The Theology of Reinhold Niebuhr by Hans Hofmann (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 529 The Theology of Reinhold Niebuhr. By HANS HoFMANN. New York: Scribner's, 1956. Pp. Q69. $3.95. This volume was originally published in German, in Switzerland, though it is based on research done by the author at Princeton and Union Theological Seminaries. The author is justified in thinking that an English translation will be welcomed by readers who could avail themselves of the works of R. Niebuhr, for he does throw considerable light on the development of the American theologian's thought. His intention is " to demonstrate the inner unity of Niebuhr's thought" and he has succeeded, even though he has examined the major works of Niebuhr in their chronological order of publication. He has been able to do this, because, as he points out, "his (Niebuhr's) one great concern remains always the same; the changes are confined to his theological or philosophical views." (p. 7) The author recalls a period in Niebuhr's life, which would be unknown to most of his readers, yet has had a preponderant influence on his thought, has, in fact, provided him with his "one great concern." Niebuhr started his life as a minister in charge of a small church in Detroit. The young minister had emerged from his theological training with " the picture of man as a religious individual whose interests were intellectual and spiritual and were not seriously affected by economic and social factors." (p. 8) He soon learned the inanity of such an image and it is to his credit that he decided to reform it. Several decades after Leo XIII," he began to see, and saw ever more clearly, that preaching and pastoral care must be the expression of God's serious concern for man in his present situation, and of God's love for him." (p. 9) This early experience and the young minister's reaction to it has guided all his work and explains his power. " The relation of gospel and world to each other is the main theme of Niebuhr's work. His starting-point is the conflict between them which results from the disturbance and rupture of their relation-from what the Bible calls sin. His concern is the proclamation of the re-establishment of the relation--"-Of what in the Bible is called grace." (p. 14) In discussing Niebuhr's first book, Does Civilization Need Religion?, Hoffman makes a remark, which is a significant commentary on the theological training of the young minister: "Later we shall consider at what point and for what reasons Niebuhr revised this conception of religion, until, with his new understanding of revelation, the world religion, almost vanishes from his vocabulary." (p. 25) As is made clear later on, this " new understanding of revelation " is really his first understanding of revelation, that is, his first taking the Christian revelation seriously. Another significant remark is made by Hoffman when he comes to analyze the two major works of Niebuhr. " Even here dogmatic structure in the strict sense is not attainable for two reasons. The inner and more 530 :800K REVIEWS important is the fact that Niebuhr is never concerned about pure and correct doctrine for its own sake but only about a doctrine in which the reality of man's life in his relatedness to God and man is revealed." (p. 142) This, perhaps, explains why, when on rare occasions Niebuhr does discuss a point of doctrine, the Catholic reader finds himself in complete disagreement , whereas his exposition of the relatedness of God and man, and man and man, is extremely enlightening. An example of this is Niebuhr's doctrine on sin, which Hans Hoffman rightly sees as central to the whole of his work. Niebuhr's conception of original sin is oversimplified and not in accord with the very text it is based on. The following is a quotation from The Nature and Destiny of Man (quoted by Hoffman, p. 164): "Adam was sinless before he acted and sinful in his first recorded action. His sinlessness, in other words, preceded his first significant action and his sinfulness came to light in that action." While the first chapters of Genesis do give the impression that Adam's...