ABSTRACT
This chapter notes that Niebuhr's version of realism is hardly the same as the political realism that has developed in American policy circles, with its emphasis on following interests and its rejection of anything smacking of idealism. Niebuhr's critical points about war and its justification may be granted, but in actuality they had already been taken into account in the tradition of just war thinking. The differences between violent and non-violent methods of coercion and resistance are not so absolute that it would be possible to regard violence as a morally impossible instrument of social change. Niebuhr's "Christian realism" was thus first of all the development and expression of a particular theological perspective, applied through a criticism not only of the realm of politics but also directed against major forms of Christianity rooted in different perspectives on theology. The problem with human justice thus exemplifies Niebhur's negatively critical attitude towards history.
