The name of Reinhold Niebuhr is famous throughout the world, as that of one of the most eminent of Protestant theologians, and as that of a great theologian who has devoted special attention to the application of Christian doctrine to the social and political problems of the world today.
In his prefatory note, the author describes this book modestly as a 'collection of essays on political, social, ethical and theological themes' —but it is far more than that, because of the closeness of relationship between the subjects he discusses and the central position from which he discusses them. It is a book which forms one whole; though it ranges from 'The Illusion of World Government' or 'The Foreign Policy of American Conservatism and Liberalism' to the 'Political Realism of St. Augustine'. It is in fact one essay in the Philosophy of Politics; and the author's political philosophy has its roots, as any sound political philosophy must have, in theology. It is not only an important book, but an important book at this moment: one which should be read, not only by readers of theology and philosophy, but by politicians and students of politics, and by all who are concerned with fundamental social problems.
Christian Realism and Political Problems should arouse as much discussion as did the book by which the author first became widely known: Moral Man and Immoral Society.
Preface
This is a collection of essays on political, social, ethical, and theological themes. Many of the essays are published for the first time in these pages. One of them, dealing with the political thought of Augustine, is an elaboration of a lecture given at Columbia University on the Frances Carroll Memorial Lecture Foundation. The chapter on 'The Christian Witness in the Social and National Order' was originally given as an address before the World Council of Churches' First General Assembly, held in Amsterdam in 1948, and appeared in The Chaplain, 10th December 1948. The other essays which have been previously published in various journals, are reproduced by the kind permission of the editors of those journals as follows: 'Democracy, Secularism, and Christianity' appeared in Christianity and Crisis, 2nd March 1953; 'Why is Communism Evil?', while written for the book, appeared in The New Leader, 8th June 1953; 'Coherence, Incoherence, and Christian Faith' appeared in The Journal of Religion, Vol. XXXI, No. 3, July 1951; 'Love and Law in Protestantism and Catholicism' appeared in The Journal of Religious Thought, Vol. 9, No. 2, Spring-Summer 1952; 'The Illusion of World Government' appeared in Foreign Affairs, April 1949; 'The Anomaly of European Socialism' appeared in The Yale Review, Vol. XLII, No. 2, December 1952. The quotations from Saint Augustine are taken from the Random House edition of Basic Writings of St. Augustine, edited by Whitney J. Gates.
REINHOLD NIEBUHR
Contents
PREFACE page ix
1. FAITH AND THE EMPIRICAL METHOD IN MODERN REALISM 11
2. THE ILLUSION OF WORLD GOVERNMENT 24
3. WHY IS COMMUNISM SO EVIL? 39
4. THE ANOMALY OF EUROPEAN SOCIALISM 48
5. THE FOREIGN POLICY OF AMERICAN CONSERVATISM AND LIBERALISM 57
6. IDEOLOGY AND THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD 76
7. DEMOCRACY, SECULARISM, AND CHRISTIANITY 94
8. THE CHRISTIAN WITNESS IN THE SOCIAL AND NATIONAL ORDER 102
9. AUGUSTINE'S POLITICAL REALISM 114
10. LOVE AND LAW IN PROTESTANTISM AND CATHOLICISM 140
11. COHERENCE, INCOHERENCE, AND CHRISTIAN FAITH 165
