so.  Niebhur said that we are not realistic, and I believe this is another challenge to faith.  He said “we have to be realistic, you have to understand that everything isn’t perfect.”  He also said that “everyone benefits from criticism.”  I believe that this positive criticism is a good way to grow in our faith.  He said that many of us are bound by the boundaries drawn by society and we do not understand that these boundaries can always expand, we just have to have the motivation to expand them.

            I would like to finish with a quote from Niebhur which helps us understand our faith, “Nothing which is true, beautiful, or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history therefore we must be saved by faith.”