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.
Ultimately evil is done not so much by evil people, but by good people who do not know themselves and who do not probe deeply.
Humor is a prelude to faith and laughter is the beginning of prayer.
One of the most pathetic aspects of human history is that every civilization expresses itself most pretentiously, compounds its partial and universal values most convincingly, and claims immortality for its finite existence at the very moment when the decay which leads to death has already begun.
The cross symbolizes a cosmic as well as historic truth. Love conquers the world, but its victory is not an easy one.
The intimate relation between humor and faith is derived from the fact that both deal with the incongruities of our existence. Laughter is our reaction to immediate incongruities and those which do not affect us essentially. Faith is the only possible response to the ultimate incongruities of existence, which threaten the very meaning of our life.
Love is the motive, but justice is the instrument.
It is significant that it is as difficult to get charity out of piety as to get reasonableness out of rationalism.
What is so funny about us is precisely that we take ourselves too seriously. Laughter is the same and healthy response to the innocent foibles of men; and even to some which are not innocent.
All you earnest young men out to save the world. . . please, have a laugh.
The mastery of nature is vainly believed to be an adequate substitute for self mastery.
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.
A republic properly understood is a sovereignty of justice, in contradistinction to a sovereignty of will.