Christianity and Power Politics

by Reinhold Niebuhr

A book that delves into power politics.

226 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1969

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

[Hank · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting more theology than there was, but he does make an excellent twentieth century political philosopher. His core theological arguments, which form the basis of his political thought, can be summed up as "realist": accepting that humanity has limitations which it will never exceed, and demonstrating Christianity exists to navigate this dilemma in contrast to communism, capitalism, liberalism, socialism, and idealism.