This 50th-anniversary edition, with a new foreword by the distinguished historian Martin E. Marty, who regards this book as one of the most vital books of our time, as well as an introduction by the author never before included in the book, and a new preface by James Gustafson, the premier Christian ethicist who is considered Niebuhr's contemporary successor, poses the challenge of being true t…
This discussion of the social character of the Christian churches is intended to be a practical contribution to the ethical problem of Denominationalism. The effort to distinguish churches primarily by reference to their doctrine & to approach the problem of church unity from a purely theological point of view appeared to be a procedure so artificial & fruitless that the author turned from theo…