Human Nature, Interest, and Power

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.

Tex Sample is the Robert B. and Kathleen Rogers Professor Emeritus of Church and Society at the Saint Paul School of Theology. Active in the church and in community organizing in Phoenix, Arizona, he is the author of ten books, including Powerful Persuasion (2005), Blue Collar Resistance and the Politics of Jesus (2006), and Earthy Mysticism (2008).