Serenity Prayer Stirs Up Doubt: Who Wrote It?

New York Times ^ | July 11, 2008 | LAURIE GOODSTEIN

[Between the Lines]

Generations of recovering alcoholics, soldiers, weary parents, exploited workers and just about anybody feeling beaten down by life have found solace in a short prayer that begins, “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.”

Now the Serenity Prayer is about to endure a controversy over its authorship that is likely to be anything but serene.

For more than 70 years, the composer of the prayer was thought to be the Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, one of modern Christianity’s towering figures. Niebuhr, who died in 1971, said he was quite sure he had written it, and his wife, Ursula, also a prominent theologian, dated its composition to the early 1940s.

His daughter Elisabeth Sifton, a book editor and publisher, wrote a book about the prayer in 2003 in which she described her father first using it in 1943 in an “ordinary Sunday service” at a church in the bucolic Massachusetts town of Heath, where the Niebuhr family spent summers.

Now, a law librarian at Yale, using new databases of archival documents, has found newspaper clippings and a book from as far back as 1936 that quote close versions of the prayer. The quotations are from civic leaders all over the United States — a Y.W.C.A. leader in Syracuse, a public school counselor in Oklahoma City — and are always, interestingly, by women.

Some refer to the prayer as if it were a proverb, while others appear to claim it as their own poetry. None attribute the prayer to a particular source. And they never mention Reinhold Niebuhr.

[i_dont_chat]

Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

[Zevonismymuse]

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.”

All this grief over who said it first. At what point does "...and the wisdom to know the difference" kick in?

[i_dont_chat]

Good point.

[Chasaway]

"...At what point does "...and the wisdom to know the difference" kick in? ..."

Great!

[Between the Lines]

At what point does "...and the wisdom to know the difference" kick in?

Collage professors and librarians are not concerned with wisdom, they are concerned with knowledge.

[Roccus]

God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know where to bury the bodies of those who stand in my way.

[Zevonismymuse]

Homo Erectus

By Kinky Friedman & Panama Red

I left Barber College
Searchin’ for knowledge,
Went to the university.
I must confess, Sir
This lady professor
She turned me on to anthropology.
Now I’m a Homo Erectus
Got to connect this
Bone that I discovered yesterday.
Tyrannosaurus
Lived in the forest,
Died because its heart got in the way.
Dear Doctor Howard
Come down from your tower
And join me for lunch at the “Y”.
Although you’re thirty
I still think you’re pretty
Let’s give it that good ole college try.
‘Cause I’m a Homo Erectus
Got to connect this
Bone that I discovered yesterday.
Tyrannosaurus
Lived in the forest,
Died because its heart got in the way.
OK!
Hey Jomo Kenyatta
No, no, you’re not a
Australopithecine boogieman.
It’s took us a jillion
But we’re all still here, been
Boogeyin’ since boogeyin’ began.
And I’m a Homo Erectus
Got to connect this
Bone that I discovered yesterday.
Tyrannosaurus
Lived in the forest,
Died because its heart got in the way.
You know I’m a Homo Erectus
Got to connect this
Bone that I discovered yesterday.
Tyrannosaurus lived in the forest,
Died because its heart got in the way.
You know that I’m a Homo Erectus
Got to connect this
Bone that I discovered yesterday.
Tyrannosaurus
Lived in the forest,
Died because its heart got in the way.
I’m but a Homo Erectus
Got to connect this
Bone that I discovered yesterday.
Tyrannosaurus
Lived in the forest,
Died because its heart got in the way.
Watch out for Homo Erectus ...

[Smokin' Joe]

God grant me the serenety to accept the things I cannot change

And the strength to change the things I cannot accept.

[Maverick68]

I’m guessing either George Carlin, Ted Nugent or Charlie Daniels.....

[Maverick68]

Ooooops...forgot Andy Rooney....

[Lutheran Loft II]

When a person looks at the literally hundreds, perhaps thousands, of beautiful, doctrinally rich ancient collects of the church catholic, and in the end thinks the Serenity Prayer is worth more than a single read, it makes me wonder if religion has been dumbed down to the point of no return. Compare it to the Ash Wednesday collect: “Almighty and everlasting God, who hates nothing that You have made and forgives the sins of all those who are penitent, create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of You, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.” Notice that this collect defines who God is as apposed to the nebulous God of so much of what passes for religion or even the Christian faith these days.
No offense to those who think the Serenity Prayer can even compare with the above collect or thousands of others like it (though I am sure some will take it). Who wrote the Serenity Prayer is the least of its problems.
Let the bashing begin :)

[Roccus]

ICBW but I think the Serenity Prayer gained most of its popularity thanks to the friends of Bill W. It is a plea for assistance with a particular, personal problem without regard to a person's beliefs/disbeliefs. To that end, it has worked rather well.

[Rightly Biased]

NAh it was some Freeper of Days of Lore.

[i_dont_chat]

I know nothing about the Lutheran denomination.

Thanks for posting this. The prayer is beautiful. May I ask what is Ash Wednesday collect? Do you know know who wrote this particular prayer? I’m truly interested in its origin.

[delacoert]

More to it:

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next. Amen.

[Syncro]

An interesting take on this from Ann Coulter's website:

QUOTATIONS FROM CHAIRMAN ANN

July 11, 2008, 1:45 PM

Pompous Vietnam-protesting "theologian" suspected of thievery -

Embroiled in a prayer-theft scandal, liberal "theologian" Reinhold Niebuhr is quickly converted by The New York Times from a war-protesting, liberal theologian to "one of modern Christianity's towering figures."

NYT: Serenity Prayer Stirs Up Doubt: Who Wrote It?

On google, there are nearly as many entries for "Reinhold Niebuhr and Marxism" as there are for "Reinhold Niebuhr and God" But now that he's a thief (I guess he really didn't believe in property rights!), the Barry Lynn of his day is described as merely a "Protestant theologian."

"Protestant theologian."

Did he also write "Footprints?"

Ann was heard commenting "This guy was the Barry Lynn of his day, except more liberal and more pompous."

[Between the Lines]

Thanks for the info and link.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

His own statement leads me to believe that he didn't write the prayer.

"Of course, it may have been spooking around for years, even centuries, but I don't think so. I honestly do believe that I wrote it myself." -- Niebuhr

Excuse me, but if I wrote the prayer, I don't think that I would say, I honestly do believe that I wrote it myself. Who is he trying to convince, himself or others? Just the phrase "I honestly do believe", as well as the rest of his statement, implies doubt. You either wrote something, or you didn't - you don't "believe" that you have written something.

[peggybac]