Philosophy

"𝗔 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗹 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲"

"During my last year in theological school, I began to read the works of Reinhold Niebuhr. The prophetic and realistic elements in Niebuhr's passionate style and profound thought were appealing to me, and made me aware of the complexity of human motives and the reality of sin on every level of man's existence. I became so enamored of his social ethics that I almost fell into the trap of accepting uncritically everything he wrote.

I read Niebuhr's critique of the pacifist position. Niebuhr had himself once been a member of the pacifist ranks. For several years, he had been national chairman of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. His break with pacifism came in the early thirties, and the first full statement of his criticism of pacifism was in 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘔𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺. Here he argued that there was no intrinsic moral difference between violent and nonviolent resistance. The social consequences of the two methods were different, he contended, but the differences were in degree rather than kind. Later Niebuhr began emphasizing the irresponsibility of relying on nonviolent resistance when there was no ground for believing that it would be successful in preventing the spread of totalitarian tyranny. It could only be successful, he argued, if the groups against whom the resistance was taking place had some degree of moral conscience, as was the case in Gandhi's struggle against the British. Niebuhr's ultimate rejection of pacifism was based primarily on the doctrine of man. He argued that pacifism failed to do justice to the reformation doctrine of justification by faith, substituting for it a sectarian perfectionism which believes "that divine grace actually lifts man out of the sinful contradictions of history and establishes him above the sins of the world.

At first, Niebuhr's critique of pacifism left me in a state of confusion. As I continued to read, however, I came to see more and more the shortcomings of his position. For instance, many of his statements revealed that he interpreted pacifism as a sort of passive nonresistance to evil expressing naive trust in the power of love. But this was a serious distortion. My study of Gandhi convinced me that true pacifism is not nonresistance to evil, but nonviolent resistance to evil. Between the two positions, there is a world of difference. Gandhi resisted evil with as much vigor and power as the violent resister, but he resisted with love instead of hate. True pacifism is not unrealistic submission to evil power, as Niebuhr contends. It is rather a courageous confrontation of evil by the power of love, in the faith that it is better to be the recipient of violence than the inflicter of it, since the latter only multiplies the existence of violence and bitterness in the universe, while the former may develop a sense of shame in the opponent, and thereby bring about a transformation and change of heart.

In spite of the fact that I found many things to be desired in Niebuhr's philosophy, there were several points at which he constructively influenced my thinking. Niebuhr's great contribution to theology is that he has refuted the false optimism characteristic of a great segment of Protestant liberalism. Moreover, Niebuhr has extraordinary insight into human nature, especially the behavior of nations and social groups. He is keenly aware of the complexity of human motives and of the relation between morality and power. His theology is a persistent reminder of the reality of sin on every level of man's existence. These elements in Niebuhr's thinking helped me to recognize the illusions of a superficial optimism concerning human nature and the dangers of a false idealism. While I still believed in man's potential for good, Niebuhr made me realize his potential for evil as well. Moreover, Niebuhr helped me to recognize the complexity of man's social involvement and the glaring reality of collective evil.

𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀, 𝗜 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁, 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀. 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗮𝗻 𝘂𝗻𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀. 𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝗶𝗲𝗯𝘂𝗵𝗿, 𝗜 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝘀𝗺. 𝗜𝗻 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀, 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗶𝗿𝗰𝘂𝗺𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀. 𝗜 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗺𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁𝘀, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗻𝘂𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. I felt that the pacifist would have a greater appeal if he did not claim to be free from the moral dilemmas that the Christian non-pacifist confronts." - Martin Luther King Jr., 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺 𝘖𝘧 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯 𝘓𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘑𝘳., Chapter Three, "Crozer Seminary".

"I also came to see that Reinhold Niebur had overemphasized the corruption of human nature. His pessimism concerning human nature was not balanced by an optimism concerning divine nature. He was so involved in diagnosing man's sickness of sin that he overlooked the cure of grace." - Martin Luther King Jr., 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺 𝘖𝘧 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯 𝘓𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘑𝘳., Chapter Four, "Boston University"