<p>A couple of questions:</p>
<li><p>Is anyone familiar with his work? I am not, but I think I would like to be. </p></li>
<li><p>Where should I start reading if I want to focus on the relationship between politics, (philosophical) ethics, and religion? I’ve checked out ‘Moral Man and Immoral Society’ from my school’s library, but it’s sitting on my bookshelf, unread. </p></li>
<li><p>Is Niebuhr taken to be a ‘serious’ philosopher in the academic community (versus ‘merely’ a theologian or social commentator), to the extent that I could actually write about him in my Political Philosophy term paper? I’ve already e-mailed my professor about this and I’ll ultimately take his own opinion to heart, but I would like to get some outside opinions, preferably from people in academia or advanced students of philosophy.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Sure, I'm familiar with Niebuhr. I studied his work many, many years ago, and even then, it was considered to be out of vogue. </p>
<p>(I also used to live on Reinhold Niebuhr Place in NYC... AND, Reinhold Niebuhr's nephew was on my dissertation committee!)</p>
<p>His major work is The Nature and Destiny of Man. </p>
<p>I am by no means an ethicist, or a political scientist, so I cannot comment on the relevance or currency of his work in those areas. I can tell you, however, that his work has been long superceded in theology by liberation theologies and postmodern theologies. He was very much a man of his time (as we all are), but in his case, his work is "high modern" in that it is heavily essentialist and assumes universality. That sort of stuff is just not done these days.</p>
<p>So Niebhur is out if I want to be relevant? I guess I can live with that. I was hoping to do make a departure from writing on the history of philosophy. And may I ask-- are you a philosophy professor yourself? I've heard of Niebuhr place in NYC, did you go to the Union Theological Seminary? I was just curious.</p>
<p>Thank you for the advice!</p>
<p>I would certainly not say that Niebuhr was entirely irrelevant. Barack Obama, for instance, has named Niebuhr as an influence.</p>
<p>However, in academic circles, his work has been so thoroughly deconstructed and historically-situated that it is regarded as (how do I put this?) "old-school."</p>
<p>And no, I am not a Philosophy professor, and yes, in another academic incarnation, I earned an M.Div. from Union. Systematic Theology is, however, no longer my field.</p>