Beyond Reinhold Niebuhrg

Click here for the November 1, 2004 Editorial: “Where is Reinhold Niebuhr?”

The serenity, courage and wisdom of Reinhold Niebuhr are present for a generation faithful enough to care. Many of us in older generations know about the one whom George Kennan referred to as “the father of us all.” One of my hopes for this guest editorial is that the younger generations will discover for themselves at some depth this theological prophet and this political philosopher who made a difference in the life of his beloved USA and the world.

O. Ben Sparks, editor of The Presbyterian Outlook asked in a Nov. 1 editorial: “Where is Reinhold Niebuhr?”  The question was asked before the presidential election; this is being written after the election, with the fervent prayer: “God bless America.” George W. Bush and the entire nation have a unique opportunity to hear and heed the profound truth contained in Niebuhr’s concept of “Christian Realism.”

Almighty God is known to us because God built into our capabilities the freedom to respond (or not) to God’s grace and mercy. Niebuhr was convinced that while we humans are able to know God personally, we can never know God completely. “The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory—full of grace and truth” (John 1:14) is central to Niebuhr’s theology. God in Christ known through the Holy Spirit is the ultimate mystery and the final meaning for humanity.

Niebuhr’s realism centered on his strong conviction that while human beings are created in the image of God, we are sinners in desperate need of forgiveness. While we can attain the heights of marvelous achievements in the arts and sciences, we are also prone to the depths of evil in idolatry, cruelty and unspeakable horrors.

Niebuhr used this sober, thoughtful Christian Realism to assault the over-zealous optimism of those who thought progress was inevitable and that society was automatically getting better and better. (There were those who actually thought that is the early 20^th century.) He also accosted the over-pessimistic doomsayers who believed that the world was an evil place that corrupted people and the only solution was for Jesus to come again and snatch a few faithful ones from the eternal hell fires. Christian Realism combines the incentives to grow, improve, and develop natural talents with a stern warning to become more aware of over-reacting, over-reaching, and over-reliance on one’s own virtue. True humility is the greatest virtue and arrogant pride the greatest vice in Christian Realism.

This pastor, educator made the necessary shift from individual, personal, legitimate concerns to the group dynamic of culture. Self-interest is important. Collective interest of the larger society is also important. The necessary tension between the two forms the basis of Niebuhr’s theory of democracy. “Democracy is a perennially valuable form of social organization in which freedom and order are made to support, and not to contradict, each other. Ideally, Democracy is a permanently valid form of social and political organization that does justice to three dimensions of human existence:

1. To humanity’s spiritual stature and social character,

2. to the uniqueness and variety of life,

3. to the common necessities of all men.”[1]

And “Man’s capacity for justice makes Democracy possible; but man’s inclination to injustice makes Democracy necessary.”[2]

The word politics goes back to the Greek word polis, which Aristotle defined as a city in which a person can work out reasonable and responsible ways to live with many other people. Niebuhr advocated a delicate balance between self-interest and public interest, between freedom and order, and between incentives to do good and restraints on doing evil. Therefore, politics, with its many implications, is an essential element in human life.

“We may well designate the moral cynics who know no law beyond their will and interest as children of darkness …. Those who believe that self-interest should be brought under the discipline of a higher law could then be termed the children of light.”[3]

Both these terms are taken from Luke 16:8. Evil is the assertion of some self-interest without regard to the whole. Good is a blend of self-interest and public interest that benefits both the person and society.

The restraint of power is an essential safeguard in a democracy. Sometimes coercive force is necessary, yet such power requires strong discipline of proper responsibility and accountability.

Reinhold Niebuhr addresses primarily the rich, powerful, and successful. In warning against over-reaching pride and arrogance, he sharply criticizes the naïveté of the children of light for their vulnerability to self-deception and twisted virtues turned in on themselves. The final result of such blindness is hubris and irony that is self-deceptive and self-destructive. He criticizes the children of darkness for their moral cynicism in depending on mere power to enforce their will and values on others.

The courage to speak the truth to the powerful remains exceptionally difficult and dangerous. Yet it is the strong. Successful persons who need to be reminded that the abuse of power inevitably leads to the corruption of self-interest and the destruction of the values one holds dear. The perennial temptation to misuse power should be recognized and resisted as an essential element in Christian Realism as advocated by Reinhold Niebuhr.

To understand more clearly the political philosophy of Niebuhr is to go beyond his thoughts with imagination, self-understanding, and moral courage. The active dynamic of Niebuhr’s theology and political philosophy clearly indicate that history is always developing in a dramatic fashion. The complexity and difficulty of dynamic competing vitalities challenges the best within us. “Democracy is a method of finding proximate solutions for unsolvable problems.”[4]

No one can predict for sure what Niebuhr would think and write about our current problems of the Israel-Palestine conflict, the war in Iraq, the relationship between the Muslim and Christian worldviews or the balance between security and civil liberties. One thing is certain, however. Niebuhr would urge each of us to explore these modern problems with all the intensity and urgent motivation of which we are capable. He has given us some helpful clues on how to live together in a complex and conflicted world. Yet it is not easy for the USA to develop a reasonable and responsible relationship with the rest of the world. Being the only world super power requires a strong discipline and delicate balance of national and world interest. Niebuhr’s famous prayer is relevant to all the above–and beyond: Lord, give us the serenity to accept those things that cannot be changed, the courage to change those things which can be changed and the wisdom to know the one from the other.

RALPH D. BUCY is a retired Presbyterian minister living in Massanetta Springs, Va.

Bibliography Notes: I have found the following useful and recommend them to you (in addition to Children of Light, Children of Darkness:

R. Niebuhr, The Irony of American History, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1952.

Richard W. Fox, Reinhold Niebuhr—A Biography, New York: Pantheon, 1985.

Robin W. Lovin, Reinhold Niebuhr and Christian Realism, London: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

Ronald H. Stone, Reinhold Niebuhr, Prophet to Politicians, Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1981.

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