In this ethical book, Reinhold Niebuhr describes and explains how man can sense his own limitations or boundaries as well as his own fragility. Therefore, man is convinced to prideful statements of his will that produces an illusion of authority and denotation. While man can alleviate his pretension and agitation through faith in God rather than himself, the faith is, as Niebuhr would recall, imperfect or the essence of “original sin.” Not only does Reinhold Niebuhr describe and explain the implications within the individual, but he also clarifies that there is an accurate difference between the social and principled conduct of groups and individuals, including nations and working or social classes. Individuals have the ability to control and
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Reinhold Niebuhr was an American ethicist, commentator, and a theologian on public affairs and politics. He was also a professor at the Union Theological Seminary for at least thirty years. Also, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964 for being one of America’s main public scholars or intellectuals, in the twentieth century, for many decades. In the 1920s, Niebuhr started off as a minister with working class compassion and sharing and connecting with many other ministers who have a dedication towards pacifism. Furthermore, in the 1930s, Niebuhr’s thinking on the neo-orthodox realist theology had evolved as he developed the philosophical point of view called the Christian realism. After the year 1945, the realism that Niebuhr had created strengthened and it led him to support the attempts and efforts that the Americans made in order to confront the Soviet communism around the world. He was one of the most prominent philosophers of the 1940s and the 1950s in public affairs because he was such a powerful spokesman. Niebuhr clashed and fought with religious liberals over what he called their “unsophisticated” views of the contradictions of human nature and the optimism or confidence of the Social Gospel, an early twentieth century Protestant movement, and fought with the religious reactionaries or conservatives over what he viewed as …show more content…
In the beginning of the book, Niebuhr explains the reason why man and society are living under certain conditions. He argues that there are limits to the position of benevolence and social compassion to ponder the needs of others. Moreover, all communal partnership that exceed the level of a private social crowd requires an action of social compulsion in order to preclude individuals from simply following their own attention and curiosity. To make sure that there is unity within a social crowd, the determination of the commanding subgroup will be inflicted by force on the others. There will always be a mixture or the combining of ethics and coercion in politics. So, Niebuhr proclaims that society is in an everlasting and interminable state of war. Even though there is a need for coercion, it can lead to a long-lasting battle. Therefore, the goal is not to produce a social perfection, where power and coercion are nonexistent; rather it is to affect the correct stability between power and justice. Next, the rational and religious resources
Reinhold Niebuhr was an American ethicist, commentator, and a theologian on public affairs and politics. He was also a professor at the Union Theological Seminary for at least thirty years. Also, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964 for being one of America’s main public scholars or intellectuals, in the twentieth century, for many decades. In the 1920s, Niebuhr started off as a minister with working class compassion and sharing and connecting with many other ministers who have a dedication towards pacifism. Furthermore, in the 1930s, Niebuhr’s thinking on the neo-orthodox realist theology had evolved as he developed the philosophical point of view called the Christian realism. After the year 1945, the realism that Niebuhr had created strengthened and it led him to support the attempts and efforts that the Americans made in order to confront the Soviet communism around the world. He was one of the most prominent philosophers of the 1940s and the 1950s in public affairs because he was such a powerful spokesman. Niebuhr clashed and fought with religious liberals over what he called their “unsophisticated” views of the contradictions of human nature and the optimism or confidence of the Social Gospel, an early twentieth century Protestant movement, and fought with the religious reactionaries or conservatives over what he viewed as …show more content…
In the beginning of the book, Niebuhr explains the reason why man and society are living under certain conditions. He argues that there are limits to the position of benevolence and social compassion to ponder the needs of others. Moreover, all communal partnership that exceed the level of a private social crowd requires an action of social compulsion in order to preclude individuals from simply following their own attention and curiosity. To make sure that there is unity within a social crowd, the determination of the commanding subgroup will be inflicted by force on the others. There will always be a mixture or the combining of ethics and coercion in politics. So, Niebuhr proclaims that society is in an everlasting and interminable state of war. Even though there is a need for coercion, it can lead to a long-lasting battle. Therefore, the goal is not to produce a social perfection, where power and coercion are nonexistent; rather it is to affect the correct stability between power and justice. Next, the rational and religious resources