“Our dreams of bringing the whole of human history under the control of the human will are ironically refuted by the fact that no group of idealists can easily move the pattern of history toward the desired goal of peace and justice. The recalcitrant forces in the historical drama have a power and persistence beyond our reckoning.”

The Irony of American History (1952)

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Reinhold Niebuhr65

American protestant theologian 1892–1971

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