The Pragmatic God: On the Nihilism of Reinhold Niebuhr

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) was one of the foremost, if not the most important, American Protestant theologian of the twentieth century. And yet his books reflect a major problem with which much of twentieth century thinking has not yet come to terms, whether in the fields of theology, philosophy, political thought, or ethics. That problem concerns the question of nihilism and what the author designates as the Road-Runner Syndrome, the constant striving for goals that are not achievable. What has been offered is merely a hope that is hopeless.