R. Gustav Niebuhr, associate professor of religion and the media at Syracuse
University, is the recipient of the Unitarian Universalist Association's (UUA)
prestigious Frederic G. Melcher Book Award. Niebuhr, a former religion reporter for
The New York Times, is receiving the award for his critically acclaimed book
"Beyond Tolerance: Searching for Interfaith Understanding in America" (Viking
Penguin, 2008). He will be recognized June 29 at the UUA General Assembly in Salt
Lake City, Utah. The ceremony will be followed by an author book signing.
Phyllis O'Connell, chair of the award committee, says Niebuhr's book is significant
because it captures interfaith work going on "beneath the public radar," to borrow a
phrase from "Beyond Tolerance." "This book tells a post-9/11 story that has been
ignored by the media, a story about the profound interfaith work happening in
neighborhoods throughout America," she says. "This spiritual work is going on all
around us."
Niebuhr spent four years researching and writing "Beyond Tolerance." Drawing on
his experiences as a journalist, he explored communities where inter-religious
cooperation exceeded mere tolerance: Hindus and Quakers in Queens, N.Y.;
Catholics and Jews in Baltimore; Baptists and Catholics in Louisville, Ky.; and
Catholics and Buddhists in Los Angeles, to name a few examples.
Prior to The Times, Niebuhr covered religion for The Washington Post, The Wall
Street Journal and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has published extensively in
anthologies and magazines, and is a frequent religious commentator for National
Public Radio's "All Things Considered." Niebuhr comes by the subject well; his great-
uncle was renowned religious thinker Reinhold Niebuhr, and his grandfather was the
preeminent theologian H. Richard Niebuhr.
"I am thrilled to be a recipient of the Melcher Award," says Neibuhr, who at SU
directs the Religion and Society Program; the Carnegie Religion and Media Minor;
and the Luce Project in Religion, Media, and International Relations.
"This award honors the vital tradition of liberal religion, a profoundly formative
current in American thought and culture. Also, it comes from the Unitarian
Universalist Association, with which I feel an enduring family connection," he says,
referencing his father, Richard R. Niebuhr, who trained many future UUA ministers
during his 43-year tenure as a theology professor at Harvard Divinity School.
Established in 1964, the Frederic G. Melcher Book Award is named for the late
American bookseller, editor and publisher. The award is given annually to a work
published in the United States during the past calendar year judged to be the most
significant contribution to religious liberalism. Previous recipients include Joseph
Campbell, James Carroll, Dorothy Day, Toni Morrison and Richard Rodriguez. To
learn more, visit the Frederic G. Melcher Book Award
information page.
