---
title: "The Niebuhr Brothers for Armchair Theologians by Scott Paeth"
description: "Summary: A short book that felt longer than it was because it felt like a book report. I like the idea of introduction books. Short books that are able to give an introduction to an idea or a person..."
url: https://bookwi.se/niebuhr-brothers/
date: 2014-11-05
modified: 2026-07-15
author: "Adam Shields"
categories: ["Blogger Review Books"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# The Niebuhr Brothers for Armchair Theologians by Scott Paeth

![](https://bookwi.se/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/cover-39117.jpg)**Summary: A short book that felt longer than it was because it felt like a book report.**

I like the idea of introduction books. Short books that are able to give an introduction to an idea or a person can be very helpful, but also very hard to write.

I have read a number both the Armchair Theologian books and the Oxford Very Short Introduction Series. They are a very mixed bag. The best of the Armchair Theologian series that I have read is the book on Aquinas by Timothy Mark Renick.

This book by Scott Paeth is definitely on the weaker side. I am still glad I read it because I did not know much about the biography or context of the Niebuhr brothers. Their context and history is important to their writing. I have read at least one book by each of the brothers. So I was not coming into the book blind.

But after the biography sections, the discussions of their work and books read more like short book reports and less like a cohesive narrative. It is not a bad book on the Neibur Brothers, but it is not what I would consider one of the better of this class of “introduction to” books.

**The Niebuhr Brothers for Armchair Theologians by Scott Paeth Purchase Links: [Paperback](http://www.amazon.com/The-Niebuhr-Brothers-Armchair-Theologians/dp/0664236987/), [Kindle Edition](http://www.amazon.com/Niebuhr-Brothers-Armchair-Theologians-ebook/dp/B00J7Q3V7W/)**

**________**

**An ebook was provided by the publisher for purposes of review.**

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