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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 September 2013
Reinhold Niebuhr has profoundly affected American thought in theology, on society, and about politics. He has puzzled more than one of his many critics and commentators, especially by the veritable panorama of doctrines which, at one time or another, he has appeared to advocate: several varieties of socialism, liberalism, and what seems to be a sort of mellow conservatism. The confusion engendered by this ideological medley has not been alleviated either by the voluminous extent of his writings, or by his teutonic, yet highly personal style. But Niebuhr's policy suggestions have been shaped in response to changing conditions in the political world. Deeper analysis reveals a remarkably consistent teaching, present in all essential respects at least as early as his Moral Man and Immoral Society, which if not a philosophy, is at least a theology of politics. The scope of this paper prevents any examination of the entire intellectual pilgrimage of Reinhold Niebuhr; I shall confine my attention to the main lines of his political teaching.
1 In referring to Niebuhr's major works, I have adopted a system of abbreviations, as listed below. Unless otherwise noted, the publisher is Scribner's, New York.
BT Beyond Tragedy, 1938
CPP Christianity and Power Politics, 1940
CRPP Christian Realism and Political Problems, 1953
DCR Does Civilization Need Religion? (Mamillan, 1944; orig. 1927)
SOT Discerning the Signs of the Times, 1946
FH Faith and History, 1949
ICE An Interpretation of Christian Ethics (Harper, 1935)
MMIS Moral Man and Immoral Society, 1932
REE Reflections on the End of an Era, 1934
CLCD The Children of Light and the Childre of Darkness, 1944
IAH The Irony of American History, 1954
HN The Nature and Destiny of Man (vol. I), 1951 Google Scholar
HD The Nature and Destiny of Man (vol. II), 1951 Google Scholar
SDH The Self and the Dramas of History, 1955
SNE The Structure of Nations and Empires 1959
WCAR The World Crisis and American Responsibility, Lefever, E., ed., (Associated Press, New York, 1958)Google Scholar
2 Paul Tillich has suggested that Niebuhr's major stylistic fault is an “overpredilection for paradox”; “Niebuhr's Theory of Knowledge” in Kegley, C. and Bretall, R., eds., Reinhold Niebuhr: His Religious, Social, and Political Thought (New York, 1956)Google Scholar.
3 Critical writings about Niebuhr are almost as numerous as his own writings. Among the most useful are: Kegley and Bretall, op. cit.; Thompson, Kenneth W., “Beyond the National Interest,” Review of Politics, Vol. 17 (April 1955), pp. 167–188 CrossRefGoogle Scholar and “Toward a Theory of International Relations,” this Review, Vol. 49 (September 1955), pp. 733–746 Google Scholar; Olan, Levi, “Reinhold Niebuhr and the Hebraic Spirit,” Judaism, Vol. 5 (Spring 1956), pp. 1–15 Google Scholar; Jacobson, N. P., “Reinhold Niebuhr's Philosophy of History,” Harvard Theologcal Review, Vol. 37 (October 1944), pp. 237–268 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; also the sections on Niebuhr, in White, Morton, Social Thought in America: The Revolt Against Formalism (Boston, 1956)Google Scholar and Frankel, Charles, The Case for Modern Man (New York, 1956)Google Scholar.
4 Hartz, Louis, “The Coming of Age of America,” this Review, Vol. 51 (June 1957), pp. 474–483 Google Scholar.
5 Nye, Russel B., “The Search for the Individual, 1750–1850,” Centennial Review, Vol. V (Winter 1961), pp. 1–20 Google Scholar.
6 Clive, Geoffrey, The Romantic Enlightenment; Ambiguity and Paradox in the Western Mind, 1750–1920 (Meridian Books, New York, 1960), pp. 19–38 Google Scholar.
7 Schaar, John H., Loyalty in America (University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1957), pp. 116–119 Google Scholar.
8 SDH 36, 222; WCAR 11; IAH, ch. vi.
9 Olan, op. cit., pp. 2, 7.
10 SNE 287–290, 298–299, 7; MMIS 25; HN 4, 11, 26–27, 48, 68, 125; HD 95–96, 155, 240, 284, 308; SDH 13–15, 23, 128; CLCD 6, 49, 53–55, 187.
11 Christianity and Crisis, Vol. 9 (Spring 1945), pp. 7–8 Google Scholar; IAH 156–158; NH 178–190, 249–250; BT ch. vi; SOT 68; SNE 107, 287–288.
12 SNE 40–41, 105–107, 289; thus man is said to be able to “deflect” history without changing its direction. The Baconian roots of the doctrine are evident: FH 71–94; SOT 65; CLCD 154; MMIS 29; IAH 4–7, 71–77.
13 SNE 133; CPP 215; SDH 109–111, 119.
14 SNE 105–107, 291; CRPP 127; REE 205–231.
15 Even so friendly a critic as K. W. Thompson has found the relevance “not clear”: “The Political Philosophy of Reinhold Niebuhr,” in Kegley and Bretall, op. cit., p. 169 and “Beyond the National Interest,” op. cit.
16 CPP, passim; IAH 157; HD 191–195, 233–234; FH 27–28; SNE 28–31, 298–299; “Peace and the Liberal Illusion,” The Nation, Vol. 149 (28 January 1939), pp. 117–119 Google Scholar.
17 Jacobson, Norman, “Political Realism in the Age of Reason: The Anti-Rationalist Heritage in America,” Review of Politics, Vol. 15 (October 1953), pp. 446–469 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
18 FH 34, 54, 71–83, 91, 123, 174, 180, 238–239; IAH 130, 158; HD 47, 85, 95–96, 155, 232; HN 197, 281; SOT 65; CRPP 133; SNE 291, 298–299; Kegley and Bretall, op. cit., p. 435.
19 FH 77, 174; HD 48, 55, 281; CRPP 3, 200–201; DCR 26, 170–175, 218–219; SDH 109, 229; ICE 41–46, 114, 188; HN 178, 281.
20 SNE 59–61; HD 249; SOT 100; CLCD 48–49, 118; IAH 96–100.
21 Frankel, op. cit., describes Niebuhr's ethics as “masochism, not wisdom” for much this reason, p. 115; MMIS 257; CRPP 159; CPP 215; FH 174–185; HN 16, 48, 249.
22 Keniston, Kenneth, “Alienation and the Decline of Utopia,” American Scholar, Vol. 29 (Spring 1960), pp. 161–200 Google Scholar.
23 SDH 38–53; HD 69, 144.
24 HN 14, 178–190, 249–250, 260, 288–289; HD 78, 149–151; IAH 57, 84; SOT 17, 21; CLCD 79; SDH 30–32, 169.
25 SOT 101–103, 176, 181, 195–201; FH 77; DCR 19, 22, 126; MMIS 170–175; HN 22, 30–33, 77; SDH 61; CPP 139; ICE 41, 52, 112, 194.
26 CRPP 110, 132–135; CLCD 19–21, 61; FH 119, 134, 174; SDH 31, 139; ICE 21, 39, 41, 111, 206, 65; WCAR 42; DCR 152–153, 76; HN 178, 214, 281; BT 146, 292, 306.
27 SDH 30–35, 139; SOT 39; WCAR 41–42; or “pragmatic” in IAH, passim.
28 HN 141; FH 94, 219; IAH 30; SOT 48, 65; MMIS 2; CLCD 154; Kegley and Bretall, op. cit., p. 432, even to the shocking and Machiavellian statement “powerless goodness ends on the cross” which is clearly indicated as a stricture, SOT 143; ICE 237. For a discussion of the concept of liberty as power, see de Jouvenel, Bertrand, Sovereignty (University of Chicago Press, 1957), pp. 248–275 Google Scholar.
29 Locke, John, Second Treatise on Civil Government, ch. vii, 93 Google Scholar; HN 101; SOT 101–105; CPP 15, 42–43, 93; SDH 14–15, 229.
30 “The Moral Issue in International Relaions,” cited in Thompson, “Toward a Theory of International Relations,” op. cit., p. 742.
31 SNE 50–51, 40–41.
32 Cox, Richard, Locke on War and Peace (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1960)Google Scholar.
33 SNE 50–51.
34 I am indebted for the reminder to Harvey Mansfield, Jr., Harvard University; for further evidence see Perry, Ralph Barton, Puritanism and Democracy (New York, 1944), p. 14 Google Scholar, in which Perry identifies Burke with the “fundamental philosophy of the Declaration of Independence.”
35 Thus Hobbes: “It may, peradventure be thought that there never was such a time, nor condition of war as this; and I believe it was never generally so …. But though there had never been any time ….” (Leviathan, Bk. I, ch. 13).
36 CRPP 91; SOT 21, 25, 180; SDH 17, 222; CPP 63, 119; HN 270; HD 79, 310; CLCD 53.
37 SDH 10–11, 137, 235; SNE 33, 50, Introduction, 291; MMIS, passim; FH 77, 96–97, 196, 219; HD 79, 267–268, 310; SOT 168.
38 SNE 135–139, 108–112, 4, 146–163, 44–48, 51–59, 105.
39 SOT 175–181; FH 129, 219; SDH 229; CPP 104; CRPP 155–158; HD 310; HN 270.
40 “The Moral Issue in International Relations,” op. cit., p. 742.
41 WCAR 26; HD 253–266; SDH 198; CRPP 134–135.
42 FH 34, 128–129, 133, 227; CLCD 118, 173–174; SDH 38, 51, 71, 168, 196–198; ICE 61, 88; 103–106, 117, 155–159, 189–191; REE 246–247, CRPP 31, 148–150; CPP 19, 27, 29; SOT 46, 68, 81, 134–135; IAH 2, 84–85; HD 277; MMIS 29, 257.
43 BT 140; HD 252–258, 266; CPP 104, 107; ICE 60; MMIS 22; IAH 96–108; SDH 38, 178, 198, 229.
44 “The Unity and Depth of Our Culture,” Sewanee Review, Vol. 53 (1944), p. 193 Google Scholar; CLCD 66; SOT 177; SDH 1; ICE 122, 171.
45 SNE 11–13, 105, 59–61, 291.
46 FH 20–35, 54, 66, 69, 227; SNE 297–298; HD 47, 186, 287–292, 315, 320; SDH 52; MMIS 60–62; SOT 48, 65; thus, Niebuhr retains the conviction hat “time is on our side”—or at least he did in 1956: “A Qualified Faith,” New Republic, Vol. 134 (13 Feb. 1956), pp. 14–15 Google Scholar. Equally illustrative is Niebuhr's conviction that historical “meaning” is a “necessary affirmation”: HN 4, 10, 240; FH 114; BT 5, 18.
47 CRPP 177; cf. FH 214–232.
48 Waltz, Kenneth, “Kant, Liberalism and War,” this Review, Vol. 56 (June, 1962), pp. 331–340 Google Scholar. Niebuhr's continuing belief in the virtue of “rising social forces” is connected to his earlier belief in the utility of catastrophe in advancing progress, and his continuing belief in the role of conflict. REE, passim; FH 227; SDH 151, 196; BT, ch. ii; CPP 198; MMIS 222; CLCD 118.
49 N. P. Jacobson, op. cit., pp. 265–266, 275. See also Bury, J. D., The Idea of Progress (Dover, New York, 1955), p. 21 Google Scholar and the brilliant analyses of Karl Löwith in Kegley and Bretall, op. cit., pp. 282–290, and Meaning and History (Phoenix Books, Chicago, 1950), pp. 160–173 Google ScholarPubMed.
50 CLCD 66, SDH 1; MMIS xvii; ICE 61, 122, 171; SOT 177; “The Unity and Depth of Our Culture,” op. cit.
51 CRPP 148–150; FH 219; SOT 81, 145; ICE 147, 164, 171, 191, 209.
52 SNE 34–35, 28, 59–65, 234–238, 291–294; CRPP 91, 96, 148–150; CLCD 1, 47–49, 118–120; HD 194–195, 249, 254–258, 266–268; SDH 38, 51, 178, 196, 198, 229; SOT 100; IAH 96–100, 108; ICE 77–78.
53 FH 71–94; CLCD 154; IAH 71; MMIS 9; IAH 18, 30, 95, 54–58; HN 22, 57, 68.
54 “A Qualified Faith,” op. cit.; SNE 61–65, 34–35,294; IAH passim.
55 For example, The Federalist, No. 1; see also Diamond, Martin, “Democracy and the Federalist: A Reconsideration of the Framers' Intent,” this Review, Vol. 53 (March 1959), pp. 52–68 Google Scholar.
56 Thus, to Niebuhr all communities are “imperialist” and oriented toward expansion. SDH 137; SNE 190–191; FH 97; CPP 18, 108; HD 89, 284–285; REE 18, 26, 36, 53, 68, 157–158.
57 SNE 22–27, 146–149, 201–216.
58 CLCD 173; HD 258, 266, 285.
59 Christianity and Crisis, Vol. 18 (4 May 1958)Google Scholar; SDH 202–205, 208; IAH 2, 18, 40, 77, 91, 97, 129, 133, 140–142; CLCD 161, 172, 187; CPP 125, 42, 15; CRPP 31; WCAR 85–104, 126; FH 121, 129.
60 Christianity and Crisis, Vol. 10 (20 Feb. 1950)Google Scholar; CPP, passim; SOT 194; SDH 213; CRPP 136.
61 SNE 36, 239, 259, 193, 105–107.
62 Oakeshott, Michael, “Scientific Politics,” Cambridge Journal, Vol. 1 (March 1948), pp. 347–358 Google Scholar; Wolfers, Arnold, “The Pole of Power and the Pole of Indifference,” World Politics, Vol. 4 (October 1951), pp. 39–65 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
63 SNE ch. xvi, 190–191, 282–290; MMIS 2, 142, 176; REE 91, 99; IAH 10; SDH 36, 222.
64 SNE 31–32.
65 SNE 278–279, 25–27.
66 CPP, ch. 1, SNE ch. xvi.
67 HD 245–246, 85, 95–96; CLCD 48–49, 154, 187; SOT 48, 84; WCAR 47; CRPP 16, 155–158.
68 Benne, Kenneth, “The Uses of Fraternity,” Daedalus, Vol. 90 (Spring 1961), pp. 233–246 Google Scholar.
69 Nelson, Benjamin, The Idea of Usury: From Tribal Brotherhood to Universal Otherhood (Princeton, 1949)Google Scholar.
70 IAH 108; BT ch. iii; SDH 195–200; DCR 85, 175; “Liberalism: Illusions and Realities,” New Republic, Vol. 133 (4 July 1955), pp. 11–13 Google Scholar; “Liberals and the Marxist Heresy,” id., Vol. 129 (12 October 1953), pp. 13–15. For the same problem in early liberalism, see Halevy, E., The Growth of Philosophic Radicalism (Boston, 1955)Google Scholar.
71 SNE 28, 66–88, 256, 266, 289; CRPP ch. 2.
72 SNE 279.
73 SNE 280–283, 236–238, 276–277, 246–255.
74 Morgenthau, Hans J., “Machiavellian Utopia,” Ethics, Vol. 55 (January 1945) pp. 145–148 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bloom, Allan, “Cosmopolitan Man and the Political Community: An Interpretation of Othello,” this Review, Vol. 54 (March 1960), pp. 130–157 Google Scholar, or Michael Polanyi's recently published pamphlet, “Beyond Nihilism.” A brilliant and closely related discussion is Taylor's, John F. R. “Politics and the Human Covenant,” Centennia Review, Vol. 6 (Winter 1962), pp. 1–18 Google Scholar.
75 “Religion, Politics, and the Higher Learning,” Confluence, Vol. 3 (1954), pp. 402–412 Google Scholar.
76 “The Moral Issue in International Relations,” op. cit., p. 740.
77 SNE 42–43, 288
