The Essential Reinhold Niebuhr: Selected Essays and Addresses

Description

Theologian, ethicist, and political analyst, Reinhold Niebuhr was a towering figure of twentieth-century religious thought. Now newly repackaged, this important book gathers the best of Niebuhr’s essays together in a single volume. Selected, edited, and introduced by Robert McAfee Brown—a student and friend of Niebuhr’s and himself a distinguished theologian—the works included here testify to the brilliant polemics, incisive analysis, and deep faith that characterized the whole of Niebuhr’s life. “This fine anthology makes available to a new generation the thought of one of the most penetrating and rewarding of twentieth-century minds. Reinhold Niebuhr remains the great illuminator of the dark conundrums of human nature, history and public policy.”—Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. “Sparkling gems. . . brought from the shadows of history into contemporary light. Beautifully selected and edited, they show that Niebuhr’s fiery polemics and gracious assurances still speak with power to us today.”—Roger L. Shinn “An extremely useful volume.”—David Brion Davis, New York Review of Books “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. . . . [Brown’s] introduction succinctly presents the central features of Niebuhr’s life and thought.”—Library Journal CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION I. PESSIMISTIC OPTIMISM 1. OPTIMISM, PESSIMISM, AND RELIGIOUS FAITH II. GOD'S JUSTICE AND MERCY 2. THE POWER AND WEAKNESS OF GOD 3. TWO SERMONS 4 HUMOUR AND FAITH 5. THE ASSURANCE OF GRACE 6. PRAYERS III. THE CHURCH AND THE MODERN WORLD 7. THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN A SECULAR AGE 8. THE CHRISTIAN WITNESS IN THE SOCIAL AND NATIONAL ORDER 9. WHY THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IS NOT PACIFIST IV. THEOLOGICAL ETHICS: RESOURCES FOR ENGAGEMENT 10. AUGUSTINE'S POLITICAL REALISM 11. LOVE AND LAW IN PROTESTANTISM AND CATHOLICISM 12. THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT AND THE CHILDREN OF DARKNESS 13. THE RELATIONS OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS IN WESTERN CIVILIZATION V. THE POSSIBILITIES AND LIMITATIONS OF OUR KNOWING 14. IDEOLOGY AND THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD 15. COHERENCE, INCOHERENCE, AND CHRISTIAN FAITH 16. MYSTERY AND MEANING EPILOGUE: A VIEW OF LIFE FROM THE SIDELINES INDEX OF PERSONS INDEX OF SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES INDEX OF SUBJECTS