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This 4 page paper discusses Niebuhr's discussion of the law of love as found in this chapter. The writer includes Niebuhr's comments about liberal and orthodox Christianity and the differences with prophetic Christianity. Bibliography lists 1 source.
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4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: MM12_PGnieblv.rtf
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is "to promote harmony and overcome chaos." To live by this principle, one must have faith that this life is a prelude to something beyond the troubles of everyday life,
to something that is in "perfect harmony." Niebuhr calls this type of faith "prophetic faith." He explains that prophetic faith believes in a source that is far greater than this
life and this belief makes life meaningful. It also leads to a moral life and a moral life is founded on love or to what Niebuhr calls "the law of
love." Prophetic religion is always focused on "the loving will of God." With this focus, one understands that this life is temporary and that our obligation is to the divine
unity. It is this ideal of love that allows people to live a moral life. The difficulty in understanding this concept is related to mans finite mind that believes an
individual cannot transcend the evils and weaknesses inherent in mankind. Niebuhr refers to this love as an impossible possibility during his comparison Stoicism and Christian universalism. He later cites Pelagius
to support the possibility of the law of love. Pelagius basically said that to reject the possibility of the love commandment was the same as saying God did not know
what He was doing when He created man alone with the commandment of love. This is an exceptionally good argument because we cannot have it both ways. We cannot say
we are not capable of following the commandment of love and at the same time say that God is Almighty and perfect. If God created us with weaknesses and still
said we are obligated to love our neighbor, then we have the capacity to do what is impossible. Niebuhr takes issue with both Christian Orthodoxy and Liberal Christianity. In
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