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gracchian's review against another edition
challenging
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
Within this lost-but-not-irrelevant classic of political theology, Reinhold Niebuhr draws together a vast, auspicious tradition of Christian Realism which goes on to inspire some of the most relevant civil rights & progressive Christian reformists in US history from MLK JR. to President Obama. Those who have read Niebuhr deeply cannot help but carry some trace of his thoughtful philosophy into their views on the world today. Though aged in some respects, Niebuhr's works have nevertheless stood up well to the passage of time, and those involved in politics inevitably become familiar with them, even as Niebuhr has been reduced from the political and priestly celebrity he once was into one of our many forgotten heroes of political tradition.
The flaws inherent in the book are less products of their time, and more the inevitable consequences of a man as creative as Niebuhr in the quest of reconciling political realism with the ideals and virtue-driven charities of Protestant theology of his time. For this reason, this book will likely not step on conservative toes today as it once did—they may find, in fact, a great deal of comfort in Niebuhr—but falls very short of modern progressive expectations. It must be understood that while Niebuhr agreed on countless scores with the progressives of his day, he was not a materialist: he worked tirelessly to reconcile a conservative faith and conservative means with very liberal ends in a way that struggled in the details to not compromise on either. Anyway: whether or not you have dogmatic use of Niebuhr, or expect to be taught anything applicable to your own ideology, does not change that by reading Niebuhr, you will better understand the liberal and conservative traditions in the US, as well as how it is that a vast majority of political liberals and leftists in office in the US are still devout Christians.
The flaws inherent in the book are less products of their time, and more the inevitable consequences of a man as creative as Niebuhr in the quest of reconciling political realism with the ideals and virtue-driven charities of Protestant theology of his time. For this reason, this book will likely not step on conservative toes today as it once did—they may find, in fact, a great deal of comfort in Niebuhr—but falls very short of modern progressive expectations. It must be understood that while Niebuhr agreed on countless scores with the progressives of his day, he was not a materialist: he worked tirelessly to reconcile a conservative faith and conservative means with very liberal ends in a way that struggled in the details to not compromise on either. Anyway: whether or not you have dogmatic use of Niebuhr, or expect to be taught anything applicable to your own ideology, does not change that by reading Niebuhr, you will better understand the liberal and conservative traditions in the US, as well as how it is that a vast majority of political liberals and leftists in office in the US are still devout Christians.
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