Theology in the Public Square Reflections on Reinhold...

Theology in the Public Square: Reflections on Reinhold Niebuhr and Malcolm X in a Racially Charged America This paper reflects the theological implications of life in the public square from the perspectives of two theologians in a very racially charged US of the 1950/60’s. One can conclude from the Adamic creation account that God created humanity to live in harmony with God, the created order, and itself. In spite of its fall and banishment from the sacred garden, humanity was not†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"The creeds and institutions of democracy have never become fully divorced from the special interests of the commercial classes who conceived and developed them.†3 History has been stained by, â€Å"[pride], jealousy, disappointed love, hurt vanity, greed for greater treasures, lust for power over larger dominions, petty animosities between royal brothers or between father and son, momentary passions and childish whims, these all have been, not the occasional but the perennially recurring, causes and occasions of international conflict. â€Å"4 Both Niebuhr and Malcolm X give witness to this staining of history. An intertwining of their historical testimonies yields this great flaw of humanity experienced through ancient Israel and Babylon, French Revolution turned Napoleon invasion/conquest, Theodore Roosevelt’s propagation of the Spanish American War, the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the invasion of the British into India,