num_pages: 560
description: Ultimately or so H. Richard Niebuhr wrote as early as 1929 the problem of church and world involves us in a paradox; unless the church accommodates itself to the world it becomes sterile inwardly and outwardly; unless it transcends the world it becomes indistinguishable from the world and loses its effectiveness no less surely. In the same context he went on to The rhythm of approach and withdrawal need not be like the swinging of the pendulum mere repetition without progress; it may be more like the rhythm of the waves that wash upon the beach; each succeeding wave advances a little farther into the world with its cleansing gospel before that gospel becomes sullied with the earth.Niebuhrs thought on the paradox of church and world is an essential piece of our understanding of twentieth-century theology in America. In this volume Jon Diefenthaler collects for the first time over forty writings that trace the lineage of Niebuhrs thought presents them in a single place and makes a case for their enduring value in a post-church religious environment.
language: English
title: The Paradox of Church and World: Selected Writings of H. Richard Niebuhr
publisher: Fortress Press