Christian Realism is a branch of philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 developed by Reinhold Niebuhr

Reinhold Niebuhr

Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr was an American theologian and commentator on public affairs. Starting as a leftist minister in the 1920s indebted to theological liberalism, he shifted to the new Neo-Orthodox theology in the 1930s, explaining how the sin of pride created evil in the world...

 in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Niebuhr argued that the kingdom of heaven can not be realized on Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

 because of the innately corrupt tendencies of society. Due to the injustices that arise on Earth, a person is therefore forced to compromise the ideal of the kingdom of heaven on Earth.

Niebuhr argued that human perfectibility was an illusion. He highlighted the sinfulness of humanity at a time when the world was confronted by the experience of Hitler, Stalin and the Holocaust.

Political connections

Christian Realism exerted a strong influence on US foreign and domestic policy in the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

 era. Many members of the neoconservative movement have claimed to inherit Niebuhr's philosophy, however others argue that Neoconservatism

Neoconservatism

Neoconservatism in the United States is a branch of American conservatism. Since 2001, neoconservatism has been associated with democracy promotion, that is with assisting movements for democracy, in some cases by economic sanctions or military action....

 neglects Niebuhr's commitment to social justice.

Perspectives on Christian Realism

"Christian realism inspired no hymns and built no lasting institutions. It was not even a movement, but rather, a reaction to the Social Gospel centered on one person, Reinhold Niebuhr. The Social Gospel, by contrast, was a half-century movement and an enduring perspective that paved the way for modern ecumenism, social Christianity, the Civil Rights Movement, and the field of social ethics."

"(Niebuhr's) emphasis on sin startled my generation, brought up on optimistic convictions of human innocence and perfectibility. But nothing had prepared us for Hitler and Stalin, the Holocaust, concentration camps and gulags. Human nature was evidently as capable of depravity as of virtue... Traditionally, the idea of the frailty of man led to the demand for obedience to ordained authority. But Niebuhr rejected that ancient conservative argument. Ordained authority, he showed, is all the more subject to the temptations of self-interest, self-deception and self-righteousness. Power must be balanced by power."

"Q. What insights of Niebuhr’s are most pertinent for the nation’s public life today?

A. His sense that elements of self-interest and pride lurk even in the best of human actions. His recognition that a special synergy of selfishness operates in collectivities like nations. His critique of Americans’ belief in their country’s innocence and exceptionalism — the idea that we are a redeemer nation going abroad never to conquer, only to liberate."

21st Century

In the post-9/11 era, a number of scholars have been questioning the secular underpinnings of political Realism, especially in the face of post-modern critique. Charles Jones of the University of Cambridge has suggested that International Law and normative theory presuppose Christian ethics despite the edifice of secularism that pervades International Relations Theory

International relations theory

International relations theory is the study of international relations from a theoretical perspective; it attempts to provide a conceptual framework upon which international relations can be analyzed. Ole Holsti describes international relations theories act as a pair of coloured sunglasses,...

. Despite the Christian Realist underpinnings of scholars originally associated with the English School

English School

The English School of international relations theory maintains that there is a 'society of states' at the international level, despite the condition of anarchy...

, the revival of an interest in the place of religion in International Relations is relatively recent.