Reinhold Niebuhr

Abstract

Abstract On 8 March 1948, Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) appeared on the cover of Time magazine, its twenty-fifth anniversary issue. The article inside referred to Reinhold Niebuhr as the number one theologian in America, a statement that could find little dispute in the 1940s. Niebuhr’s powerful writings together with memories of his personal presence have continued to exercise considerable influence on theological and ethical discussions to the present time. His legacy has been enormous. One indication of his influence can be seen from the number of volumes on Niebuhr that have appeared from the 1950s through the 1980s and into the 1990s. There is, however, a surprising and significant lacuna in the many studies on Reinhold Niebuhr’s theology and ethics: his use of Scripture. To a large degree Niebuhr grounded his theology and ethics in Scripture, and yet the relationship between his use of Scripture and his theological ethics has received almost no attention, despite renewed interest in the use of Scripture in Christian ethics. Since Reinhold Niebuhr and his brand of Christian realism have made such a significant mark on contemporary Christian theologians and ethicists, it is important to be aware of how he used Scripture. Indeed, commenting on the enduring influence of Niebuhr’s approach to Scripture, Michael Cartwright has observed that “scholars in the field of Christian ethics have rarely noted the extent of Niebuhr’s influence with respect to the use of Scripture in Christian ethics.... Christian ethicists writing after Niebuhr may not even realize how much they have been influenced by his use of Scripture.” Here I seek to describe and assess Niebuhr’s use of the Bible in his theological ethics.