Human Nature, Interest, and Power - Paperback

by Tex Sample (Author)

This book criticizes three basic concepts in Reinhold Niebuhr's social thought: his views of human nature, interest, and power. Attention is directed especially at the way Niebuhr's concepts lack sufficient historicity, obscure social and political dynamics, and, finally, lack adequate descriptive power. An alternative to each of these concepts is offered and used as a way to open up social thought to more complex analysis, more concrete and material uses, and a discussion of implications for alternative direction and action.

Author Biography

Tex Sample is the Robert B. and Kathleen Rogers Professor Emeritus of Church and Society at the Saint Paul School of Theology (Kansas City). Author of ten previous books, his most recent is The Future of John Wesley's Theology (Cascade, 2012). He is a freelance speaker and workshop leader in the United States and overseas and is active in broad-based organizing in Phoenix, Arizona.