No serenity for the Serenity Prayer
I have a nice little plaque with the famous “Serenity Prayer” on it.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.
I’ve always liked the prayer, its beautiful simplicity, its deep meanings packed into a few dense words.
And it has always seemed less Hallmark-y to me to know it was written by renowned 20th century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr.
Not so fast. The New York Times reports that his authorship of the “Serenity Prayer” is being called into question.
It is a fun little controversy that I think reflects more on the notion of authorship in western culture than either Professor Niebuhr or the prayer itself. Western literary culture is so dominated by the Romantic idea of a solitary, original “author” as being the only “true” source of a text that it becomes increasingly difficult for people to conceive…
