Take Care Of The Religious Ethic Of Social Anomie

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892--1971) was one of the outstanding representatives on American Christianity realism and one of the most renowned theologians, thinkers and political activists in the 20th century of the US, whose theoretical contribution and social activities exerted important influence on American society and the Western world at that time.Taking the times crisis that Niebuhr experienced as the background, this paper starts from the perspective of cultural philosophy, discusses the major contents and characteristics of Christianity Realistic Theory in Niebuhr's thought, and further probes into the realistic factors in his thought. Taking the discussion of Christianity as the premise, the paper constantly seeks Niebuhr's solutions to the issues at that time. It is an important characteristic of Niebuhr's thought that he bases his attention to realistic social issues and political situation on Christianity. Stressing on this characteristic, the paper deepens its discussion so as to get inspiration of realistic issues. The beginning part of the paper briefly introduces the research on Niebuhr's thought in Chinese academic area, and explicitly points out that the social anomies reflect the cultural crisis from social facet. After a brief introduction to Niebuhr, the characteristics manifested in his theory are generalized, and then theoretical subjects in Niebuhr's thought are teased out. Starting from the characteristics of Christianity ethics realistic theory, the paper elaborates Niebuhr's views on human nature, ethics and history as well as his democratic and political thought respectively so as to have a comprehensive understanding. Finally, his thought is generally evaluated, from which we find problems and get inspiration.Reinhold Niebuhr's thought fully reflects the great change of the time, which is an evitable outcome at that time under the historical situation. But we should also note that Niebuhr's thought not only concerns issues of the cultural crisis and the social anomies of the time, but also gives inspiration to us at the same time. Especially in crisis-ridden today, Niebuhr's"love"and"justice"seem to have practical significance, which are worth our deliberating.