Moral Man and Immoral Society

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

Reinhold Niebuhr was a German American Son of Protestant Minister who has often been described as unusual because of the impact he had on the secular and religious world. He wrote the famous serenity prayer and is considered one of America's most influential thinkers and activists. He understood human societies and human nature and realized that we often have to pick between evil and more evil instead of a good and an evil.

For decades he defined how Americans with realistic faith would deal with the world and was known literally to hosts of people and remained active in American life until his death.

He was part of the liberal protestant tradition and he innovated the term Christian Realism.

His embodiment of the ideals concerning public theology had a deep impact on activists such as, Martin Luther King. His voice was heard everywhere;There were articles in Time Magazine about him, he was on TV, and gave public speeches and sermons.

Small Sampling of Quotes From Niebuhr

"Man has always been his own most vexing problem"

"Man lives in the tension between nature and spirit, between knowledge of our mortality and our intimations of transcendent meaning. Our highest hope and calling is to live responsibly in this tension."

"Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, could be accomplished alone; therefore, we must be saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our own standpoint; therefore, we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness."

Mr. Richard Wightman Fox's Interpretation of Niebuhr

One of Fox's Focus Quotes from Niebuhr:

"He exhorted his readers and listeners to take responsibility for their world while warning them against the temptation to try to perfect it."

Fox believes that the term responsibility is really important to this quote because it captures Niebuhr's belief that you are always measuring your responsible behavior based on Christ's command to love your nieghbor, but watching out for the fanaticism and the hubris that may come from thinking that everyone must follow your Christian ideas in order to create this better world. Fox also believes that by religion, Niebuhr meant all religion, even secular religion, like communism. Niebuhr felt that you always had to engage a subject with self-critical engagement in order to avoid fanaticism and hubris. Though Niebuhr was socially active, he believed in gradual change in all things.

Fox also noticed that Niebuhr often emphasized paradoxes of the Christian faith in his speeches.
One such paradoxical phrase would be:

"You have to lose in order to gain"

By using Christian paradoxes in secular speeches, he brought those paradoxes to the secular world. Niebuhr's ultimate paradox was that those good people who try to achieve social justice, inevitably sin during their quest. The ultimate paradox is that sin accompanies the quest for love and justice.

Another Niebuhr quote important to Fox:

"Religions grow out of the real experience in which tragedy mingles with beauty and man learns that the moral values which dignify his life are embattled in his own soul and imperiled in the world."

Mr. Michael Cromartie's Interpretation of Niebuhr

Cromartie's key Niebuhr quote:

"Politics is the art of finding approximate solutions to basically insoluble problems."

Cromartie saw that Niebuhr believed in working for a certain amount of justice, a certain amount of order, but it will never be utopian.

Mr. Chris Hedges's Interpretation of Niebuhr

Hedge's key Niebuhr quote:

"When we make a decision, because we don't know the will of God, we often don't know the consequences of our actions, and however well-intentioned, we must always ask for forgiveness and be very frightened of hubris. And hubris, as the ancient Greeks know, can destroy us."

Hedge thinks Niebuhr understood human societies and he understood human nature and he understood that we usually have to make moral choices not between moral and immoral but between immoral and more immoral, and when you don't want to be tainted, you don't make a choice. Hedge also believes that because we live in a fallen world, because we often don't get to pick between good and evil but between evil and more evil,we, in the end have to be tainted, you have to make a choice and this is what Niebuhr thought too.

Mr. Charles Villa-Vicencio's Interpretation of Niebuhr

Mr. Charles Villa-Vicencio sees that Niebuhr thought that it's easier to be a moral individual than a moral community because all sorts of forces are built into those communities, which makes it very, very difficult to persuade communities. So, in the end you would do more good by just being a moral man yourself, instead of worrying about what the rest of the community was doing.

Ms. Jean Bethke Elshtain's Interpretation of Niebuhr

Elshtain's key Niebuhr quote:

"Who is my brother? Who is my sister?"

Eltshain believes this should always be the central moving question when asking anything. Niebuhr used this question to further the argument that the U.S. should enter World War II since the Jewish are our brothers and if part of the Nazi's goals included the extermination of our brothers then we should stand opposed to them.

Other key ideas from Niebuhr that really spoke to her and her understanding of him included his idea that human beings are finite and that that idea is important to remember. Niehburh believed that since we are finite as beings, so are the politics that we create. Just like us, our politics are frail and incomplete. He also believed that though politics were neccessary and good, there can be no ultimacy in them. A perfectionist standard cannot be achieved in politics.

Mr. Robin Lovin's Interpretation of Niebuhr

Lovin believes that Niebuhr's creativity was in his ability both to be realistic about what was going on and at the same time to tell us never to absolutize the historical situation in which we live, to realize that its parameters are always open to change. And we're going to be most surprised by the way those basic historical realities change, not just by events that sneak up on us.

Lovin beleives that the Niebuhr's true goal was not to find one group whose ideas matched truth and wisom and give them power, but instead his goal was to listen to everyone and remind them to be self-critical because even the wisest among us can benefit from criticism.

Other Links

- More Great Quotes - Some quotes on Wikiquote

- The Program - A link to the program that this page summarizes

- The Book - A link to the book on Amazon