Mirror of Justice

A blog dedicated to the development of Catholic legal theory.
Affiliated with the Program on Church, State & Society at Notre Dame Law School.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Who Wrote the Serenity Prayer?

So now the traditional attribution of Reinhold Niebuhr as author of the Alcoholics Anonymous Serenity Prayer -- "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change" etc. -- has been questioned, by a Yale Law librarian no less.  But Niebuhr did say many other inspiring things, especially about religion and public life, so it's a good excuse to quote one (from The Irony of American History):

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore, we are saved by hope.  Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we are saved by faith.  Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love.  No virtuous act is quite a virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own; therefore, we are saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.

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Berg, Thomas | Permalink

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