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'The Father Of Us All': The Cold War Liberalism Of Reinhold Niebuhr And The Paradox Of America's Moral Insecurity, Kendall S. Eyster

History

145 years after Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, there has been a flood of interest in theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, and his awareness of the potential hubris in waging a struggle against extremism. His constantly shifting positions on liberalism and America’s global stature has led to disagreement between historians and politicians who claim his legacy on both ends of the political spectrum. What is indisputable, however, is Niebuhr’s belief in liberalism’s epistemological debt to the ideals of Christianity and the repudiation of America’s history as merely a blueprint for democracy that should be repeated, sui generis, elsewhere.