1892-1971
Theologian

Neo-orthodoxy.

In 1950 Time magazine called Reinhold Niebuhr the "number one theologian of United States Protestantism." Although a stroke affected his work to some extent Niebuhr remained an influential figure in American religious thought and political affairs throughout the 1950s. He resisted being classified as part of the European movement called Neo-orthodoxy, but his insistence on man's sinful nature and distance from God and the need for the mediating presence of Jesus gave some support to those who saw him as representing an American version of the movement. His theology, which greatly affected religious thought during the following decade, was best expressed in The Nature and Destiny of Man: A Christian Interpretation, a work of two volumes published in 1941 and 1943.

Political Views.

The secular world paid more attention to Niebuhr the political thinker than Niebuhr the theologian. But his political views were shaped and developed...