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moreteamorecats's review
4.0
Alongside [b:Moral Man and Immoral Society|55235|Moral Man and Immoral Society A Study of Ethics and Politics (Library of Theological Ethics)|Reinhold Niebuhr|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170448983s/55235.jpg|53848], I would call this the essential Niebuhr. He was, by all accounts, at his very best in the pulpit. Here we see him cleaning up some of the products of his '30s and '40s preaching work for publication (or so I read it). His most profound influence was on his own students and on the young elite men he reached through frequent university campus preaching. Niebuhr speaks more powerfully than any preacher I know to those who feel responsible for the fate of the world.
He offers two theses for the book in a preface: "that the biblical view of life is dialectical", and "that the Christian view of history passes through the sense of the tragic to a hope and an assurance which is 'beyond tragedy'". The two complement each other: The first describes Niebuhr's exegetical, and the second his theological project in the sermons that follow. Implicit in both is Niebuhr's dialectical homiletics, which draws up powerful rhetorical antitheses characteristically left in paradox.
When dealing with the specifics of philosophy and history, Niebuhr indulges in a great deal of standard pulpit oversimplification. He is at his strongest as a narrator of human nature, especially when he focuses his remarks on the life of Christ; and at his weakest when showing off his erudition. From the perspective of ascetical theology, however, the most important thing about a sermon is not its historical accuracy or even its doctrinal content as such, but its effectiveness in urging listeners to just and holy action. Those effects, in turn, cannot be read entirely off the text; but Niebuhr makes an excellent case that his own dialectical preaching is reflective of the Christian faith's definitive ascetical text, namely Scripture itself.
He offers two theses for the book in a preface: "that the biblical view of life is dialectical", and "that the Christian view of history passes through the sense of the tragic to a hope and an assurance which is 'beyond tragedy'". The two complement each other: The first describes Niebuhr's exegetical, and the second his theological project in the sermons that follow. Implicit in both is Niebuhr's dialectical homiletics, which draws up powerful rhetorical antitheses characteristically left in paradox.
When dealing with the specifics of philosophy and history, Niebuhr indulges in a great deal of standard pulpit oversimplification. He is at his strongest as a narrator of human nature, especially when he focuses his remarks on the life of Christ; and at his weakest when showing off his erudition. From the perspective of ascetical theology, however, the most important thing about a sermon is not its historical accuracy or even its doctrinal content as such, but its effectiveness in urging listeners to just and holy action. Those effects, in turn, cannot be read entirely off the text; but Niebuhr makes an excellent case that his own dialectical preaching is reflective of the Christian faith's definitive ascetical text, namely Scripture itself.
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