Now, new evidence from historical newspaper databases has changed our understanding of its history. Niebuhr himself, when questioned about the prayer, was unassuming-he modestly conceded the possibility that he had assimilated its concept from some earlier, forgotten source-but made clear that he believed he had originated it. The prayer has long been the target of doubts about its authorship, though many of those doubts were ill-founded. once said, “Reinhold Niebuhr was the greatest man I knew.” Yet he is perhaps best known to the general public because of the “Serenity Prayer.” Morgenthau called him “the greatest living political philosopher of America,” and Arthur M. He was an extraordinary and prolific writer and thinker whose ideas continue to shape liberal Protestantism today. Reinhold Niebuhr '14BDiv, '15MA, who died in 1971, was a theologian of towering importance who deeply influenced the political life of his time and courageously opposed Nazism in a period when most in his church backed U.S. Niebuhr opposed Nazism when most in his church backed US neutrality. It has given inspiration and solace to millions of people and has been very prominently employed by Alcoholics Anonymous. Billy Pilgrim hung it on his office wall in Slaughterhouse-Five Bill Clinton '73JD invoked it repeatedly when he campaigned for the presidency. Reinhold Niebuhr, The Serenity Prayer (1943)Īt least in the English- and German-speaking worlds, this is undoubtedly the most famous prayer originated in modern times, probably the only prayer ever to rival the Lord’s Prayer in popularity. God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. He writes the Yale Alumni Magazine’s “You Can Quote Them” column.Īt the beginning of this millennium, the editors of the World Almanac selected what they thought to be “the most memorable quotes by Americans in the last 100 years.” One of their ten most memorable quotes was the following: Shapiro is the editor of nine books, most recently the Yale Book of Quotations, for which he used novel online research methods to trace the sources of misattributed quotations. The inspiring text-long attributed to an eminent theologian-may have deeper roots than we thought.įred R. The content of the magazine and its website is the responsibility of the editors and does not necessarily reflect the views of Yale or its officers. The Yale Alumni Magazine is owned and operated by Yale Alumni Publications, Inc., a nonprofit corporation independent of Yale University. Yale Alumni Magazine: Who Wrote the Serenity Prayer? (July/Aug 08)
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