Reinhold Niebuhr 18921971

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Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

• Human beings as sinners

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Some facts about Niebuhr

• This is a different Niebuhr than H. Richard, who
  wrote The Responsible Self
• Professor of Ethics at Union Theological Seminary
  in NY from 1928-1960
• The Nature and Destiny of Man is a set of
  lectures he gave at Edinburgh University in 1939
  note the date!
• Niebuhr is very concerned about the denial of sin
  in modern society the easy conscience of
  modern humanity

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Niebuhrs understanding of the human person

• The obvious fact is that man is a child of
  nature, subject to its vicissitudes, compelled by
  its necessities, driven by its impulses, and
  confined within the brevity of the years which
  nature permits its varied organic form, allowing
  them some, but not too much, latitude. The other
  less obvious fact is that man is a spirit who
  stands outside of nature, life, himself, his
  reason and the world. (Vol. 1, p. 3)
• So, human beings are both part of nature and
• they stand outside of (above) nature--they have
  a capacity for self-transcendence
  (self-reflection)

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Two dimensions of humanity

• Humans are finite in that we are a part of
  nature, subject to its limitations
• Humans are free in that we are spirits with a
  unique relationship to God
• Niebuhr sees a basic goodness in human beings
• created by God, and therefore good
• high destiny created in the image of God
• but there is a problem . . . Man is a sinner.
• What is the nature of human sin?

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Two dimensions of sin

• The fundamental problem refusal to accept our
  creatureliness. Sound familiar??
• This is manifest in two ways
• Humans try to pretend that they are not limited
  -- he calls this sin . . .??
• the sin of pride
• in relation to God rebellion, unbelief
• in relation to others injustice
• Or we try to deny our transcendence. We forget
  our high destiny and give in to our base impulses
  and desires
• He calls this the sin of sensuality

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Pride the basic sin

• Note Anxiety is not sin, but is the precondition
  for it
• can be creative or destructive
• Four types of pride
• pride of power
• intellectual pride
• moral pride
• spiritual pride