Reinhold Niebuhr

Niebuhr, Reinhold (1892-1971), American Protestant theologian, whose social doctrines profoundly influenced American theological and political thought. Born in Wright City, Missouri, June 21, 1892, he was educated at Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, Illinois; Eden Theological Seminary, Webster Groves, Missouri; and Yale Divinity School. In 1915 he was ordained in the ministry of the Evangelical Synod of North America and made pastor of the Bethel Evangelical Church of Detroit. He held that post until 1928, at which time he joined the …

…as a contact point for religion and society, in such major works as Moral Man and Immoral Society (1932), Interpretation of Christian Ethics (1935), and The Nature and Destiny of Man (2 volumes, 1941, 1943). A penetrating critic of society, he also published Faith and History (1949), Christian Realism and Political Problems (1953), The Self and the Dramas of History (1955), and Structure of Nations and Empires (1959). In addition he edited Christianity and Society, a quarterly, and the biweekly periodical Christianity and Crisis.