| The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996. |
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| NUMBER: | 41481 |
| QUOTATION: | From the standpoint of the typical modern, Protestantism and Renaissance are merely two different movements in the direction of individual freedom, the only difference between them being that the latter is a little more congenial to the modern spirit than the former. The real significance of the two movements lies in the fact that one represents the final development of individuality within terms of the Christian religion and the other an even further development of individuality beyond the limits set in the Christian religion, that is, the development of the “autonomous” individual. It is this autonomous individual who really ushers in modern civilization and who is completely annihilated in the final stages of that civilization. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971), U.S. theologian, historian. The Nature and Destiny of Man, vol. 1, ch. 3, Scribner (1964). |
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| | | The Columbia World of Quotations. Copyright © 1996 Columbia University Press. |
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