Elisabeth Sifton (1939–2019)

Elisabeth Sifton’s The Serenity Prayer is a biographical account of her father Reinhold Niebuhr, author of this prayer. Since its inception in 1943, the prayer itself has a rather interesting history. It was hijacked in Germany, the country where the Niebuhr’s parents were born before settling in the United States. Many people throughout the world know this prayer through the Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) meetings, and its many renditions on postcards, placemats, and souvenirs.
The book however described Reinhold Niebuhr’s life as a preacher, writer, professor, and ambassador to European countries especially Germany and England. It told about his interactions with the World Council of Churches and his ecumenical ventures, his thoughts about various denominations – Episcopalian, Methodist, Congregationalist, Reformed and Evangelical Lutherans, and the like.
Over 40 years, throughout Niebuhr’s career as a pastor, and professor at the Union Theological Seminary in New York, her Pa was to ruffle feathers by his opposition of America’s neutrality during World War Ⅱ, beliefs in equity of the races, and outreach to the poor. Sifton showed his resolution for progressive causes, his friendship with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and how he was instrumental for the hiring of Paul Tillich at Union. Throughout his years Niebuhr was a guest on panels, was welcomed on the international lecture circuit, known for his correspondence with Church leaders worldwide, and lived to see Europe liberated.
Sifton described her father’s activities in the 1950’s, ‘60’s, and ‘70’s, and their family eventual relocation from their summer cottage in Heath, Massachusetts, to the suburbs. Her life as a child was peppered with the beauty of the Heath’s countryside, her interactions with clergy, and farmers. Undoubtedly the serenity prayer captured all of life’s vicissitudes by how her family and English mother responded to the challenges of this era of their lives.… (mehr)