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Re: Why Not Give References?



As a former resident of Niebuhr Hall at Elmhurst College, I know for sure
that it was Niebuhr. Reinhold Niebuhr and his brother Richard were two of
the most prominent theologans of the 20th Century. See
http://www.ucc.org/aboutus/shortcourse/evan.htm and scroll down to the
bottom of the page for a thumbnail biography.

Vickie

-----Original Message-----
From: Larry Cartwright
To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
Sent: 9/22/02 1:33 AM
Subject: Re: Why Not Give References?

Bob Sciamanda wrote:
The original is commonly attributed to St Francis of Asissi.

We're getting astray of physics; but, given Bob's mention of alternate
theories of authorship, I feel I should explain my attribution to
Niebuhr.

Besides Niebuhr, I've seen the "serenity prayer" attributed to the 6th
century Roman philosopher Boethius, to the 13th century friar Francesco
di Pietro di Bernardone (St. Francis of Assisi), and to 18th century
theologian Friedrich Oetinger.

It seems to me that the Niebuhr claim is the most credible. Niebuhr
lived from 1892-1971, and held the chair of Christian ethics at Union
Theological Seminary in NY. His wife Ursula Keppel-Compton Niebuhr was
chair of the religion department at Barnard. I do not believe the
theological community would have permitted a claim of authorship by such
a prominent academic professional to stand for over 60 years if there
was any credible evidence to the contrary. Am I to believe that the
Catholic Church has been standing idly by for over half a century while
a prominent protestant laid claim to the words of Sancte Francisce? The
hue and cry would have been easily traceable front page news.

I have read that Ursala Niebuhr published a 1992 article in The Anglican
Digest which included the form of the 1934 prayer preferred by her late
husband: "God, give us the grace to accept with serenity the things
that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be
changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other."

The prayer seems to have been intended originally as a plea for the
divine guidance of society's ethical and political behavior rather than
for an individual's dealing with the rigors of life; "... give *US* the
grace ...". Niebuhr was a very politically focused individual, to make
a long story short.

The prayer's current popularity seems to spring from the Alcoholics
Anonymous movement, which had it printed on small cards for 12-steppers
to carry in their wallets. This is probably when the prayer was adapted
from "us" to "me", given the personal responsibility focus of A.A.

Back to physics.

Best wishes,

Larry

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Larry Cartwright <exit60@cablespeed.com>
Retired (June 2001) Physics Teacher
Charlotte MI 48813 USA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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