Synopsis
Theologians, ethicist, and political analyst, Reinhold Neiburh, was a towering figure of twentieth-century religious thought. In this important book, the best of Neiburh's essays have been brought together for the first time. Selected, edited, and introduced by Robert McAffee Brown - a student and friend of Nieburh's and himself a distinguished thoelogian - the works included here testify to the brilliant polemics, incisive analysis, and deep faith that characterized the whole of Neibuhr's life.
Reviews
Although not a representative selection of Niebuhr's religious, political and social thought, this anthology offers a useful introduction to his work. Brown, a former friend and student of the influential theologian, has concentrated on Niebuhr's theological essays; most of those collected here had gone out of print. Niebuhr the "pessimistic optimist" points out that liberal faith in secular progress must be tempered by awareness of the universal tendency to abuse of power. There is a rousing essay urging the church to take a more active role in combating social justice and inequality, as well as a stinging attack on Christian anti-Semitism. What unites all religions, in Niebuhr's view, is a realization that "love is the law of life," and this underlying belief informs these wise and humanistic essays. He writes about the limitations of rational knowing, the assurance of grace and the shortcomings in Augustine's recipe for leavening the earthly realm with love from the City of God.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Niebuhr was the towering giant of Protestant theology in his time, and also an incisive political thinker during the tumultuous years from the Great Depression to Vietnam. This collection, which brings together Niebuhr's most penetrating and enduring essays on theology and politics, should demonstrate for a new generation that his best thought transcends the immediate historical setting in which he wrote. It also shows why Niebuhr, with his dialectical approach to the central questions of God, man, and history, will likely remain a perennial disturber of the complacencies and cliches of the standard "left" and "right." The anthology is ably edited by Robert McAfee Brown, whose introduction succinctly presents the central features of Niebuhr's life and thought. Mel Piehl, History Dept., Valparaiso Univ., Ind.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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