Editing Reinhold Niebuhr (section)

==Early life and education==
Niebuhr was born on June 21, 1892, in [[Wright City, Missouri|Wright City]], Missouri, the son of German immigrants Gustav Niebuhr and his wife, Lydia (née Hosto).{{sfn|Moon|1999}} His father was a [[Evangelical Synod of North America|German Evangelical]] pastor; his denomination was the American branch of the established [[Prussian Union (Evangelical Christian Church)|Prussian Church Union]] in Germany. It is now part of the [[United Church of Christ]]. The family spoke German at home. His brother [[H. Richard Niebuhr]] also became a noted theological ethicist and his sister Hulda Niebuhr became a divinity professor in Chicago. The Niebuhr family moved to [[Lincoln, Illinois|Lincoln]], Illinois, in 1902 when Gustav Niebuhr became pastor of Lincoln's St. John's [[German Evangelical Synod]] church. Reinhold Niebuhr first served as pastor of a church when he served from April to September 1913 as interim minister of St. John's following his father's death.{{sfn|Fox|1985|pp=5–24}}

Niebuhr attended [[Elmhurst College]] in Illinois and graduated in 1910.{{efn|Elmhurst College has erected a statue in his honor.}} He studied at [[Eden Theological Seminary]] in [[Webster Groves, Missouri|Webster Groves]], Missouri, where, as he said, he was deeply influenced by [[Samuel D. Press]] in "biblical and systematic subjects",{{sfn|Lemert|2011|p=146}} and [[Yale Divinity School]], where he earned a [[Bachelor of Divinity]] degree in 1914 and a [[Master of Arts]] degree the following year,<ref name="NYT obit">{{cite news |last=Whitman |first=Alden |date=June 2, 1971 |title=Reinhold Niebuhr Is Dead; Protestant Theologian, 78 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/books/niebuhr.pdf |newspaper=The New York Times |pages=1, 45 |access-date=August 20, 2011}}</ref> with the thesis ''The Contribution of Christianity to the Doctrine of Immortality''.{{sfn|Leatt|1973|p=40}} He always regretted not earning a doctorate degree. He said that Yale gave him intellectual liberation from the localism of his German-American upbringing.{{sfn|Fox|1985}}