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Rating: 
Summary: Faith During Crisis - Living the Moment
Review: An adult daughter recalls childhood observations of her remarkable parents, Reinhold and Ursula Niehbuhr, and their coterie of influential friends, including Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, poet W. H. Auden, philosopher Isaiah Berlin, theologians Paul Tillich and Karl Barth, and Christian martyr Dietrich Boenhoeffer, as they struggled with the weighty issues of the middle 20th century - the Depression, Nazism, World War II, Communism, and Civil Rights. The remembrances center around the summer community of Heath, Massachusetts and Reinhold Niebuhr's composition in the summer of 1943 of the Serenity Prayer, which spread around the world after being distributed to US servicemen and is now universally recognized - although in somewhat altered form, and not always attributed to its author.
Although the Serenity Prayer is central throughout, this lovely book is just as concerned with the issue raised by the subtitle: faith and politics in times of peace and war -- namely, how to reconcile the gospel demand of 'love thy neighbor' with the often terrible realities of human nature. For Ms. Sifton, as for her remarkable parents, spiritual concerns are inseparable from political concerns. The Niebuhrs were committed to promoting the gospel promises in social and political institutions, and opposed totalitarian and antidemocratic threats wherever they saw them.
One major block to progress in human affairs is the nature of humankind. The simplistic faith in the ultimate goodness of man or the power of love to effect change is heretical in both theology and fact, "no historical realities have remotely conformed to it." The history of humanity, even at is finest, is a history of greed, corruption and vanity, so "a religious faith that substitutes faith in man for faith in God cannot finally validate itself in experience." Unless one accepts the nature of humans as inherently flawed, one cannot recognize and confront the dangers of "violent, armed anti-democratic formations" or even recognize and admit the selfishness and self-indulgence that motivates all of us.
Another block lies in the nature of institutions, even religious institutions. "All religions are prone to bossiness once established" and tend to "kill the spirit by the letter." Over time, institutions become more self-righteous, more sure of the correctness of their own views, less tolerant of the views of others. The bitter intolerance of fundamentalists (of all stripes) and their rigid belief in their own righteousness is a continuing threat to all humanity. Truth is many sided, even Christian truth. Opinions can be mistaken, but courtesy, kindness, tolerance, humility, and fairness are always right.
In addition to the title prayer, there are other terrific prayers and aphorisms by Rev. Niebuhr throughout the book, but one particularly hits this theme:
"Remove from us all pretensions of righteousness and goodness and wisdom on our own account. Destroy our self esteem. Wound us in our pride..."
Although the text sometimes meanders, the power, grace and good will of its central themes, and the Niebuhr family, make it very rewarding indeed.
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Summary: America: A Spiritual Topography
Review: Easy reading is damn hard writing. The name of the writer who made that observation escapes me but he could easily have been talking about Elisabeth Sifton's THE SERENITY PRAYER, the author's moving, tender memoir of her father theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. In this beautifully written book on the origin of her father's most well known (and widely circulated) words, Sifton provides us with a Rosetta Stone for deciphering some of the most important political and historical events of the twentieth century. Events that inspired men and women like her father to dedicate their lives to the fight against facsism and a world free of bigotry, prejudice, and injustice. Whether standing up to the anti-communist hysteria of McCarthy era America, the oppressive, totalitarian government of the Soviet Union or the insane nuclear weapons programs of both countries, Niebuhr and the circle of activists and intellectuals who were drawn to his side were people who put principles above personalities. As a consequence, Sifton's father found allies in every nook and cranny of the American (and global) political and cultural landscape. Christians, Jews, East, West, Republicans, Democrats, liberals, conservatives, Southerners, Northerners, black, white, wealthy, poor, Niebuhr's followers and supporters cut across traditional class, color, gender and religious lines. Unlike other chronicles of this era in American history that use important battles, summits, documents, elections, trials, discoveries, etc. to launch their stories from, Sifton utilizes a nondescript prayer her father delivered at the Heath Church in a quiet town of the same name in Western Massachusetts as the back drop for her narrative. This beucolic New England village where the Niebuhr's spent their summers is the canvas upon which Sifton paints her vivid images and memories of childhood, her father, and the causes he, and, in fact, their entire family, devoted their lives to. A colleague in attendance at the sermon and deeply moved by the prayer asked him the origins of the words and where he might find them. Niebuhr said they were his and responded to this request by simply handing his friend his notes with the prayer written down on them. Eventually the prayer made its way to a (then) fledgling group called Alcoholics Anonymous. AA asked Niebuhr's permission to use his words as a staple of their spiritual "fellowship." Not believing anyone can "own" the words of a prayer anymore than one can own the sea or the air, the great theologian said yes again; and the rest is, as we say, "history". What Sifton gives us in THE SERENITY PRAYER is an intimate biography of a man who was, arguably, the greatest theologian of his generation, but what she gifts us is a spiritual topography of our nations soul. She accomplishes this by artfully weaving the story of the Serenity Prayer, her father's rich intellectual life and community and world history into a single riveting narrative. This literary device, if you want to call it that, allows us to see how world events can effect the lives of ordinary citizens as well as how the myraid and seemingly innocuous choices we make on an almost daily basis--what philosopher John Shotter calls 'the cultural politics of everyday life'--ultimately shape our world and the outcome of history. Had this exceptional title been published at any other time in our secular nation's short history it, no doubt, would have been highly critically acclaimed and prominently displayed, along with other intellectual and religious nostalgia, on a tall shelf in the back of book stores. However, given current events taking place at home and abroad the author's message is not just an important one, it is a timely one. THE SERENITY PRAYER offers us more than an insightful look back at our past, it provides us with a road map for our future. I pray we have the courage and wisdom to use it.
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Summary: A Prayer that Changed Millions of Lives!
Review: When I first read theologian Reinhold Niebuhr in seminary, I had no idea about his involvement in the Serenity Prayer, probably one of the most famous prayers in history, and probably memorized by more people than any other prayer except the Lord's Prayer. I first learned of his involvement from an article by Elizabeth Sifton when I was researching my revised and expanded edition of "Prayer Steps to Serenity" which follows the Serenity Prayer and the 12 Steps using a daily meditation and workbook format. I referenced Sifton's article in "Prayer Steps to Serenity," and if I ever expand my book again, I will certainly recommend her book in mine!
"Prayer Steps to Serenity" is available from Amazon.com with ISBN 0595313043. The book will lead you to practically apply the Serenity Prayer each day of your life of prayer and meditation.
Thanks for reading!
L.G. Parkhurst, jr.
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