The Protestant theologian Helmut Richard Niebuhr (1894-1962) was one of the most original and perceptive American theologians of the 20th century.

On Sept. 3, 1894, H. Richard Niebuhr was born in Wright City, Mo., the youngest of five children of a German immigrant Protestant minister, Gustav Niebuhr, and his American-born wife, Lydia. Three of the Niebuhr children were to distinguish themselves in theology. Niebuhr graduated from Elmhurst College (1912) and Eden Theological Seminary (1915) and received his master of arts degree from Washington University (1917).

In 1916 Niebuhr was ordained to the ministry of the Evangelical and Reformed Church and served as pastor of a church in St. Louis until 1918. He taught at Eden Seminary from 1919 to 1922. He married Florence Marie Mittendorff in 1920.

In 1922 Niebuhr matriculated at Yale University, receiving his bachelor of divinity degree from Yale Divinity School in 1923 and his doctorate the following year. He returned to Elmhurst College to serve as...