Reinhold Niebuhr: Prophet of Politics , Pacifist of Christian Realism and Influence on Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King

Reinhold
NIEBUHR

"The fury with which oligarchs, dictators, priest-kings, ancient and modern and ideological pretenders turn upon their critics and foes is clearly the fury of an uneasy conscience..
cited in Gilkey, On Niebuhr."

Rheinhold Niebuhr is a lesser-mentioned theologian during the time of Shoah, not because he was not influential, but because he did not suffer martyrdom or live in Germany. Teaching in New York and Chicago, he was a primary advocate of "The Social Gospel". "The Social Gospel" is interpreted in several ways, but often has as its forefront the belief that the gospel must have an effect in the World, and hence, it is not enough to believe in peace, for example, one must work towards it. Criticism of the Social Gospel includes its prevalence among liberal theologians who replace faith, belief and the power of God for the works the time of the Holocaust because he raised the difficult question of how committed to pacifism, one could take no steps to end evil forcibly, such as the slaughter of the European Jews.Questions of when war was justified were centrally raised in his thinking. He influence many upcoming theologians including Bonhoeffer & Gilkey. His influence was notably on exploring questions of when non-intervention in war aids evil and how the Christian (liberal) could reconcile the pacifism of Christ and the taking of life in a justified war."

Born in Wright City, Missouri, the son of a Protestant Minister, on June 21, 1892, Niebuhr was the son of Gustav Niebuhr, and Lydia Niebuhr and was brother to Helmut Richard Niebuhr. His father pastored in the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod and Reinhold followed in his footsteps, attending Elmhurst College.

During WWII, like many Pastors, he was at first an avowed Pacifist, and in many ways remained in that stance. As Hitler advanced across Europe and as word camoe back that Jews were being mass killed, he and several others began to take on the concept of a "Just War"---in other words, when is it wrong to do nothing for the sake of peace? The movement of concern for a just war in the face of the Scriptural edict not to kill became known as "Christian Realism". Niebuhr's thinking greatly influence the Union theological student Dietrich Bonhoeffer who returned to Germany and helped found the "Confessing Church" or Bekennende Kirche which formidably opposed the Third Reich's war and incursion into the Church. He also influenced Martin Luther King's theological world view, and became what some referred to as a 'political prophet'. After decades at Union Theological Seminary in New York, Niebuhr succumbed to meningitis and passed away in 1971. He is credited also with the 'Serenity Prayer' used by many in recovery from substance abuse.

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