Reinhold Niebuhr
Reinhold Niebuhr
Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhrwas an American theologian, ethicist, commentator on politics and public affairs, and professor at Union Theological Seminary for more than 30 years. The brother of another prominent theologian, H. Richard Niebuhr, he is also known for having composed the Serenity Prayer, He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964. Among his most influential books are Moral Man and Immoral Society and The Nature and Destiny of Man, the second of which Modern Library ranked one of...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionReligious Leader
Date of Birth21 June 1892
CountryUnited States of America
The will-to-live becomes the will-to-power.
The cross symbolizes a cosmic as well as historic truth. Love conquers the world, but its victory is not an easy one.
It is significant that it is as difficult to get charity out of piety as to get reasonableness out of rationalism.
All known existence points beyond itself.
The dimension of depth in the consciousness of religion creates the tension between what is and what ought to be. It bends the bow from which every arrow of moral action flies.
Toleration of people who differ in convictions and habits requires a residual awareness of the complexity of truth and the possibility of opposing view having some light on one or the other facet of a many-sided truth.
Humour is, in fact, a prelude to faith; and laughter is the beginning of prayer … Laughter is swallowed up in prayer and humour is fulfilled by faith.
A genuine faith resolves the mystery of life by the mystery of God.
Perhaps the most significant moral characteristic of a nation is its hypocrisy.
Cheese, wine, and a friend must be old to be good.
If we can find God only as he is revealed in nature we have no moral God.
The tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan value and ends is the source of all religious fanaticism.
Life is a battle between faith and reason in which each feeds upon the other, drawing sustenance from it and destroying it.
History is a realm in which human freedom and natural necessity are curiously intermingled.