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    The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness: A Vindication of Democracy and a Critique of Its Traditional Defense
    The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness: A Vindication of Democracy and a Critique of Its Traditional Defense
    The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness: A Vindication of Democracy and a Critique of Its Traditional Defense
    Ebook215 pages2 hours

    The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness: A Vindication of Democracy and a Critique of Its Traditional Defense

    By Reinhold Niebuhr and Gary Dorrien

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    The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness, first published in 1944, is considered one of the most profound and relevant works by the influential theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, and certainly the fullest statement of his political philosophy. Written and first read during the prolonged, tragic world war between totalitarian and democratic forces, Niebuhr’s book took up the timely question of how democracy as a political system could best be defended.

    Most proponents of democracy, Niebuhr claimed, were “children of light,” who had optimistic but naïve ideas about how society could be rid of evil and governed by enlightened reason. They needed, he believed, to absorb some of the wisdom and strength of the “children of darkness,” whose ruthless cynicism and corrupt, anti-democratic politics should otherwise be repudiated. He argued for a prudent, liberal understanding of human society that took the measure of every group’s self-interest and was chastened by a realistic understanding of the limits of power. It is in the foreword to this book that he wrote, “Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.”

    This edition includes a new introduction by the theologian and Niebuhr scholar Gary Dorrien in which he elucidates the work’s significance and places it firmly into the arc of Niebuhr’s career.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
    Release dateJul 15, 2011
    ISBN9780226584010
    The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness: A Vindication of Democracy and a Critique of Its Traditional Defense
    Author

    Reinhold Niebuhr

    Reinhold Niebuhr was a theologian, Christian ethicist, and public intellectual who taught for more than thirty years at Union Theological Seminary in New York.

    Read more from Reinhold Niebuhr

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      Niebuhr's book is more critique than vindication, and what vindication there is is for the intellectual resources of the Christian heritage. He critiques "children of light" philosophers, social theorists, and political actors and ideologues for their sentimentality and naivety, which manifests as an over-optimistic faith in human rationality, morality, and progress. Marxists and liberals alike come in for censure for their "stupidity"--the latter for their misguided individualism and rationalism which blinds them to the dangers of nationalism and fascism, and the former for their failure to grasp how imbalances of power resulting from even the collective ownership of property present grave insuperable obstacles to their anarchic utopia. The book is punctuated by interesting, if sometimes throw-away, observations and insights on the origins of fascism and the roots of unrest and dissatisfaction in modern society.

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