Word: religion
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Reinhold Niebuhr's new orthodoxy is the oldtime religion put through the intellectual wringer. It is a re-examination of orthodoxy for an age dominated by such trends as rationalism, liberalism, Marxism, fascism, idealism and the idea of progress...
...lives strenuously at the seminary with his British-born wife, the former Ursula Keppel-Compton, and their two children, Christopher, 13, and Elizabeth, 9. Mrs. Niebuhr, a theologian in her own right, was the first woman to win a First in theology at Oxford. She has lectured on religion at Barnard College for six years. In summer, the Niebuhrs rusticate at Heath, Mass., near the Vermont line. There Niebuhr writes and rests, after his fashion, from the nervous pace at which he drives himself...
...constructive periods of history, writes Physicist Whyte, "the dominance of one general tendency ensured the spontaneous cooperation of countless individuals, most of whom were unaware of the broader significance of their actions. They unquestioningly accepted their part in the expansion of empire, the spreading of religion, or the development of science and industry." But with the exhaustion of the European tradition, those who had the deepest sense of it were paralyzed by its decay. "Genius felt itself frustrated, and failed to guide. . . . Europe passed into the hands of those who had deliberately renounced the influence of the old tradition...
...achieve a unitary view of life, man must pay a price-from one point of view, a terrible price. The rich must give up their illusion that power can be accumulated and preserved, and "the adherents of the Christian religion their assurance of personal survival." The humanists must likewise give up their emphasis on the subjective aspects of personality. He believes that mankind is at the greatest opportunity in its history. "The species can now . . . realize unity without loss of diversity or differentiation." The opportunity Author Whyte likens to that of a man & woman whose love remains in suspense until...
People still like to be legalistic in their religion, Niebuhr said. "If you can define what is good and then do it, you can supposedly set your conscience at ease...