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Elisabeth Sifton

The Serenity Prayer: Faith and Politics in Times of Peace and War Paperback – Illustrated, January 17, 2005

by Elisabeth Sifton (Author)

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A landmark work on the liberal ideals of the progressive American tradition, reaffirming their relevance for today: "A major contribution to the intellectual history of modernity." ―Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

In 1943, the renowned theologian Reinhold Niebuhr wrote a prayer for a church service in a New England village. Its appeal for grace, courage, and wisdom soon became famous the world over. Here, Elisabeth Sifton, Niebuhr's daughter, reclaims the true history of the Serenity Prayer and, in a poignant narrative, tells of efforts made by the brave men and women who, like Niebuhr, devoted their lives to the causes of social justice, racial equality, and religious freedom in a world spiraling into and out of economic depression and war. Recalling her father's efforts to warn the clergy of the dangers of fascism, and of America's own social and spiritual crises, Sifton reminds us of what is possible when liberal, open-minded leaders―not zealous fundamentalists or hawkish plutocrats―shape the conscience of the nation. The Serenity Prayer is itself a meditation on the power of prayer in morally compromised, unstable times.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A timely reminder of the wealth and diversity of the American religious tradition.”
- Walter Russell Mead, Foreign Affairs

“[An] ebullient and shrewd meditation on faith and social action…A peaceable state of mind simply accompanies the reader as he ends this effortlessly elegant, uniformly sensible paean to the human faith that Sifton inherited.”
- Carlin Romano, Philadelphia Inquirer

“The Serenity Prayer is an adventure in applied theology, family history, and a nation's search for meaning. Elisabeth Sifton has written a deeply engaging work of memory and imagination; a broadside critique of politics and religion worthy of the name Niebuhr; a humane meditation on prayer; memoir at its best; nothing less than literature.”
- James Carroll

“Elisabeth Sifton's The Serenity Prayer is in part a memoir of her father, Reinhold Niebuhr, in part a meditation on the dilemmas of religious faith in the contemporary world. Beautifully written, filled with perceptive insights and wry humor, it is a major contribution to the intellectual history of modernity.”
- Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

“Crossing all religious boundaries, the Serenity Prayer may be the best-loved prayer in America. Why? Elisabeth Sifton gives the best answer by remembering a life lived in fidelity to the prayer, the life of her father, the prayer's author, Reinhold Niebuhr. Candidly observed, brimful of energy and wit, this memoir becomes by its end a moving meditation on the dark heart of the twentieth century.”
- Jack Miles, author of Religion As We Know It

About the Author

Elisabeth Sifton (1939―2019) was an author and senior vice president of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Product details

Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company; Illustrated edition (January 17, 2005)
Language : English
Paperback : 368 pages
ISBN-10 : 0393326624
ISBN-13 : 978-0393326628
Item Weight : 13.1 ounces
Dimensions : 5.5 x 1 x 8.2 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #715,433 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,459 in History of Religion & Politics
- #1,548 in Church & State Religious Studies
- #1,674 in Prayer (Books)

Customer Reviews:
23 ratings

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Kindle Customer

LIterary view of spiritual and political history, written in editorial style

Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2019

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Very interesting views, liked the writing style, deep, articulate, but very readable. Interesing blend of the spiritual/political times. Biographical, but broader perspective also. Especially if one knows somethign of the characters already.

One person found this helpful

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Edward Filistowicz

I am happily making my way through what many people think is ...

Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2014

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Haven't finished it yet, but it was as expected. I wanted to know more about the specific time when the prayer was written. I am happily making my way through what many people think is boring! And why? Because it seems as though being a child in Heath MA in the summer, was very similar to being a child in my own hometown...

Some of the best parts are about all the different Protestant "sects" I always wondered what the differences were and why they came to be. The author also explains these things, so that she can describe all of the other visitors and preachers on Sundays.

2 people found this helpful

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willard machen

Serenity Prayer.

Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2015

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Mostly about her fathers politics and views on war and social justice, but enough on the Serenity Prayer to be worthwhile.
A very interesting and comprehensive book abour Reinhold Neibuhr. Get it for your library!
(Spoiler: His prayer is not the same as the AA prayer!!)

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Rodney P. Dempsey

The Historyof the Prayer is interesting

Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2013

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I never knew the background of the times surrounding when the Serenity Prayer was written, or anything about the author of the prayer or his colleagues.

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Christine Baker

The Serenity Prayer

Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2013

Verified Purchase

Because it gave me a better in site of the history of the pray that I have used for thirty or more years.

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Amazon Customer

a good read

Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2013

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In this book the daughter of a great man lets us look into the soul of a family, a community, and him.

One person found this helpful

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The Subtitle Says It All

Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2005

Author Elisabeth Sifton would be annoyed no end to see that seven items-ranging from mugs to a coat rack, all emblazoned with the truncated version of the Serenity Prayer- are offered alongside her book on Amazon.com. This is just the sort of kitsch she and her mother, Ursula Keppel-Compton Niebuhr, an Oxford-educated theologian and historian in her own right, deplored. The prayer written by the renowned Protestant theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr, was deeper, broader and less personally soothing than followers of 12 Step Programs might surmise, Sifton asserts.

I often found the tone of Sifton's memoir to be precious and elitist in just the way conservatives often characterize liberals. Nevertheless, I read on, and I would encourage you to do so, because she has written a vibrant history of liberal religious thought, action and inaction in the years leading up to World War II, through the war and into the Truman and Eisenhower Administrations with their virulent McCarthyism.

Reading this book in 2005 gives me a chill as I recall the rhetoric of the contemporary religious right after 9-11, the build-up to the war in Iraq, and the subsequent torturing of our prisoners. Reinhold Neibuhr would be mightily discouraged by our lack of historical memory, and that is what his daughter seeks to restore.

As a son of a first-generation German-speaking midwestern Lutheran minister, Niebuhr had remarkable insight into the dynamics of the fascism that took root in Germany and elsewhere. Niebuhr disparaged the sunny false optimism of most German and American clergy, which masked religious and racial bigotry in mainstream white congregations. An avid ecumenist, he crusaded against anti-Semitism and racism on the right, but he was equally frustrated by a blind adherence to pacifism by many clergy on the left. It was not surprising that he found a home teaching at the multi-denominational Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

We meet Niebuhr's notable friends, colleagues, students and opponents; see them spar, most often against reactionary forces, sometimes with each other, and often with their own consciences. Dietrich Bonhoeffer arrives from Germany an arrogant student only to be humbled by life, which he eventually sacrifices in an failed attempt to topple Hitler.

To the American right, Niebuhr and many of his cohorts were dangerous radicals, unpatriotic and ungodly. They were never, Sifton reminds us, the face of broader Christianity in those troubled times, but they demonstrate that triumph is not the only worthy goal of such work. In fact, Niebuhr warned against unmindful triumphalism at the war's conclusion. By the end of this book, I was grateful for the elite institutions and associations that had given Sifton the tools and intellectual rigor to write this memoir, but I suspect she could learn something from the cruder experience of those who repeat the Serenity Prayer with no tutoring on its subtler meanings.

16 people found this helpful

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wahzoh

A Rich Remembrance of Intelligent Christians

Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2007

Author Elisabeth Sifton is the daughter of noted theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. Neibuhr wrote the now-famous "serenity prayer", which has been used for decades by various 12-step and other self-help programs. I had not known before reading this book that the prayer itself was originally written in the first-person plural case, giving strength of purpose to a Christian community which had been pummeled by decades of war:

God, give us grace
to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
courage to change the things
that should be changed
and the wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Sifton's book covers the first 45 years of the 20th century, when the world was shaken by two world wars and a great depression. Faith was a different animal back then -- intimately tied to community and social conscience. The world of faith she discusses is a far cry from the "name it and claim it" spiritual narcissism of the 21st century. It bears no resemblance to the prostitution of the gospel for political power which has come to define "American Christianity" in the last couple of decades.

Filled with stories about Niebuhr's contemporaries, such as Paul Tillich and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, this book is a wonderful "insider's look" at a period that was rich with Christian thought, forged in a crucible of courage and difficulty. As a Buddhist, I really came away from this book with a renewed respect for American Christianity.

8 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

I have been a student and admirer of Reinhold Niebuhr ...

Reviewed in Canada on August 3, 2016

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I have been a student and admirer of Reinhold Niebuhr for long time. His daughter not only tells us about his life and times but captures his heart and soul, all in the context of the history of one of the most famous prayers ever written. Fascinating.

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