Reinhold Niebuhr and the Ethics of Christian Realism

After considering the social and pastoral context in which Niebuhr began to develop his theology, some of the leading influences and dominant themes are identified. Through engaging with a gritty Marxian class analysis Niebuhr launched his attack upon the social idealism of so much of the Christian witness of his generation. In midlife the critique of liberalism and his 'Christian realism' are informed by a wrestling with the Augustinian and Reformation traditions. Later still Christian realism gives way to a more pragmatic chastened liberalism. The dualism between the personal and social, which characterized Niebuhr's ethics throughout his life, is critiqued and seen as part of a general pessimism that betrays the degree to which he remained marked by the Lutheran tradition.