Public Radio's Speaking of Faith Presents 'Moral Man and Immoral Society: The Public Theology of Reinhold Niebuhr'

Public Radio's Speaking of Faith Presents 'Moral Man and Immoral Society: The Public Theology of Reinhold Niebuhr'

Radio and Web Project to Document Boundary-Crossing Theologian and Public Policy Shaper February 10-16

National Endowment for the Humanities Funds Speaking of Faith Special Program, With Expanded Web Site and Resources for Public Radio Listeners and Educators

ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- In the mid-20th century, Reinhold Niebuhr was consulted by Supreme Court justices, cold war strategists, and poets. No religious figure since has taken his place as an influential, boundary-crossing theological voice in American life. Niebuhr challenged Christians as often as he consoled them, and was taken seriously by religious Americans and atheists alike.

Exploring his wide appeal, "Moral Man and Immoral Society: The Public Theology of Reinhold Niebuhr" will describe Niebuhr's legacy and ask what wisdom he might bring to the political and religious dynamics of the early 21st century.

The program will look at Niebuhr's foundational idea, "Christian realism" -- a pragmatic middle way between religious idealism and religious arrogance. It will examine how his theology influenced leading figures in law, culture and politics, and how he continues to influence contemporary thinkers on the right and the left, in America and abroad. It will probe the enduring questions Niebuhr brought to the crises of his day, through public activism and such books as The Nature and Destiny of Man, Moral Man and Immoral Society, and The Irony of American History. Niebuhr was also the author of "The Serenity Prayer," which is now translated and recited in virtually every language in the world.

"Moral Man and Immoral Society: The Public Theology of Reinhold Niebuhr" includes interviews with:

-- Elisabeth Sifton, publisher, and daughter and biographer of Niebuhr;
-- Richard Wightman Fox, University of Southern California intellectual
historian and Niebuhr biographer;
-- Jean Bethke Elshtain, University of Chicago political theorist;
-- Max Stackhouse, Harvard ethicist;
-- Robin Lovin, Southern Methodist University theologian and Niebuhr
interpreter.


The program will also excerpt archived Speaking of Faith interviews with:

-- Chris Hedges, New York Times correspondent;
-- Charles Villa-Vicencio, South African theologian and Truth and
Reconciliation Commission director of research;
-- Reverend Peter J. Gomes, professor and minister of Harvard
University's Memorial Church;
-- Michael Cromartie, political commentator and vice president of the
Ethics and Public Policy Center.


WEB REPORTS


The Speaking of Faith Web site ( http://www.speakingoffaith.org/ ) will be expanded to include many web-exclusive features, including archival photographs, an extensive collection of Niebuhr's correspondence, expanded interviews with the experts and associates who knew him, and maps and timelines illustrating his life and thought.

ABOUT SPEAKING OF FAITH

Speaking of Faith, hosted by Krista Tippett, is public radio's weekly national conversation about belief, meaning, ethics and ideas. It is produced and distributed by American Public Media. Speaking of Faith does not always have "religion" itself as a subject. Week after week, it grapples with themes of American life -- asking how perspectives of faith might distinctively inform and illuminate our public reflection.

TUNE IN

"Moral Man and Immoral Society: The Public Theology of Reinhold Niebuhr" will be broadcast during Speaking of Faith program times nationwide February 10-16, 2005. To locate public radio stations broadcasting Speaking of Faith, visit the program's Web site at http://www.speakingoffaith.org/ .

"Moral Man and Immoral Society: The Public Theology of Reinhold Niebuhr" is made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

American Public Media(TM) is the nation's second-biggest producer of public radio programs, reaching 13.5 million listeners nationwide each week. National programs include A Prairie Home Companion(R), Saint Paul Sunday(R), Marketplace(R), Sound Money(R), The Splendid Table(R), Speaking of Faith(R) and special reports produced by its national documentary unit, American RadioWorks(R). American Public Media is the national production and distribution division of Minnesota Public Radio(R). Minnesota Public Radio, along with its sister company Southern California Public Radio, belongs to a larger family of companies within American Public Media Group, a national nonprofit organization whose purpose is to develop resources, services and systems to support public media for public service. A complete list of stations, programs and additional services can be obtained at http://www.americanpublicmedia.us/ .

Source: Data are copyright Arbitron, Inc. Arbitron data are estimates only. Spring 2004


Source: American Public Media

CONTACT: Connie Molby of American Public Media, +1-651-290-1113, or
cmolby@americanpublicmedia.org

Web site: http://www.americanpublicmedia.org/
http://www.speakingoffaith.org/


-------
Profile: intent