The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness return to religion-online The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness by Reinhold Niebuhr One of the foremost philsophers and theologians of the twentieth century, Reinhold Niebuhr was for many years a Professor at Union Theological Seminary, New York City. He is the author of many classics in their field, including The Nature and Destiny of Man, Moral Man and Immoral Society, The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness, and Discerning the Signs of Our Times. He was also the founding editor of the publication Christianity and Crisis. The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness was published in 1944 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. This material prepared for Religion Online by Harry and Grace Adams. The thesis of this volume grew out of Niebuhr’s conviction that democracy has a more compelling justification and requires a more realistic vindication than is given it by the liberal culture with which it has been associated in modern history. The author’s political philosophy is informed by the belief that a Christian view of human nature is more adequate for the development of a democratic society than either the optimism with which democracy has become historically associated, or the moral cynicism which inclines human communities to tyrannical political strategies. Foreword Chapter 1: The Children of Light and The Children of Darkness The preservation of a democratic civilization requires the wisdom of the serpent and the harmlessness of the dove. The children of light must be armed with the wisdom of the children of darkness but remain free from their malice. They must have this wisdom in order that they may beguile, deflect, harness and restrain self-interest, individual and collective, for the sake of the community. Chapter 2: The Individual and the Community The problem of the individual and the community cannot be solved at all if the height is not achieved where the sovereign source and end of both individual and communal existence are discerned, and where the limits are set against the idolatrous self-worship of both individuals and communities. file:///D:/rb/relsearchd.dll-action=showitem&id=451.htm (1 of 2) [2/4/03 1:17:17 PM] The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness Chapter 3: The Community and Property Since there are no forms of the socialization of property which do not contain some peril of compounding economic and political power, there must be a continuous debate on the property question in democratic society and a continuous adjustment to new developments. Chapter 4: Democratic Toleration and the Groups of the Community Democratic life requires a spirit of tolerant cooperation between individuals and groups which can be achieved by neither moral cynics, who know no law beyond their own interest, nor by moral idealists, who acknowledge such a law but are unconscious of the corruption which insinuates itself into the statement of it by even the most disinterested idealists. Chapter 5: The World Community The world community, toward which all historical forces seem to be driving us, is mankind’s final possibility and impossibility. The task of achieving it must be interpreted from the standpoint of a faith which understands the fragmentary and broken character of all historic achievements and yet has confidence in their meaning because it knows their completion to be in the hands of a Divine Power. 15 file:///D:/rb/relsearchd.dll-action=showitem&id=451.htm (2 of 2) [2/4/03 1:17:17 PM] Religion-Online religion-online.org Full texts by recognized religious scholars More than 1,500 articles and chapters. 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He is the author of many classics in their field, including The Nature and Destiny of Man, Moral Man and Immoral Society, The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness, and Discerning the Signs of Our Times. He was also the founding editor of the publication Christianity and Crisis. The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness was published in 1944 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. This material prepared for Religion Online by Harry and Grace Adams. Foreword The substance of this volume was presented in a series of lectures on the Raymond W. West Memorial Foundation at Leland Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, in January 1944. It has been considerably expanded, since delivery of the lectures, in preparing them for publication. The Raymond F. West Memorial Lectures on Immortality, Human Conduct, and Human Destiny were established at Leland Stanford University in 1910 by Mr. and Mrs. Frederick W. West of Seattle in memory of their son, a member of the class of 1906, who died before the completion of his college course. These lectures were the fifteenth in the history of the foundation. I desire to express my gratitude to the faculty and students of the university for the sympathetic understanding which they brought to the thesis of the lectures and with which they received my exposition of the thesis. I owe special gratitude to Professor Edgar E. Robinson, head of the history department of the university, and Mrs. Robinson and to the chaplain of the university, Professor D. Elton Trueblood and Mrs. Trueblood for their great kindness to me during my Stanford visit. The thesis of this volume grew out of my conviction that democracy has a more compelling justification and requires a more realistic vindication than is given it by the liberal culture with which it has been associated in modern history. The excessively optimistic estimates of human nature and of human history with which the democratic credo has been historically associated file:///D:/rb/relsearchd.dll-action=showitem&gotochapter=1&id=451.htm (1 of 3) [2/4/03 1:17:21 PM] The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness are a source of peril to democratic society; for contemporary experience is refuting this optimism and there is danger that it will seem to refute the democratic ideal as well. A free society requires some confidence in the ability of men to reach tentative and tolerable adjustments between their competing interests and to arrive at some common notions of justice which transcend all partial interests. A consistent pessimism in regard to man’s rational capacity for justice invariably leads to absolutistic political theories; for they prompt the conviction that only preponderant power can coerce the various vitalities of a community into a working harmony. But a too consistent optimism in regard to man's ability and inclination to grant justice to his fellows obscures the perils of chaos which perennially confront every society, including a free society. In one sense a democratic society is particularly exposed to the dangers of confusion. If these perils are not appreciated they may overtake a free society and invite the alternative evil of tyranny. But modem democracy requires a more realistic philosophical and religious basis, not only in order to anticipate and understand the perils to which it is exposed; but also to give it a more persuasive justification. Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary. In all nondemocratic political theories the state or the ruler is invested with uncontrolled power for the sake of achieving order and unity in the community. But the pessimism which prompts and justifies this policy is not consistent; for it is not applied, as it should be, to the ruler. If men are inclined to deal unjustly with their fellows, the possession of power aggravates this inclination. That is why irresponsible and uncontrolled power is the greatest source of injustice. The democratic techniques of a free society place checks upon the power of the ruler and administrator and thus prevent it from becoming vexatious. The perils of uncontrolled power are perennial reminders of the virtues of a democratic society; particularly if a society should become inclined to impatience with the dangers of freedom and should be tempted to choose the advantages of coerced unity at the price of freedom. The consistent optimism of our liberal culture has prevented modern democratic societies both from gauging the perils of freedom accurately and from appreciating democracy fully as the only alternative to justice and oppression. When this optimism is not qualified to accord with the real and complex facts of human nature and history, there is always a danger that sentimentality will give way to despair and that a too consistent optimism will alternate with a too consistent pessimism.