417 - H. Richard Niebuhr: A Lifetime of Reflections on the Church and the World

H. Richard Niebuhr: A Lifetime of Reflections on the Church and the World
By Jon Diefenthaler
Macon, Ga., Mercer University Press, 1986. 99 pp. $24.95 ($9.95, pb).

This lean book, in four succinct chapters, traces the life, academic career, and intellectual passions of H. R. Niebuhr. It is not ambitious or comprehensive as was Richard W. Fox on Reinhold Niebuhr, but it is a clear, elegant introduction. Four features are of particular note. First, focus is put on Niebuhr's German-Evangelical rootage, which, it is claimed, was a continuing decisive force in shaping his later life. Second, we are given a powerful glimpse into the painful care with which Niebuhr struggles over such matters as faith and culture, Barth and Troeltsch, church unity and specificity, all of which Niebuhr refused to settle in any simple, one-sided way. Third, we are able to see Niebuhr as a passionate, prophetic, engaged churchman. Finally, the book contains four photos (plus a sketch of Bainton) that show the man in his power and intensity. The book issues a powerful protest against the inclination of some to reduce Niebuhr to a mere philosopher of religion. It still remains to consider how his German-Evangelical rootage was not only a powerful shaper, but an acute embarrassment that produced some odd results.

Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Ga.