R&L Logo R&L Logo
  • GENERAL
    • Browse by Subjects
    • New Releases
    • Coming Soon
    • Chases's Calendar
  • ACADEMIC
    • Textbooks
    • Browse by Course
    • Instructor's Copies
    • Monographs & Research
    • Reference
  • PROFESSIONAL
    • Education
    • Intelligence & Security
    • Library Services
    • Business & Leadership
    • Museum Studies
    • Music
    • Pastoral Resources
    • Psychotherapy
  • FREUD SET
Cover Image
Hardback
eBook
share of facebook share on twitter
Add to GoodReads

Reinhold Niebuhr's Paradox

Paralysis, Violence, and Pragmatism

Daniel Malotky

Confronted with the uncertainties of living in a modern liberal society, many are tempted toward moral paralysis: a hesitation to judge or act on those judgments. Reinhold Niebuhr’s paradoxical conception of the self allows for a deeper interpretation of this plight and, in this insightful book, Daniel Malotky shows that Niebuhr’s work holds out a potential solution to it: a framework for a measure of moral certainty without ideological blindness. The paradox of freedom and finitude demands that though endeavors to reach a meaningful totality will always be limited in some fashion, grasping this totality must still be attempted. Using Niebuhr’s thought as a guide, Malotky conceives of a framework that provides the parameters of justification as defined by the pragmatists, while also opening the door to the critical appropriation of the moral wealth of Christian tradition.

Malotky follows Niebuhr’s example in a defense of the traditional Christian concepts of sin, love, and grace. He engages in immanent criticism, shaping a response to the violently disposed, focusing on the issue of gun violence in particular, and defining what our own attitude should be to the use of force. Readers will be engaged by the way this this concise book models a properly Christian pragmatism on questions of violence.
  • Details
  • Details
  • Author
  • Author
  • TOC
  • TOC
  • Reviews
  • Reviews
Lexington Books
Pages: 124 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9½
978-0-7391-3960-8 • Hardback • December 2011 • $105.00 • (£81.00)
978-0-7391-3962-2 • eBook • December 2011 • $99.50 • (£77.00)
Subjects: Religion / Psychology of Religion, Political Science / History & Theory
Daniel Malotky is the professor of religion and philosophy at Greensboro College.
Introduction
Chapter 1: The New Pragmatists
Chapter 2: Paradox and Pragmatism
Chapter 3: Pragmatism and Tradition
Chapter 4: Violence and Despair
Chapter 5: Love
Conclusion
Today’s liberals have begun to doubt their own relativism, but they do not know how to hold convictions without becoming fundamentalists. In Reinhold Niebuhr’s Paradox, Daniel Malotky gives new life to a way of thinking that has room for commitment and compromise. This is a way forward that many of us have been seeking, both personally and politically.
— Robin W. Lovin, Cary M. Maguire University Professor of Ethics Emeritus, Southern Methodist University


Drawing deeply upon the thought of Reinhold Niebuhr, Malotky finds postmodern humanity in the midst of the perpetually unique struggle between the universal and the particular. We all strain for unconditionality, each from her or his own place, time, and tradition. Putting this vividly paradoxical understanding of the human condition in dialogue with contemporary expressions of liberalism and conservatism, Malotky is able to illumine the contours of our present social situation, and to offer pathways toward new possibilities for the future. This is a book on philosophy, politics, and theology; scholars from each of these fields would do well to pay attention to the analysis it contains.
— Kevin Carnahan, Central Methodist University


Reinhold Niebuhr's Paradox

Paralysis, Violence, and Pragmatism

Cover Image
Hardback
eBook
Summary
Summary
  • Confronted with the uncertainties of living in a modern liberal society, many are tempted toward moral paralysis: a hesitation to judge or act on those judgments. Reinhold Niebuhr’s paradoxical conception of the self allows for a deeper interpretation of this plight and, in this insightful book, Daniel Malotky shows that Niebuhr’s work holds out a potential solution to it: a framework for a measure of moral certainty without ideological blindness. The paradox of freedom and finitude demands that though endeavors to reach a meaningful totality will always be limited in some fashion, grasping this totality must still be attempted. Using Niebuhr’s thought as a guide, Malotky conceives of a framework that provides the parameters of justification as defined by the pragmatists, while also opening the door to the critical appropriation of the moral wealth of Christian tradition.

    Malotky follows Niebuhr’s example in a defense of the traditional Christian concepts of sin, love, and grace. He engages in immanent criticism, shaping a response to the violently disposed, focusing on the issue of gun violence in particular, and defining what our own attitude should be to the use of force. Readers will be engaged by the way this this concise book models a properly Christian pragmatism on questions of violence.
Details
Details
  • Lexington Books
    Pages: 124 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9½
    978-0-7391-3960-8 • Hardback • December 2011 • $105.00 • (£81.00)
    978-0-7391-3962-2 • eBook • December 2011 • $99.50 • (£77.00)
    Subjects: Religion / Psychology of Religion, Political Science / History & Theory
Author
Author
  • Daniel Malotky is the professor of religion and philosophy at Greensboro College.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • Introduction
    Chapter 1: The New Pragmatists
    Chapter 2: Paradox and Pragmatism
    Chapter 3: Pragmatism and Tradition
    Chapter 4: Violence and Despair
    Chapter 5: Love
    Conclusion
Reviews
Reviews
  • Today’s liberals have begun to doubt their own relativism, but they do not know how to hold convictions without becoming fundamentalists. In Reinhold Niebuhr’s Paradox, Daniel Malotky gives new life to a way of thinking that has room for commitment and compromise. This is a way forward that many of us have been seeking, both personally and politically.
    — Robin W. Lovin, Cary M. Maguire University Professor of Ethics Emeritus, Southern Methodist University


    Drawing deeply upon the thought of Reinhold Niebuhr, Malotky finds postmodern humanity in the midst of the perpetually unique struggle between the universal and the particular. We all strain for unconditionality, each from her or his own place, time, and tradition. Putting this vividly paradoxical understanding of the human condition in dialogue with contemporary expressions of liberalism and conservatism, Malotky is able to illumine the contours of our present social situation, and to offer pathways toward new possibilities for the future. This is a book on philosophy, politics, and theology; scholars from each of these fields would do well to pay attention to the analysis it contains.
    — Kevin Carnahan, Central Methodist University


ALSO AVAILABLE

  • Cover image for the book International Politics: Enduring Concepts and Contemporary Issues, Fourteenth Edition
  • Cover image for the book American Political Rhetoric: Essential Speeches and Writings on Founding Principles and Contemporary Controversies, 8th Edition
  • Cover image for the book Aristocratic Voices: Forgotten Arguments about Virtue, Authority, and Inequality
  • Cover image for the book Imaginaries of Connectivity: The Creation of Novel Spaces of Governance
  • Cover image for the book Non-Violence: A History Beyond the Myth
  • Cover image for the book Reason’s Inquisition: On Doubtful Ground
  • Cover image for the book Filming the First: Cinematic Portrayals of Freedom of the Press
  • Cover image for the book Public Perception of International Crises: Identity, Ontological Security and Self-Affirmation
  • Cover image for the book A Muslim Realist: Strategies, Methods and Approaches from Türkiye's Experience
  • Cover image for the book Personalism for the Twenty-First Century: Essays in Honor of David Walsh
  • Cover image for the book History of American Political Thought, Second Edition
  • Cover image for the book Wicked Leadership in Film
  • Cover image for the book Political Satire, Postmodern Reality, and the Trump Presidency: Who Are We Laughing At?
  • Cover image for the book Suez Deconstructed: An Interactive Study in Crisis, War, and Peacemaking
  • Cover image for the book Invisible Labour in Modern Science
  • Cover image for the book Popular Culture and the Political Values of Neoliberalism
  • Cover image for the book Why Would Anyone Believe in God?
  • Cover image for the book Affective Imageries: Visual Politics of Wounded Bodies in Timor-Leste
  • Cover image for the book The Power to Assume Form: Cornelius Castoriadis and Regimes of Historicity
  • Cover image for the book William Morris and the Aesthetic Constitution of Politics, second edition
  • Cover image for the book Eric Voegelin on China and Universal Humanity: A Study of Voegelin’s Hermeneutic Empirical Paradigm
  • Cover image for the book Theories of Democracy: A Reader
  • Cover image for the book Unequal Encounters: A Reader in Early Latin American Political Thought
  • Cover image for the book Tyranny of Reason: The Origins and Consequences of the Social Scientific Outlook
  • Cover image for the book From Ideology to Nostalgia: Excursions with Arthur Koestler and Sándor Márai
  • Cover image for the book A Politics of All: Thomas Jefferson and Radical Democracy
  • Cover image for the book Political Disagreement, Violence and Nonviolence: An Analysis of Political Ideologies and their Distinctions between Kinds of Violence
  • Cover image for the book The Sovereignty Wars: Reconciling America with the World
  • Cover image for the book The Odyssey of Political Theory: The Politics of Departure and Return
  • Cover image for the book Unsettling the World: Edward Said and Political Theory
  • Cover image for the book The Essence and Value of Democracy
  • Cover image for the book The Dissident Politics in Václav Havel’s Vanek Plays: Who Is Ferdinand Vanek Anyway?
  • Cover image for the book Civil Servants on the Silver Screen: Hollywood’s Depiction of Government and Bureaucrats
  • Cover image for the book An Ancient Guide to Good Politics: A Literary and Ethical Reading of Cicero's De Republica
  • Cover image for the book American Soul: The Contested Legacy of the Declaration of Independence
  • Cover image for the book Navigating Global Environmental Sustainability: Enriching Well-Being in the Wake of the Great-Recession
  • Cover image for the book Meanderings Through the Politics of Everyday Life
  • Cover image for the book The Power of the Metaphysical Artifact: Controversies on Philosophy, Politics, and Science in Nineteenth-Century France and Mexico
  • Cover image for the book John Rawls and Christian Social Engagement: Justice as Unfairness
  • Cover image for the book International Politics: Enduring Concepts and Contemporary Issues, Fourteenth Edition
  • Cover image for the book American Political Rhetoric: Essential Speeches and Writings on Founding Principles and Contemporary Controversies, 8th Edition
  • Cover image for the book Aristocratic Voices: Forgotten Arguments about Virtue, Authority, and Inequality
  • Cover image for the book Imaginaries of Connectivity: The Creation of Novel Spaces of Governance
  • Cover image for the book Non-Violence: A History Beyond the Myth
  • Cover image for the book Reason’s Inquisition: On Doubtful Ground
  • Cover image for the book Filming the First: Cinematic Portrayals of Freedom of the Press
  • Cover image for the book Public Perception of International Crises: Identity, Ontological Security and Self-Affirmation
  • Cover image for the book A Muslim Realist: Strategies, Methods and Approaches from Türkiye's Experience
  • Cover image for the book Personalism for the Twenty-First Century: Essays in Honor of David Walsh
  • Cover image for the book History of American Political Thought, Second Edition
  • Cover image for the book Wicked Leadership in Film
  • Cover image for the book Political Satire, Postmodern Reality, and the Trump Presidency: Who Are We Laughing At?
  • Cover image for the book Suez Deconstructed: An Interactive Study in Crisis, War, and Peacemaking
  • Cover image for the book Invisible Labour in Modern Science
  • Cover image for the book Popular Culture and the Political Values of Neoliberalism
  • Cover image for the book Why Would Anyone Believe in God?
  • Cover image for the book Affective Imageries: Visual Politics of Wounded Bodies in Timor-Leste
  • Cover image for the book The Power to Assume Form: Cornelius Castoriadis and Regimes of Historicity
  • Cover image for the book William Morris and the Aesthetic Constitution of Politics, second edition
  • Cover image for the book Eric Voegelin on China and Universal Humanity: A Study of Voegelin’s Hermeneutic Empirical Paradigm
  • Cover image for the book Theories of Democracy: A Reader
  • Cover image for the book Unequal Encounters: A Reader in Early Latin American Political Thought
  • Cover image for the book Tyranny of Reason: The Origins and Consequences of the Social Scientific Outlook
  • Cover image for the book From Ideology to Nostalgia: Excursions with Arthur Koestler and Sándor Márai
  • Cover image for the book A Politics of All: Thomas Jefferson and Radical Democracy
  • Cover image for the book Political Disagreement, Violence and Nonviolence: An Analysis of Political Ideologies and their Distinctions between Kinds of Violence
  • Cover image for the book The Sovereignty Wars: Reconciling America with the World
  • Cover image for the book The Odyssey of Political Theory: The Politics of Departure and Return
  • Cover image for the book Unsettling the World: Edward Said and Political Theory
  • Cover image for the book The Essence and Value of Democracy
  • Cover image for the book The Dissident Politics in Václav Havel’s Vanek Plays: Who Is Ferdinand Vanek Anyway?
  • Cover image for the book Civil Servants on the Silver Screen: Hollywood’s Depiction of Government and Bureaucrats
  • Cover image for the book An Ancient Guide to Good Politics: A Literary and Ethical Reading of Cicero's De Republica
  • Cover image for the book American Soul: The Contested Legacy of the Declaration of Independence
  • Cover image for the book Navigating Global Environmental Sustainability: Enriching Well-Being in the Wake of the Great-Recession
  • Cover image for the book Meanderings Through the Politics of Everyday Life
  • Cover image for the book The Power of the Metaphysical Artifact: Controversies on Philosophy, Politics, and Science in Nineteenth-Century France and Mexico
  • Cover image for the book John Rawls and Christian Social Engagement: Justice as Unfairness
facebook icon twitter icon instagram icon linked in icon NEWSLETTERS
ABOUT US
  • Mission Statement
  • Employment
  • Privacy
  • Accessibility Statement
CONTACT
  • Company Directory
  • Publicity and Media Queries
  • Rights and Permissions
  • Textbook Resource Center
AUTHOR RESOURCES
  • Royalty Contact
  • Production Guidelines
  • Manuscript Submissions
ORDERING INFORMATION
  • Rowman & Littlefield
  • National Book Network
  • Ingram Publisher Services UK
  • Special Sales
  • International Sales
  • eBook Partners
  • Digital Catalogs
IMPRINTS
  • Rowman & Littlefield
  • Lexington Books
  • Hamilton Books
  • Applause Books
  • Amadeus Press
  • Backbeat Books
  • Bernan
  • Hal Leonard Books
  • Limelight Editions
  • Co-Publishing Partners
  • Globe Pequot
  • Down East Books
  • Falcon Guides
  • Gooseberry Patch
  • Lyons Press
  • Muddy Boots
  • Pineapple Press
  • TwoDot Books
  • Stackpole Books
PARTNERS
  • American Alliance of Museums
  • American Association for State and Local History
  • Brookings Institution Press
  • Center for Strategic & International Studies
  • Council on Foreign Relations
  • Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
  • Fortress Press
  • The Foundation for Critical Thinking
  • Lehigh University Press
  • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
  • Other Partners...