To See Responsibility from Below: Bonhoeffer, Niebuhr, and Racism
This article analyzes and compares the theologies of Bonhoeffer and Reinhold Niebuhr regarding race and racial injustice. It examines the ways both theologians responded to the racial crisis in America, and Bonhoeffer in Nazi Germany, in patterns consistent with their own divergent accounts of moral...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Sage Publ.
2023
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In: |
Theology today
Year: 2023, Volume: 80, Issue: 2, Pages: 144-161 |
IxTheo Classification: | KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history KBB German language area KBQ North America KDD Protestant Church NBE Anthropology NCC Social ethics NCD Political ethics |
Further subjects: | B
James Cone
B Dietrich Bonhoeffer B womanist ethics B White Supremacy B Responsibility B Reinhold Niebuhr |
Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Summary: | This article analyzes and compares the theologies of Bonhoeffer and Reinhold Niebuhr regarding race and racial injustice. It examines the ways both theologians responded to the racial crisis in America, and Bonhoeffer in Nazi Germany, in patterns consistent with their own divergent accounts of moral responsibility. The article argues that Bonhoeffer's theology of the responsible life offers deeper ethical resources than Niebuhr's for responding to the contemporary realities of White supremacy. Yet, while celebrating Bonhoeffer's contributions, it concludes by drawing on criticisms of Bonhoeffer from feminist and womanist thinkers to press this notion of acting responsibly in light of white supremacy beyond Bonhoeffer and offering one concrete example of an institution attempting to do that work. |
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ISSN: | 2044-2556 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Theology today
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/00405736231172699 |