If we should perish, the ruthlessness of the foe would be only the secondary cause of the disaster. The primary cause would be that the strength of a giant nation was directed by eyes too blind to see all the hazards of the struggle; and the blindness would be induced not by some accident of nature or history but by hatred and vainglory. — Reinhold Niebuhr, The Irony of American History 1952
Reinhold Niebuhr was an American Reformed theologian, ethicist, commentator on politics and public affairs, and professor at Union Theological Seminary for more than 30 years. Niebuhr was one of America’s leading public intellectuals for several decades of the 20th century and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964. A public theologian, he wrote and spoke frequently about the intersection of religion, politics, and public policy, with his most influential books including Moral Man and Immoral Society and The Nature and Destiny of Man.
The Nature and Destiny of Man contains a great deal of keen observation of human behavior and current events at the outset of World War II. It is arguably Reinhold Niebuhr’s most important work. It offers a sustained articulation of Niebuhr’s theological ethics and is considered a landmark in twentieth-century thought. It issues a vigorous challenge to Western civilization to understand its roots in the faith of the Bible, particularly the Hebraic tradition. The growth, corruption, and purification of the important Western emphases on individuality are insightful chronicled here. Here is a brief summary comment from a reader:
In the Nature and Destiny of Man, Reinhold Niebuhr, the influential “Christian realist” theologian, deals with big issues: the nature of man, history, and the end of the history. He offers deep – I would say profound – support for his views, but not proof. He offers one interpretation of the meaning of life’s mysteries but not the only possible interpretation.
Niebuhr begins by arguing that the Christian view of man’s nature, compared with alternative views, is more complete and offers more explanatory power. According to the Christian view, man is made in the image of God. Unlike alternative views that establish a good/bad duality between mind and body, in the Christian view, both mind and body are good because both are created by God. Man is made to live in harmony with others and God’s will but violates this harmony when he – inevitably – makes himself the center and source of meaning for his life.
Man has tremendous creative and imaginative powers, and his mind can transcend both itself (since he can make his own thoughts the object of contemplation) and the natural world (since he can manipulate natural forces to create new possibilities and vitalities of nature). Because man cannot find ultimate meaning in what he can transcend, he cannot find ultimate meaning within himself or in the natural world. This is why we turn to religion.
Christianity is a religion of revelation, meaning that Christians believe that God must speak to us in order for us to arrive at a correct understanding of his nature and will. If the Bible is to be believed, God spoke to man throughout history but his message was not clearly understood. Because of our misunderstanding, and because God’s law is so radically different from man’s law, Jesus’ message was highly offensive to his listeners. What Jesus told us is that God overcomes evil not by destroying evildoers but by taking their evil upon himself. God’s love is suffering love.
To live in accordance with the law of love seems to require that we accept the reality of an existence beyond this life. If the reality of this other existence is denied, then Jesus’ statement that “whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” makes no sense.
Yet, we are not to despise this life. To be righteous, to a Christian, means to serve others, and we need to strive after intermediate and partial arrangements that help point the way toward ultimate resolutions and revelations. God provides ultimate meaning. Just as the human mind can provide meaning to a sequence of chronological events by comprehending them all in an instant, so God provides meaning by comprehending all events both prospectively and retrospectively.
Reinhold Niebuhr’s searching for the Hebraic tradition remind us again of the start of Renaissance which was a pivotal time period in history between 1350 and 1600 a.d. It brought European civilization out from the Medieval period to modern times. Bursting with achievements in the arts, literature, maths, and sciences, this period revived the classical works of the ancient Greeks and Romans, from 1000 years before, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas and achievements of classical antiquity.
The publication of The Prince in 1532 was carried out with the permission of the Medici pope Clement VII. It is hard to reconcile a God’s servant would permit something of such profanity to spread around the world. This incident at the very start of Renaissance had stamped a profound moral conflict for this movement which would affect the next 500 years of mental development of the mankind. And it was from aspiration of Renaissance that Rene Descartes (1596-1650) found the expression of Dualism.
It was not surprised to see the collapse of faith in Catholic Church in the next several hundred years and religion is to give way to secularism despite the Protestant Reformation with Martin Luther’s religious reform. The Medici family was famous for wealthy bankers (and three Popes), helped fund the Renaissance, besides being art-loving patrons. Medici bank was probably the most famous Italian bank that set up by Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici in 1397 and continuing until 1494. (Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A. (BMPS) Italy, is in fact the oldest banking organisation to have surviving banking-operations, or services). And this part of history is the forerunner of modern banks which control the world in our time.