Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian realism
E726708
Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian realism is a theological and ethical perspective that emphasizes human sinfulness, the limits of moral idealism, and the need for realistic engagement with political power and social injustice from a Christian standpoint.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian realism canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T8331478 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian realism Context triple: [With the Grain of the Universe, engagesWith, Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian realism]
-
A.
Theology of Hope
Theology of Hope is a seminal work of Christian theology that emphasizes eschatological hope as the central lens for understanding God’s promises, history, and human liberation.
-
B.
The Christian Philosopher
The Christian Philosopher is an early 18th-century work by Cotton Mather that attempts to reconcile and harmonize emerging scientific knowledge with Christian theology.
-
C.
The Social Concern of the Church
The Social Concern of the Church is the official English title of Pope John Paul II’s 1987 encyclical *Sollicitudo rei socialis* on Catholic social teaching and global development.
-
D.
Reformational philosophy
Reformational philosophy is a Christian philosophical tradition, rooted in the work of Dutch thinker Herman Dooyeweerd, that seeks to reinterpret all areas of life and thought from a Reformed theological perspective.
-
E.
On Christian Doctrine
On Christian Doctrine is a foundational theological and hermeneutical treatise by St. Augustine that outlines principles for interpreting Scripture and for Christian teaching and preaching.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian realism Target entity description: Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian realism is a theological and ethical perspective that emphasizes human sinfulness, the limits of moral idealism, and the need for realistic engagement with political power and social injustice from a Christian standpoint.
-
A.
Theology of Hope
Theology of Hope is a seminal work of Christian theology that emphasizes eschatological hope as the central lens for understanding God’s promises, history, and human liberation.
-
B.
The Christian Philosopher
The Christian Philosopher is an early 18th-century work by Cotton Mather that attempts to reconcile and harmonize emerging scientific knowledge with Christian theology.
-
C.
The Social Concern of the Church
The Social Concern of the Church is the official English title of Pope John Paul II’s 1987 encyclical *Sollicitudo rei socialis* on Catholic social teaching and global development.
-
D.
Reformational philosophy
Reformational philosophy is a Christian philosophical tradition, rooted in the work of Dutch thinker Herman Dooyeweerd, that seeks to reinterpret all areas of life and thought from a Reformed theological perspective.
-
E.
On Christian Doctrine
On Christian Doctrine is a foundational theological and hermeneutical treatise by St. Augustine that outlines principles for interpreting Scripture and for Christian teaching and preaching.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (51)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Christian ethical theory
ⓘ
political theology ⓘ theological perspective ⓘ |
| centralConcept |
balance between justice and order
ⓘ
irony of American history ⓘ moral ambiguity of national power ⓘ responsible use of coercion ⓘ the distinction between the absolute ideal of love and relative political justice ⓘ the impossibility of perfect justice in history ⓘ the necessity of compromise in political life ⓘ |
| contrastsWith |
Christian idealism
ⓘ
liberal Protestant social gospel optimism ⓘ naive moralism in politics ⓘ |
| developedBy | Reinhold Niebuhr NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| emphasizes |
human sinfulness
ⓘ
the ambiguity of human moral action ⓘ the doctrine of original sin ⓘ the finitude and fallibility of human reason ⓘ the limits of moral idealism in politics ⓘ the need for realistic engagement with political power ⓘ the need to confront social injustice ⓘ the partial and provisional character of all political achievements ⓘ the persistence of self-interest in individuals and groups ⓘ the tension between love and justice ⓘ the tragic character of history ⓘ |
| influenced |
20th-century Christian political thought
ⓘ
Cold War–era American foreign policy debates ⓘ later Christian ethicists and political theologians ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
Augustinian theology
ⓘ
biblical realism about human nature ⓘ the doctrine of original sin in Western Christianity ⓘ |
| reactsAgainst |
liberal Protestant optimism about human progress
ⓘ
pure pacifism in the face of radical evil ⓘ utopian political idealism ⓘ |
| relatedWork |
Moral Man and Immoral Society
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness NERFINISHED ⓘ The Irony of American History NERFINISHED ⓘ The Nature and Destiny of Man NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| supports |
democratic institutions as checks on human sin
ⓘ
limited and critical patriotism ⓘ social reform pursued with awareness of human fallibility ⓘ use of political power to restrain injustice ⓘ |
| theologicalTradition | Protestantism ⓘ |
| viewsHumanNatureAs |
marked by pride and self-deception
ⓘ
simultaneously capable of creativity and destructiveness ⓘ |
| viewsSocietyAs |
prone to injustice without checks on power
ⓘ
subject to collective egoism ⓘ |
| warnsAgainst |
identifying any nation with the kingdom of God
ⓘ
moral absolutism in political decisions ⓘ moral cynicism and resignation ⓘ self-righteousness in individuals and nations ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian realism Description of subject: Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian realism is a theological and ethical perspective that emphasizes human sinfulness, the limits of moral idealism, and the need for realistic engagement with political power and social injustice from a Christian standpoint.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.