Sleith, WJ Allen (2004) Crucial faith: the theology and ethics of H.

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Sleith, W. J. Allen (2004) Crucial faith: the theology and ethics of H.
Richard Niebuhr. PhD thesis.

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1
Crucial Faith:
The Theology and Ethics of H. Richard Niebuhr
w.
J. Alien Sleith
Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
(Ph.D.)
To
The University of Glasgow
© W. J. Alien Sleith 2004
2
CONTENTS
Abstract 5
Acknowledgements 7
Introduction: A Sketch of Niebuhr's Life and Work 8
1. An Image ofa Man 8
2. Reading Between the Lines: Life and Text in Context 11
3. A Strange Tradition: 'Theologia Crucis' 23
4. An Overview of this Thesis 26
Chapter One: An Existential Perspective 32
1. 'Pistology': Analysing the Faith of the Social Self 32
2. The Faithlessness of the Social Self 40
3. The Broken Faith of the Social Self 42
4. The Misplaced Faith of the Social Self 56
5. Niebuhr's Concept of Sin 62
6. Conclusion 68
Chapter Two: An Evangelical Perspective 70
1. Soteriology: Salvation as the Transformation of Faith 70
2. The Reconstruction of Broken Faith 73
3. The Redirection of Misplaced Faith 79
3
4. Christology: Jesus as the Incarnation and Mediator 86
of Faith
5. Pneumatology: A Niebuhrian Problem 101
6. 'Theology': Niebuhr's Doctrine of God 107
7. Conclusion 111
Chapter Three: An Ethical Perspective 114
1. Root Metaphors: A Critique of Two Traditional Theories 114
2. An Alternative Metaphor: The Responsible Self 119
3. Response to the Redeeming Action of God 124
4. Response to the Creative Action of God 126
5. Response to the Governing Action of God 133
6. 'Christo-morphic' Responsibility 157
7. Conclusion 162
Chapter Four: An Ecclesiological Perspective 165
1. Towards a Definition of the Church: A Polar Analysis 165
2. The Purpose of the Church: The Increase of the Love of 170
God and Neighbour
3. The Deformation of the Church: Confusing Proximate with 177
Ultimate Goals
4. The Reformation of the Church: The Responsible Church 186
as Corporate Apostle, Pastor and Pioneer
5. The Spirituality of the Church: 'Participation in the Present 193
Passion'
4
6. Conclusion 199
Chapter Five: An Ecumenical Perspective 200
1. A Relative Lack of Concern for Church-Union 200
2. A Reconciling Resource for the Monotheistic Religions? 210
3. 'Moving Beyond Sectarianism': A Northern Ireland 216
Test Case
4. A Larger Ecumenism: The Ecology of Radical 222
Responsibili ty
5. Conclusion 228
Chapter Six: An Eschatological Perspective 230
1. The Coming of Jesus Christ 230
2. The Sovereignty of God: An 'Emergent Reality' 235
with 'Universal Intent'
3. Faith, Love and Hope 240
4. Conclusion 244
Chapter Seven: Summary Conclusion 245
Bibliography 250
5
Abstract
The argument of this thesis is that H. Richard Niebuhr has produced a
distinctive, indeed, unique theologia crucis. Although Niebuhr never made this
motif the explicit focus of his work, his writings, nonetheless, demonstrate a
perennial reference to, and penetrating grasp of, the crucifixion and resurrection
of Jesus Christ, as the defining events of the Christian gospel.
After a short introduction to Niebuhr's life and work, and a brief discussion
of that tradition which gives prominence to the theology of the cross (theologia
erucis), an exposition and interpretation ofNiebuhr's theologia erucis is carried
out by means of six distinct, though interrelated perspectives: existential;
evangelical; ethical; ecclesiological; ecumenical and eschatological. Despite his
reluctance to present a full-blown dogmatics or systematics, I use these six
perspectives to trace the contours of the coherent, yet largely, implicit theologia
erucis that lies just below the surface of his corpus, so that my thesis may allow
its form and content to crystallise more clearly in the mind's eye.
Beginning with an existential exploration of Niebuhr's phenomenology of
faith in terms of trust and loyalty, we are enabled to more fully apprehend the
multi-faceted faithlessness of the social self as exposed by the theologia erueis.
In the next chapter, written from an evangelical perspective, we see how God in
Christ has transformed the human situation by converting the various fonns of
faithlessness into that faithfulness which Niebuhr calls radical monotheism.
Chapter three considers the ethical consequences of this faith-stance as depicted
by Niebuhr in terms of response to the creative, governing and redemptive
actions of God. Next, we analyse his ecclesiology, and see that this largely
takes the form of a constructive critique in order to help clarify the mission of
the eeclesia erucis. Chapters five and six are written from an ecumenical and
eschatological perspective respectively, and seek to lay bare the kind of ethos
that Niebuhr espoused, namely, that God's sovereignty is a mysterious yet
6
emergent reality with universal intent, confronting sin and suffering as an
eschatologia crucis.
I conclude that Niebuhr's is a distinctive, even unique theologia crucis, one
that is, at least plausible, and, I believe, persuasive as a particular kind of ethos
of the cross. His interpretation of what I designate 'crucial faith' in the light of
God in Christ makes his a necessary, if not in every respect, sufficient
exposition of the orthodox Trinitarian gospel, perhaps best described as an
ethos of the cross or a prophetic wisdom of the cross. As such it offers a distinct
and worthy contribution to our understanding of Christian discipleship.
7
Acknowledgements
I am glad of the opportunity to express my thanks to those people who have
helped me in various ways throughout the research and completion of this
thesis.
My supervisor, George Newlands, has enriched this project enormously by the
generosity of his friendship and support, as well as with the depth and breadth
of his theological acumen. Dr. lan Hazlett and the librarian, Graham Whitaker,
have also helped me in various ways over the years.
John Bell and Christine Reid have been my kind hosts during many trips to
Glasgow for study leave, so much so that it almost feels like a home from
home.
Harvey Hamilton's computer expertise is gratefully acknowledged, as is the
interest and support of the congregation in which I minister, Regent Street
Presbyterian Church.
My mother and father have shaped my life and vocation more than perhaps they
imagine, and in thanking them for all sorts of things, I am also grateful for
helping to advance this study by tracking down many obscure articles.
Finally, but most importantly, I wish to thank my wife Deborah, and our three
children for keeping faith with me. If this project has been a labour of love for
me, I hardly know where to start in saying how much I appreciate their love and
labour too. Our life together, is what I benefit from, and delight in, always.
8
Introduction: A Sketch of Niebuhr's Life and Work
1. An Image of a Man
A photograph ofH. Richard Niebuhr has long fascinated me. Taken in 1955 in
the chapel of Yale Divinity School, it shows him standing at a lectern or
podium looking down, presumably at those seated before him. The picture is in
black and white with the dark shading of Niebuhr's gown and the sanctuary's
background both lending an atmosphere of solemnity. But what arrests one's
attention is Niebuhr's face: head tilted slightly to the side, his eyes gaze forward
with profound intensity, suggestive of hidden depths of suffering and
experience. His deeply lined face and forehead, a cri ss-cross of agonized
concern; as well as the set of his closed mouth and jaw, subtly add to the
overwhelming mood of existential contemplation that his expression evokes.
My contention is that a proper appreciation of this photograph goes hand in
hand with the attempt to understand Niebuhr's distinctive contribution to the
theological task, especially as this has been articulated in the well known
expression, 'faith seeking understanding'. As this thesis has developed, I have
become increasingly convinced that contemplating this photograph, as well as
pondering his life in its historical context and reading closely his corpus of
writings, involves a kind of hermeneutical spiral where each aspect helps
interpret the others in a process of mutual enrichment.
James Gustafson, a close friend and colleague ofNiebuhr's, seems to concur
with this when he writes: 'Two photographs of HRN in my possession still
affect me . . . Photographs convey dimensions that words do not.' As
1
Gustafson also writes, in confirmation of my earlier suggestion about the
existentialist strain in Niebuhr's life and work: '[Niebuhr was] a person to
whom the reality of God was not just an idea but a power, and whose
I James M. Gustafson, 'Faithfulness: Remembering H. Richard Niebuhr,' The Christian
Century, October S, 1994, pp. 884-886, quoting from p. 886.
9
confidence that God could be Friend was borne out of both the Christian story
and the struggles of personal, social and political life. ,2
Another friend and colleague, Liston Pope writes that 'those who know him
fairly well, including his students, are aware that his life has been etched in
profound interior struggle, and that this life itself is a result of a simultaneous
dependence on God and the rebellion of a human being against Him.' And in a
backward glance to the image evoked by the photograph I have already referred
to, Pope remarks that 'Richard Niebuhr on the podium is not acting but feeling
- man feeling as he is thinking.,3 Finally, we may record the reflections of
another Niebuhr scholar, Mel Keiser who writes of how as a young theology
student he one day 'took down thefestschrift for H. Richard Niebuhr, Faith and
Ethics. Opening to the flyleaf picture, I was struck by his face. Deeply etched,
luminous, manifest with power, humility and suffering, it was what I would
come late to understand as the numinosity of "a wise old man." In that
fortuitous moment I was transfixed by a felt sense of deep meaning and mystery
in the vital mind of this embodied self. Regaled with stories of his theological
acumen by my undergraduate mentor and beginning to read Christ and Culture,
I went to Yale Divinity School to study with Niebuhr in what turned out to be
the last two years of his life.,4
Gustafson, Pope and Kliever were writing, of course, as North Americans,
and indeed, most if not quite all of the scholarly interaction with Niebuhr has
been in that context. Coming from my own rather different situation, namely,
Northern Ireland and its circumstances of conflict, suspicion and terrorism,
especially 'the Troubles' of recent years, I have been drawn to a deep
appreciation of Niebuhr's writings for particular reasons arising from this
context, and am intrigued by the possibilities that may emerge from the sort of
reinterpretation of his work that I offer here. It seems to me that Niebuhr's
distinctive interpretation of faith is a plausible, even persuasive theology of the
2 Ibid.
3 Liston Pope, 'H. Richard Niebuhr: A Personal Appreciation,' pp. 3-8, here pp. 4,5 in Faith
and Ethics: The Theology ofH . Richard Niebuhr, Paul Ramsey ed, New York, Harper & Row,
1957, reprinted as Harper Torchbook paperback, 1965 .
.. R. Melvin Keiser, Roots ofR elational Ethics: Responsibility in Origin and Maturity in H.
Richard Niebuhr, Atlanta, Scholars Press, 1996, p. v.