REINHOLD NIEBUHR: PROPHET FROM AMERICA

An English friend and devotee of Reinhold Niebuhr here presents a very readable and interesting interpretation of Niebuhr's life and work. It is much more easily read and more readily understood than Niebuhr's own works, although there are places even in this popular book where one wishes there were someone at hand to interpret the interpreter. Many do not understand Niebuhr because they do not share his point of view. But how can they accept propositions, the meanings of which remain inscrutable? The author does his best to deliver the reader from this dilemma. His is an interesting analysis of the two sides of Niebuhr's career, his theological interest and his social passion. The former he attributes to Niebuhr's German ancestry, the latter to his American up-bringing, it being inconceivable to our British author that practical America could produce a real scholar. Niebuhr's swing to the right in theology and his leftist tendencies in social thinking are described and accounted for, and there are set forth in orderly fashion the fundamental tenets of Niebuhr's philosophy of life. This is a book which should have a wide reading in America, for Reinheld Niebuhr is a much discussed religious leader and his nec-orthodoxy is hotly debated.