Human Nature, Interest, and Power: A Critique of Reinhold Niebuhr's Social Thought - Softcover

Sample, Tex

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1620326264 ISBN 13: 9781620326268

Publisher: Cascade Books, 2013

Synopsis

This book criticizes three basic concepts in Reinhold Niebuhr's social thought: his views of human nature, interest, and power. Attention is directed especially at the way Niebuhr's concepts lack sufficient historicity, obscure social and political dynamics, and, finally, lack adequate descriptive power. An alternative to each of these concepts is offered and used as a way to open up social thought to more complex analysis, more concrete and material uses, and a discussion of implications for alternative direction and action.

About this title

About the Author

Tex Sample is the Robert B. and Kathleen Rogers Professor Emeritus of Church and Society at the Saint Paul School of Theology (Kansas City). Author of ten previous books, his most recent is The Future of John Wesley's Theology (Cascade, 2012). He is a freelance speaker and workshop leader in the United States and overseas and is active in broad-based organizing in Phoenix, Arizona.

Review

''Tex Sample has written a shrewd and penetrating critique of Reinhold Niebuhr. With reference to recent critical theory, he goes beneath the generalizing abstractions to contextual work; he traces the way in which our attentiveness to contextual differences has advanced since Niebuhr. Future work on Niebuhr will want to take Sample's study into close consideration.''
--Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary

''Sample deftly moves between theory and practice to produce a lively interpretation of Reinhold Niebuhr focused on his social thought. Using the themes of human nature, interest, and power he guides the reader into Niebuhr's world to ask how he is or is not relevant for the thorny realities of our contemporary world. Grounded by his lifelong pursuit of social justice, this is Tex Sample at his best--probing, candid, rigorous, and relevant.''
--Emilie M. Townes, Yale Divinity School

''Tex Sample stands among a small number of theologians who understand theory must be informed by practice and experience. His critical challenges to Niebuhr's concepts of power and self-interest reflect both his serious engagement as a scholar of Niebuhr and his on-the-ground experience as a leader with the Industrial Areas Foundation organizations in Arizona.''
--Ernesto Cortes, Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation --Wipf and Stock Publishers

About this edition

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1620326264
• ISBN 13: 9781620326268
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 186