17,394
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 1:
Line 1: − + + + +
no edit summary
'''Reinhold Niebuhr''' (1892—1971) was the leading [[Neo-Orthodox]] theologian in the United States and the premier American public theologian of the [[Cold War]] era from 1945 to his death. Niebuhr was the archetypal American intellectual of the Cold War era. Starting as a leftist minister in the 1920s, he explored how the sin of pride created evil in the world. He attacked utopianianism and useless for dealing with reality, His Christian pessimism continued after 1945 and led him to support US efforts to confront Soviet communism around the world.
'''Reinhold Niebuhr''' (1892—1971) was the leading [[Neo-Orthodox]] theologian in the United States and the premier American public theologian of the [[Cold War]] era from 1945 to his death. Niebuhr was the archetypal American intellectual of the Cold War era. Starting as a leftist minister in the 1920s, he explored how the sin of pride created evil in the world. He attacked utopianianism and useless for dealing with reality, writing in ''The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness'' (1944):
:"Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary."
His Christian pessimism continued after 1945 and led him to support US efforts to confront Soviet communism around the world.
Niebuhr's perspective had a great impact on many liberals, who came to support a "realist" foreign policy. He is a favorite thinker of both [[Jimmy Carter]] and [[Barack Hussein Obama]].<ref>Frank A. Ruechel, "Politics And Morality Revisited: Jimmy Carter and Reinhold Niebuhr." ''Atlanta History'' 1994 37(4): 19-31; also [http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=14256 "Reinhold Niebuhr is Unseen Force in 2008 Elections"], September 27, 2007, Benedicta Cipolla, ''Religion News Service'' of the ''Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life'' </ref>.
Niebuhr's perspective had a great impact on many liberals, who came to support a "realist" foreign policy. He is a favorite thinker of both [[Jimmy Carter]] and [[Barack Hussein Obama]].<ref>Frank A. Ruechel, "Politics And Morality Revisited: Jimmy Carter and Reinhold Niebuhr." ''Atlanta History'' 1994 37(4): 19-31; also [http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=14256 "Reinhold Niebuhr is Unseen Force in 2008 Elections"], September 27, 2007, Benedicta Cipolla, ''Religion News Service'' of the ''Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life'' </ref>.