Deals with the uniqueness of the self and the religious implication and function of the self.

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971), deep diving into both philosophy (Aristotle) and theology (Augustine, Luther, Buber and Barth), inquires into the dialogue the self conducts with itself, and lands upon the turning point of whether the dialogue between Self and God are real or imaginary. Niebuhr stresses the role of "freedom", much appreciated in the Hebraic culture, and relies upon Hellenic culture for its "flow" and interpretation of self as "mind". He seems to trace evil back to collective behavior, not individuals. This is seen in the fact that the consequences of sin seem so much worse than the intentions of the actors.

In a final part of a trinity, Niebuhr deals with the self trying to build communities. He understands this effort as Self "finding its center" in which Self can realize its full potential. Obviously in adverting to the dramas of history, he mentions that in the great historical novel, "War and Peace", Tolstoi's unfurls his thesis that patterns emerge "in ironic disregard of the purposes and ambitions of the actors of the drama". [58]
As a contemporary example, Niebuhr describes the "tragedy of Hitler's Germany" in which an obsessed mediocrity was "permitted" by a confluence of forces to dominate a nation. Historians still struggle to explain why in Germany "the private virtues of diligence and obedience could be so easily harnessed to collective evil". [59]
Niebuhr was a Missouri native who became a popular preacher, yet today, we have none of this educated discourse from "popular" figures who are now dominated by faux drama without depth. We see immediate comparisons to today, although of course, Niebuhr does not actually name America and Trumputin in 2016. ( )