From the Great Depression to present day: reflections and discussion on religion and the making of a progressive political consciousness.
niebuhr1
One thought on “niebuhr1”
Richard Frothingham
I would suggest some clarification of your account of UTS. Union Seminary started out as a seminary of the PCUSA (Presby. Church in the USA), reporting annually to the General Assembly (GA) of that denomination and submitting faculty appointments to the GA for its approval. But in 1893, the GA suspended UTS professor, Charles A. Briggs from the ministry, after his trial for heresy. Following that action, UTS broke its official connection with the GA and became more ecumenical in its stance, although it continued to educate many for the Presby ministry. Also Auburn Seminary. It started out, at Auburn, NY, as a Presbyterian Seminary; but unlike any other PCUSA seminary, it never came under the authority of the GA. Instead, it was established under the authority of the presbyteries of NY State and reported directly to them. During the Great Depression, it had financial difficulties, sold its Auburn campus, and merged with UTS as a Presbyterian component within UTS. It still operates that way. Niebuhr. I heard him lecture at Wooster around 1948 or 1949, when Bonthius brought him there. I came down from Oberlin to hear him (you were there then). Then I had a Christian ethics course from him at UTS in the fall of 1956. In the interim, he’d had a stroke and was no longer as dynamic as he had been at Wooster. One specific memory I had was that he was into Christian realism and opposed to perfectionism, including pacifism, in Christian ethics. I recall a woman in the class who argued with him about pacifism and his insistence that it was perfectionist and unrealistic reduced her to tears.
I would suggest some clarification of your account of UTS. Union Seminary started out as a seminary of the PCUSA (Presby. Church in the USA), reporting annually to the General Assembly (GA) of that denomination and submitting faculty appointments to the GA for its approval. But in 1893, the GA suspended UTS professor, Charles A. Briggs from the ministry, after his trial for heresy. Following that action, UTS broke its official connection with the GA and became more ecumenical in its stance, although it continued to educate many for the Presby ministry.
Also Auburn Seminary. It started out, at Auburn, NY, as a Presbyterian Seminary; but unlike any other PCUSA seminary, it never came under the authority of the GA. Instead, it was established under the authority of the presbyteries of NY State and reported directly to them. During the Great Depression, it had financial difficulties, sold its Auburn campus, and merged with UTS as a Presbyterian component within UTS. It still operates that way.
Niebuhr. I heard him lecture at Wooster around 1948 or 1949, when Bonthius brought him there. I came down from Oberlin to hear him (you were there then). Then I had a Christian ethics course from him at UTS in the fall of 1956. In the interim, he’d had a stroke and was no longer as dynamic as he had been at Wooster. One specific memory I had was that he was into Christian realism and opposed to perfectionism, including pacifism, in Christian ethics. I recall a woman in the class who argued with him about pacifism and his insistence that it was perfectionist and unrealistic reduced her to tears.