Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1979 A Rhetorical Study of Selected Speeches by Reinhold Niebuhr (1930-1960). Bill R. Love Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Love, Bill R., "A Rhetorical Study of Selected Speeches by Reinhold Niebuhr (1930-1960)." (1979). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 3404. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/3404 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This was produced from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. 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University Microfilms International 31)0 N /EEB ROAD, ANN ARBOR, MM8106 18 BEDFORD ROW. LONDON WC1 R 4EJ, ENGLAND 7 9 2 7 5 3 6 LOVE# BILL R• A rheto rical study OF selected speeches by REIHHOLD rUEBUHR (I930-1960). THE LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY AND AGRICULTURAL anl? HECh a n i c a l COL,,’ P h .D.# 1979 University MtcrrinJms International 300 N /H flH IM O ANN ARHUH Ml 4010B A RHETORICAL STUDY OF SELECTED SPEECHES BY REINHOLD NIEBUHR (1930-1960) A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Speech by Bill Love B.A., Abilene Christian College, 1960 M.A., Abilene Christian College, 1964 B.D., University of Winnipeg, 1967 August 1979 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................... iv ABSTRACT...................................................... vl CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION Statement of the Problem ........................... 1 Contributory Studies.................................. 2 Justification for the Study ......................... 5 Methodology and Limitations of the Study .......... 17 Organization of the Study ............................. 19 CHAPTER II - THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPEAKER The Early Years (1892-1915) 21 The Detroit Years (1915-1928) 28 The Years at Union (1929-1960)....................... 33 Niebuhr's Philosophy of Rhetoric..................... 41 The Speaker's Ideas .................................... 52 CHAPTER III - A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF FOUR EARLY SERMONS Historical Background ................................ 62 The Depression ...................................... 65 The Crisis on Campus ................................72 The Crisis Regarding Intervention.................. 86 Analysis of Sermons "The Transvaluation of Values" .................. 98 "The Ark and the Temple" .......................... Ill "Deceivers, Yet True".............................. 122 "Mystery and Meaning"...............................133 CHAPTER IV - A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF FOUR SERMONS ON THE FORTIES AND FIFTIES Historical Background America's Responsibility in War and in Post-War Settlements..........................................14 7 The Cold War and Atomic Diplomacy................. 155 The Search for World Peace and World Government. 165 11 Analysis of Sermons and Speeches "Anger and Forgiveness"........................... 176 "An Adequate Faith for the World Crisis" .... 189 "A Sermon Delivered at Harvard Chapel" .......... 19 8 "Advent In a Nuclear Age"......................... 213 CHAPTER V - A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF TWO SPEECHES DELIVERED AT UNION SEMINARY Historical Background Liberal Protestantism............................. 234 Seminary Education ................................ 23 5 Niebuhr’s Relationship with Students ........... 242 Analysis of Speeches "Conference on the Ministry.......................246 "Coitmencement Address" - 19 57 .................... 2 62 CHAPTER VI - CONCLUSIONS.................................. 280 A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................... ..... 292 VITA.........................................................304 111 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Gratitude is here expressed to the several members of the academic community who provided inspiration, guidance, and encouragement for this study: to Dr. Kenneth Hamilton of the University of Winnipeg who first introduced the writer to the thought of Reinhold Niebuhr, to Dr. Harold Mixon for his tireless service as director of the study, to Drs. Anne Loveland, Waldo Braden, Donald Ragsdale, and Clinton Bradford for kindly serving on the examing com­ mittee. Valuable information and advice was also received from the following able scholars: Dr. Helmut Koester of Harvard, Dr. Werner Kelber of Rice University, Dr. Edmund Steimlie of Union Seminary in New York, Dr. Lynn Mitchell of the University of St. Thomas in Houston, and Dr. Lynn McCauley of Tarleton State University. A note of thanks is here expressed to the library staff at Louisiana State University, to the staff of the Reference Library of the Library of Congress and to the Chief of the Reference Depart­ ment, John C. Broderick, and to Marjorie Griffis, Reference Librarian at Union Theological Seminary. The writer is also grateful to the Bering Drive Church of Christ in Houston for leaves of absence granted for research and the writing of the dissertation. Of a more personal nature, the writer wishes to thank the many friends who supplied support and iv encouragement during the study: Dr. Kenneth Durham, Wayne Dockery, Drs. Jimmie and Janie Lawson, Huey and Adrea Brown, Vic and Fran Bussie, and Vee Jenkins. The capable assistance of several typists is here also recognized: Sherrill Page, Peggy Hoyt, Robyn White, Nita Short, Carol Mitchell and Ann Swanzy. A special note of thanks is expressed to the writer's children, Kim, Sheri, and Mark, who suffered through many hours of their father's preoccupation with this study. To my wife, Deanna, I express gratitude not only for her patience with me during the years of this study but also for her invalu­ able assistance as proofreader. Gratitude is also expressed for my late parents, Guy C. and Era Mae Love for their support both financial and moral through many years of education, and especially for the encouragement of my mother who more than any other person wanted her son to complete this degree. v ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to determine whether Reinhold Niebuhr was an effective public speaker. The development of the speaker is traced from his boyhood years through his seminary education at Yale, through the years of his ministry at Detroit, to Niebuhr's long career as a professor of Christian social ethics at Union Seminary in New York. The speaker's philosophy of rhetoric is reviewed, together with the major influences upon his thinking. A rhetorical analysis of four early sermons delivered on apologetic themes during the thirties is followed by the analysis of a second set of four sermons delivered in the forties and fifties on war and post-war themes. Two speeches delivered in the fifties at Union Seminary are then analyzed to discover Niebuhr's main concerns for ministerial education. The study reveals that Niebuhr's ideas were constantly changing and developing. The speaker was rooted deeply in the thought of the Christian tradition as it found expression in the German Lutheranism of his early home. Niebuhr read widely and was influenced by most of the great thinkers in the Western cultural tradition. Niebuhr's thinking was influenced as much by events as by ideas. Events of personal, national, and international magnitude modified vi the speaker's ideas as he tried to reconcile his theories of Christian social ethics with the hard