cover image Remembering Reinhold Niebuhr: Letters of Reinhold and Ursula M. Niebuhr

Remembering Reinhold Niebuhr: Letters of Reinhold and Ursula M. Niebuhr

Reinhold Niebuhr, Ursula M. Niebuhr. T & T Clark International, $29.95 (448pp) ISBN 978-0-06-066234-9

Written primarily between 1931 and 1949, these warmly human letters reveal the noted American theologian (1892-1971) as a loving father, caring friend and devoted husband. Although such influential works as Moral Man and Immoral Society and The Nature and Destiny of Man are referred to mainly in passing, the essence of Niebuhr's liberal and social-activist philosophy--in particular his concern for Christianity's role in the public world--is revealed throughout. His correspondence with such friends as W. H. Auden, Felix Frankfurter and Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., and Ursula Niebuhr's introduction and linking material provide additional insights. While the moving final chapter (``Letters to a Dear But Departed Spouse'') might have better served as an introduction to Reinhold's early years, this volume extends our knowledge of an important 20th-century thinker and his equally intelligent, appealing wife. (July)