Reinhold Niebuhr Man and Society

Simbarashe Sigauke

Reinhold Niebuhr Man and Society

        Reinhold Niebuhr is one of the most important theologians of the 20^th century. He had a robust understanding of sin.  He challenges the worldview of modernity, which emphasized on the perfectibility of the human race. He thinks that in light of all the scientific, social, economical and political advancement of western society there is something fundamentally wrong with man. He thinks that man is really sinful that if people meet in a group they are only concerned about their own interests.  He argues that groups that appears to do good have negative ulterior motives. Niebuhr calls this behavior hypocrisy. He is more of a realist and he paints a picture of a transcended God who created a system that is not so perfect after all. He has a tragic view of the human condition. He does not see Jesus as a liberator and he is truly eschatological. He sees the need for pluralism. He however encourages us to strive for social justice but recognize the tragic circumstance we are in. I have observed that in this troubled, tumultuous and vexing times ours deepest need as philosophers and theologians is to embrace otherness and difference. Humans need to go back and connect to the ground of being-God. Autonomy is very dangerous and it has resulted in a lot of evil in our society. We can no longer rely on our scientific and technological advancement and hide behind the lie of perfection and superficial exceptionalism. The reality is that the human condition is flawed and is in definite need of a transcended God. Religion cannot be kicked out of the public sphere and be substituted with human reason. Humans are sinful and society is made up of humans hence it is sinful.I do agree with Reinhold Niebuhr on his observations of the human condition and I believe that the Christian narrative of social justice can help alleviate the challenges that we presently face. Martin Luther King Junior’s letter from Birmingham acknowledged Reinhold Niebuhr’s conclusions of the human condition. King attributed his own non-violent posture to the influence of Niebuhr, Paul Tillich and Gandhi.

          Modernity is the age in which the western worldview shifted from tradition to reason. They rejected the traditional Christian worldview and promoted autonomy. Individualism, freedom and formal equality became preeminent. This was period of vast scientific and technological and social advancement. This profound revolution of knowledge led to the idea of human perfectibility, which became a dominant idea in that age. The western economies became more industrialized, urbanized and secularized. Modernity is closely linked to the ethos and pathos of the enlightenment. However something happened in modernity that caused people to doubt the goodness of man and scientific advancement. There was nothing wrong with scientific advancement per se but the problem was that man did not possess the moral capability to stop annihilating themselves with advanced weaponry like atomic bombs and sophisticated military equipment. The Neo Orthodox theologians in the West and particularly in Germany had a radical understanding of the infallibility and wickedness of man. Following the tragic events such as World War 1, World War 2 and the Holocaust the theologians concluded that man was sinful and that society needed to be reconnected to the ground of being-God. It was evident with these historic events that man is sinful and even that society is sinful. Reinhold Niebuhr had a strong understanding of sin and he also claims that societies are sinful too.