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Quote by Reinhold Niebuhr

“That's why history is not an answer to our problem, because history complicates, enlarges every problem of human existence. Now, the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries didn't believe this.”

Quote by Reinhold Niebuhr

Author

Reinhold Niebuhr

Reinhold Niebuhr was a prominent American theologian whose work on Christian ethics and social ethics had a profound impact on the 20th century. He was a key figure in theological discourse, particularly for his exploration of the nature of sin and the church's role in society. Niebuhr's theological thought has influenced various Christian denominations and has had a lasting effect on political and social thought. more

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“Now we're living in a nuclear age, and the science that was supposed to be automatically for human welfare has become a nuclear - a science that gives us nuclear weapons. This is the ironic character of human history, and of human existence, which I can only explain, if I say so, in Biblical terms. Now I don't mean by this reason that I will accept every interpretation of Christianity that's derived from the Bible as many people wouldn't accept my interpretation. But that's what it means for me.”

“I think there is and ultimate answer in a true religious faith, but it doesn't give you any immediate answers, it doesn't.”

Thinking Giving Religious Answers Ultimate Religious Faith

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“You can't say that religion or irreligion will give us a particular answer to the nuclear dilemma.”

Giving Answers Particular Nuclear Dilemma Irreligion

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“I think I have one answer, that is partly religious and partly secular; and that is to say, we ought to at least recognize that we and the Russians are in a common predicament. That would be religious in the sense, "Judge not lest you be judged."”

Thinking Would Be Religious Answers Common Judging Ought Judged Secular Predicaments

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“We judge the Russians because they're living under despotism and we don't like it, but we've gotten into a fix now where we're living in a common predicament, and we ought to recognize this common predicament.”

Common Judging Ought Despotism Predicaments

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“We ought to really at least recognize the common predicament of Communists and democrats - or Americans, whatever.”

Common Ought Democrat Communist Predicaments

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“We have to risk a nuclear war in order to escape capitulation to Communism. For all I know, we may stumble into this terrible war.”

Knows May War Order Risk Terrible Nuclear Communism Nuclear War Capitulation

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“No nation can say, 'We will capitulate to tyranny rather than accept a speculative fate - to accept an absolute fate in alternative to a speculative one' - no nation can do that.”

Nations Can Do Accepting Fate Absolutes Tyranny Alternatives

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“Politics deals with a common-sense approach to the imponderables of history, that I think are obscured by a certain kind of rationalism.”

Thinking Kind Certain Deals Common Approach Common Sense Rationalism

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“Ultimately freedom is necessary for a society, because every despotic society - for instance, the Russian society - lives on the basis of a rather implausible dogma - the Marxist dogma of world redemption through Communism.”

World Bases Instance Redemption Communism Dogma Marxist

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr