Is Ethical Realism Realistic?
Lynn Robinson Saturday, 1 December 2007
Anatol Lieven and John Hulsman, Ethical Realism: A Vision for America's Role in the World (Pantheon Books, 2006). 224 pp. $22.00.
In the November 2007 issue of The Atlantic, Paul Elie reflects upon the increase since September 11, 2001 in references to noted 20th-century public theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. Various politicians and social commentators from the left and right have invoked Niebuhr's name to add moral weight to their positions. Elie wisely points out Niebuhr's own warnings against using historical analogies and posterity to normatively justify contemporary projects. A Christian realist, Niebuhr argued that the final victory over humanity's disorders belongs to God and will be done according to his timing—not resolved by our will or our plans.
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