Beyond Tragedy: Essays on the Christian Interpretation of History

by Reinhold Niebuhr

Paperback edition with some wear. No markings on pages.

Genres: Theology, Philosophy, Religion, History, Christian, Nonfiction, Christianity

306 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

U.S. theologian. The son of an evangelical minister, he studied at Eden Theological Seminary and Yale Divinity School. He was ordained in the Evangelical Synod of North America in 1915 and served as pastor of Bethel Evangelical Church in Detroit, Mich., until 1928. His years in that industrial city made him a critic of capitalism and an advocate of socialism. From 1928 to 1960 he taught at New York's Union Theological Seminary. His influential writings, which forcefully criticized liberal Protestant thought and emphasized the persistence of evil in human nature and social institutions, include Moral Man and Immoral Society (1932), The Nature and Destiny of Man, 2 vol. (1941 – 43), and The Self and the Dramas of History (1955).

from The Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

A 1958 interview with Reinhold Niebuhr: http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/multimedia/video/2008/wallace/niebuhr_reinhold.html

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alongside Moral Man and Immoral Society, 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.

[Paul Marxhausen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading Niebuhr's work more or less to add to my "theodicy collection" somebody reputed to be indispensible. I've had to slow down and chew on his writing more than I'm used to, rewind and review. I think he repays the effort, though.

This particular group of essays stood out from the other Niebuhr compilation I've been reading in two ways: first, these sermons are accessible and succinct. Second, they resonate in our current time. These were written late 1930s, before WW II got underway in earnest but not before fascism, Nazism, and Marxism ascended on the world stage. The observations Niebuhr makes in the philosophical, theological and political atmosphere of that time carry keen insights and cautions for our own.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic collection of sermons edited for publication, highly illuminating.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Regrettably, I had to return this out-of-print book to the library before I could finish the last two or three chapters. Looking forward to getting it back after the current borrower is done with it!

Niebuhr's writing made an impression on me simply because it is so humane. There are certain orientalist undercurrents in some of what he writes, but the power of his vision is somehow able to mute these shortcomings significantly.

Apparently, up until fairly recently, Niebuhr was regarded as a theologian who was mostly relevant only for the concerns of his time (WWII, McCarthyism, etc.). However, this view is beginning to change and I look forward to the day when I can actually find Beyond Tragedy in a bookstore.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of 15 lectures or sermons. They were originally delivered orally and then the book was created by reconstructing them as written essays. Each starts with a passage of scripture that presents the basic topic of the sermon. There were some recurring themes about the dialectical conflicts between body and spirit, good and evil, individual and social system. Also, Niebuhr comes back to the ideas of the persistence of sin and the necessity for God's intervention to achieve the fulfillment of hope and resurrection. An interesting book, but it was sometimes dense reading and somewhat difficult to comprehend.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wonder if Strauss got obsessed with the "seriousness" of life by reading Niebuhr? This book reads like a series of intellectual sermons. Good topics, but not exactly academic. Political philosophy from a christian perspective.

[Gordon Laatz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every American should read this book to understand the peculiar dynamics behind American politics and to see where their Christian views may have caused them to create political idolatry.

[Jamall Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Niebuhr's nascent, though rich, theological views are in this text. Some essential readings are in this. He can be a little vague but very persuasive.