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==Career==
==Career==
Niebuhr grew up in Lincoln, Illinois, where his father Gustav was a pastor in a German-speaking Evangelical congregation.<ref>The Evangelical denomination was the American branch of the established Prussian Church Union in Germany; it is Calvinist and is now part of the United Church of Christ.</ref> His family spoke German; his brother H. Richard Niebuhr became a famous historian of religion, and another brother Hulda Niebuhr became a divinity professor in Chicago. He attended Elmhurst College, Eden Theological Seminary and took a master's degree (but not a doctorate) at Yale Divinity School, noting that Yale gave him intellectual liberation. Ordained in the Evangelical Synod of North America (1915), he served as pastor of the Bethel Evangelical Church in Detroit, until 1928, when he became professor of Christian ethics and the philosophy of religion at Union Theological Seminary in New York City until his retirement in 1960. In 1931 he married Ursula Keppel-Compton, a learned and religious woman who later became chairman of the Religious Department at Barnard College; they had two children.
Niebuhr grew up in Lincoln, Illinois, where his father Gustav was a pastor in a German-speaking Evangelical congregation.<ref>The Evangelical denomination was the American branch of the established Prussian Church Union in Germany; it is Calvinist and is now part of the United Church of Christ.</ref> His family spoke German; his brother H. Richard Niebuhr became a famous historian of religion, and another brother Hulda Niebuhr became a divinity professor in Chicago. He attended Elmhurst College, Eden Theological Seminary and took a master's degree (but not a doctorate) at Yale Divinity School, noting that Yale gave him intellectual liberation. Ordained in the Evangelical Synod of North America (1915), he served as pastor of the Bethel Evangelical Church in Detroit, until 1928, when he became professor of Christian ethics and the philosophy of religion at Union Theological Seminary in New York City until his retirement in 1960. In 1931 he married Ursula Keppel-Compton, a learned and religious woman who later became chairman of the Religion Department at Barnard College (the woman's college of Columbia University); they had two children.
===World War I===
===World War I===
As America entered the World War in 1917, Niebuhr was recently ordained in the German Evangelical Synod of North America and had just become pastor of a congregation in Detroit. He preached the [[Social Gospel]]. During the war he repeatedly stressed the need to be loyal to the nation of one's birth or adoption. Theologically, however, he went beyond the issue of national loyalty as he endeavored to fashion a realistic ethical perspective of patriotism and pacifism. He endeavored to work out a realistic approach to the moral danger posed by aggressive powers which many idealists and pacifists failed to recognize. During the war he also served his denomination as Executive Secretary of the War Welfare Commission while maintaining his pastorate in Detroit. A pacifist at heart, he saw compromise as a necessity and was willing to support war in order to find peace - compromising for the sake of righteousness.<ref> William G. Chrystal, "Reinhold Niebuhr and the First World War." ''Journal of Presbyterian History'' 1977 55(3): 285-298. 0022-3883 </ref>
As America entered the World War in 1917, Niebuhr had just become pastor of a small German-speaking congregation in Detroit. All [[Germania]] and German culture in America was under attack, and he repeatedly stressed the need to be loyal to America. Theologically, however, he went beyond the issue of national loyalty as he endeavored to fashion a realistic ethical perspective of patriotism and pacifism. He endeavored to work out a realistic approach to the moral danger posed by aggressive powers which many idealists and pacifists failed to recognize. During the war he also served his denomination as Executive Secretary of the War Welfare Commission while maintaining his pastorate in Detroit. A pacifist at heart, he saw compromise as a necessity and was willing to support war in order to find peace - compromising for the sake of righteousness.<ref> William G. Chrystal, "Reinhold Niebuhr and the First World War." ''Journal of Presbyterian History'' 1977 55(3): 285-298. 0022-3883 </ref>
AFter the war he preached the [[Social Gospel]], attacking the brutalization and insecurity of auto workers and attacked the appeal of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] to Protestants. He collaborated with the nascent labor unions and abandoned the Social Gospel for a form of socialism in the late 1920s; however by 1932 he had dropped the Marxism and socialism.
===Theology===
===Theology===
In ''The Irony of American History'' (1952) Niebuhr questioned whether a humane, "ironical" interpretation of American history was credible on its own merits, or only in the context of a Christian view of history. Niebuhr's concept of irony referred to situations in which "the consequences of an act are diametrically opposed to the original intention," and "the fundamental cause of the disparity lies in the actor himself, and his original purpose." His reading of American history based on this notion, though from the Christian perspective, is so rooted in historical events that readers who do not share his religious views can be led to the same conclusion.<ref> Martin E. Marty, "Reinhold Niebuhr and the Irony of American History: A Retrospective." ''History Teacher'' 1993 26(2): 161-174. 0018-2745 </ref>
In ''The Irony of American History'' (1952) Niebuhr questioned whether a humane, "ironical" interpretation of American history was credible on its own merits, or only in the context of a Christian view of history. Niebuhr's concept of irony referred to situations in which "the consequences of an act are diametrically opposed to the original intention," and "the fundamental cause of the disparity lies in the actor himself, and his original purpose." His reading of American history based on this notion, though from the Christian perspective, is so rooted in historical events that readers who do not share his religious views can be led to the same conclusion.<ref> Martin E. Marty, "Reinhold Niebuhr and the Irony of American History: A Retrospective." ''History Teacher'' 1993 26(2): 161-174. 0018-2745 </ref>
Niebuhr's great foe was idealism. American idealism, he believed, comes in two forms: the idealism of the antiwar noninterventionists, who are embarrassed by power, and the idealism of pro-war imperialists, who disguise power as virtue. He said the non-interventionists, without mentioning [[Harry Emerson Fosdick]] by name, seek to preserve the purity of their souls, either by denouncing military actions or by demanding that every action taken be unequivocally virtuous. They exaggerate the sins committed by their own country, excuse the malevolence of its enemies, and, as later polemicists have put it, inevitably blame America first. This is all just a pious way of refusing to face real problems, Niebuhr argued.
Niebuhr's great foe was idealism. American idealism, he believed, comes in two forms: the idealism of the antiwar noninterventionists, who are embarrassed by power, and the idealism of pro-war imperialists, who disguise power as virtue. He said the non-interventionists, without mentioning [[Harry Emerson Fosdick]] by name, seek to preserve the purity of their souls, either by denouncing military actions or by demanding that every action taken be unequivocally virtuous. They exaggerate the sins committed by their own country, excuse the malevolence of its enemies, and, as later polemicists have put it, inevitably blame America first. This is all just a pious way of refusing to face real problems, Niebuhr argued.
==World Affairs==
==World Affairs==
Niebuhr supported the Allies during World War II and argued for the engagement of the United States in the war. As a writer popular in the secular as well as religious arena and a professor at the Union Theological Seminary he was very influential both in the United States and abroad. While many clergy proclaimed themselves pacifists because of their World War I experiences, Niebuhr declared a victory by Germany and Japan would threaten Christianity. He renounced his socialist connections and beliefs and resigned from the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation. He based his arguments on the Protestant beliefs that sin is part of the world, that justice must take precedence over love, and that pacifism is a symbolic portrayal of absolute love but cannot prevent sin. Although they did not portray him favorably, Niebuhr's exchanges with his opponents on the issue helped him mature intellectually.<ref> Justus D. Doenecke, "Reinhold Niebuhr and his Critics: The Interventionist Controversy in World War II," ''Anglican and Episcopal History'' 1995 64(4): 459-481. </Ref>
Niebuhr supported the Allies during World War II and argued for the engagement of the United States in the war. As a writer popular in the secular as well as religious arena and a professor at the Union Theological Seminary he was very influential both in the United States and abroad. While many clergy proclaimed themselves pacifists because of their World War I experiences, Niebuhr declared a victory by Germany and Japan would threaten Christianity. He renounced his socialist connections and beliefs and resigned from the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation. He based his arguments on the Protestant beliefs that sin is part of the world, that justice must take precedence over love, and that pacifism is a symbolic portrayal of absolute love but cannot prevent sin. Although they did not portray him favorably, Niebuhr's exchanges with his opponents on the issue helped him mature intellectually.<ref> Justus D. Doenecke, "Reinhold Niebuhr and his Critics: The Interventionist Controversy in World War II," ''Anglican and Episcopal History'' 1995 64(4): 459-481. </Ref>