Reinhold Niebuhr Quotes on Knowledge
Reinhold Niebuhr's Christian realism is marked by a deep awareness of the limits of human knowledge, and the quotes gathered here reflect it. Even the Serenity Prayer associated with him ends in an epistemic petition, for the wisdom to know the difference between what can and cannot be changed. Niebuhr was especially alert to the self-deception built into moral and religious judgement: he warned that religious people often fail to recognise that they are probably as flagrant in their misjudgments as irreligious people, and that to equate one's own judgement with God's is to hold a wrong religion. His realism about human nature cut both ways, captured in his observation that humanity's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, while its inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary. These passages present knowledge as always shadowed by pride, and humility as its necessary corrective.
Quotes
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“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”
One of the most commonly quoted forms. -
“The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness (1944)”
Man 's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary . -
“Man does not know himself truly except as he knows himself confronted by God . Only in that confrontation does he become aware of his full stature and freedom and of the evil in him.”
The Nature and Destiny of Man: A Christian Interpretation(1941) | vol. 1, p. 131 -
“God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.”
The Serenity Prayer(c. 1942) | Niebuhr's preferred form, as declared by his widow -
“One of the fundamental points about religious humility is you say you don't know about the ultimate judgment . It's beyond your judgment. And if you equate God 's judgment with your judgment, you have a wrong religion.”
The Mike Wallace Interview(1958) -
“We Protestants ought to humbly confess that the theater and the sports have done more for race amity, for race understanding than, on the whole, the Protestant Church in certain type, in certain parts of the nation.”
The Mike Wallace Interview(1958) -
“We don't properly discriminate. We never discriminate properly when we're dealing with another group and one of the big problems about religion is that religious people don't know that they are probably as flagrant in these misjudgments as irreligious people.”
The Mike Wallace Interview(1958)