T-495 Reinhold Niebuhr
May Term, 2017
Instructor: Prof. Robert Cathey
773.947.6323 (office)
The class will meet on the following evenings from 6:00 PM – 8:50 PM at McCormick Theological Seminary (5460 S. University Avenue, Hyde Park, 60615): Monday – Thursday: May 15 – 18; May 22 – 25; May 30 – 31.
Class will not meet on Friday evenings or Memorial Day.
T-495 Reinhold Niebuhr
Historical and theological study of Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971), the foremost Protestant theologian and ethicist of twentieth century America. Against the background of Niebuhr’s life and times, the course surveys Niebuhr’s distinctive engagement with biblical faith, historic Christianity, modern times, and the human condition. A major theme will be an assessment of Niebuhr’s life and thought for informing public ministry today.
Textbooks:
1. Book name: Reinhold Niebuhr: Major Works on Religion and Politics
Author: Niebuhr, Reinhold; Sifton, Elizabeth, ed.
ISBN number: 978-1-59853-375-0 Edition: 2015, hardback
Publisher: Library of America
2. Book name: An American Conscience: The Reinhold Niebuhr Story.
Author: Sabella, Jeremy L.
ISBN: 978-0-8028-7527-3 Edition: 2017, paperback
Publisher: Eerdmans
Both textbooks may be purchased at Seminary Co-op Bookstore: 5751 S. Woodlawn Ave., Hyde Park, 60637; www.semcoop.com; 773.752.4381; . You may order your textbooks online, by phone, or drop by the Bookstore (near The Robie House on Woodlawn Ave.).
Structure of Class Process, Course Assignments, & Research Paper:
As a May term course, we will read some selections from the primary textbook, Reinhold Niebuhr: Major Works on Religion and Politics. Selected readings will be brief and manageable between class sessions and in-class for discussion purposes. Between Thursday evening classes and Monday evening classes, there will be longer selected readings given the three-day gap. This class will be discussion-driven, bringing our questions and concerns to reading Niebuhr’s theological ethics and political writings, but reading him in the context of his own time and place (thus we will also discuss An American Conscience and view the new film by the same title in class).
Between class assignments will prepare us to discuss Niebuhr in class and get a sense for how his writings and influence have been received and interpreted by scholars, activists, politicians, and preachers along the spectrum of politics and religious thought.
After May 31 there will be a research paper due later in the summer based on your critical reading of another of Niebuhr’s works in our primary textbook. In this assignment you will be free to bring in outside readings about Niebuhr’s thought and times, but the focus will be on your wrestling with the implications of his theological ethics for your own life and ministry in congregations, communities, organizations, the academy, and the political-economic-social struggles of our times.
Please feel free to contact Prof. Cathey with any questions:
; 773.947.6323 (office).