道德的个人与邪恶的群体--尼布尔对个人道德和群体道德的区分

莱因霍尔德·尼布尔是美国最杰出的基督教神学家,也是新正统神学的代表人物.由于他与卡尔·巴特、爱弥尔·布鲁纳等人的共同努力,使以保罗、奥古斯丁、马丁·路德等为主要代表的基督教传统教义在一个充满危机的时代得以重新阐明,并能够与当代的先进知识分子对话.尼布尔本人所倡导的基督教现实主义是美国基督教伦理学的主导潮流,活动于这一时期的政治哲学家、伦理学家以及致力于正义实践的社会活动家无不深受此运动的影响.坚持个人道德和群体道德的严格区分是尼布尔对基督教伦理学的一大贡献,也是基督教现实主义的基本主张.这一区分标志着尼布尔与自由主义神学的分裂,也成为尼布尔批驳自由主义、和平主义等学说的理论依据.

The Moral Individual and the Evil Collective

Reinhold Niebuhr was a famous theologian and political philosopher in America. Owing to his efforts the theology in America continued to develop and took on a new look during the age of crisis. Admittedly, Niebuhr's reinterpretation of the traditional Christian doctrine of original sin and his emphasis on self - sacrificial love as Jesus' ethic are regarded as his greatest contributions to the twentieth -century theology. The Christian realism advocated by Niebuhr has profoundly influenced the life and thought of Americans. One of central ideas in Christian realism is the basic difference between individual morality and collective morality. Niebuhr believed that the Liberal Movement both religious and secular seemed to be unconscious of the difference. As a result, many liberal moralistic approaches to the political order were irrelevant.