Word: niebuhrs
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News from Oxford, reported by the Anglican Church Times: "Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr, who last Thursday received the degree of D.D. from Oxford University, is recognized as an outstanding religious teacher. So great, indeed, is the influence which, along with Professor C. H. Dodd of Cambridge, he exercises over the younger generation of theologians, that a current Oxford witticism enjoins: 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy Dodd with all thy heart, and thy Niebuhr as thyself...
Idealistic Greeks thought otherwise. To them, human reason, wisdom, was the highest peak that man could reach. But, says Dr. Niebuhr, this belief did not help them to fulfill themselves in the everyday things of life...
Church and Rebels. In the Middle Ages, says Dr. Niebuhr, the Church decided that the holiness of the clergy placed them above historical error, and by putting the Church Militant in the same place as the City of God they fell into the sin of pride, which expressed itself in the violent exercise of power politics. The result was revolt against Catholicism. The revolt took two forms-the Reformation and the Renaissance...
...dangers of this belief, says Dr. Niebuhr, are threefold: 1) to believe that nothing is perfect tempts man to become defeatist toward culture and politics; 2) the frivolous are tempted to "sin that grace may abound," and 3) the rich and powerful are tempted to believe that God has ordained social inequalities...
From the 18th Century until very recently, says Dr. Niebuhr, the strongest influence has been that of the Renaissance. But today, he believes, its failure has provoked a reaction which may destroy not only its errors but the very tolerance and faith in justice and reason which have been its great achievements. In this new reaction two men have been prime movers -Marx and Hitler...