诺曼·文森特·皮尔

诺曼·文森特·皮尔（英语：Norman Vincent Peale；1898年5月31日—1993年12月24日）是一位美国新教牧师， 也是一位作家，他经常在书中表示做人要有积极心态。他自1932年起担任大理石学院教堂的牧师，并且成为美国归正会的领导人，直到1984年退休。除了布道之外，他还从事写作、编辑以及广播电视主持工作。

诺曼·文森特·皮尔反对约翰·肯尼迪出任总统，由于约翰·肯尼迪是天主教徒，诺曼·文森特·皮尔认为他的当选会让美国文化岌岌可危。神学家雷茵霍尔德·尼布尔则认为皮尔“盲目且具有偏见”，面对公众的批评，皮尔撤回了他的言论。1952年美国总统选举期间，他还反对阿德莱·史蒂文森二世竞选总统，因为他离过婚，阿德莱·史蒂文森二世对此则表示：“我觉得圣保罗很有吸引力，而圣皮尔却令人震惊” 。

1984年3月26日，皮尔被美国总统罗纳德·里根授予总统自由勋章。1993年12月24日，他因中风去世，享年95岁。

Norman Vincent Peale (May 31, 1898 – December 24, 1993) was an American Protestant clergyman, and an author best known for popularizing the concept of positive thinking, especially through his best-selling book The Power of Positive Thinking (1952). He served as the pastor of Marble Collegiate Church, New York, from 1932, leading this Reformed Church in America congregation for more than a half century until his retirement in 1984. Alongside his pulpit ministry, he had an extensive career of writing and editing, and radio and television presentations. Despite arguing at times against involvement of clergy in politics, he nevertheless had some controversial affiliations with politically active organizations in the late 1930s, and engaged with national political candidates and their campaigns, having influence on some, including personal friendships with Presidents Richard Nixon and Donald Trump.

Peale led a group opposing the election of John F. Kennedy for president, saying, "Faced with the election of a Catholic, our culture is at stake." Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr responded that Peale was motivated by "blind prejudice". After intense public criticism, Peale retracted his statement. He also opposed Adlai Stevenson's candidacy for president because he was divorced, which led to Stevenson's famous quip "I find Saint Paul appealing and Saint Peale appalling."

Following the publication of Peale's 1952 best seller, his ideas became the focus of criticism from several psychiatric professionals, church theologians and leaders. Peale was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, on March 26, 1984, by President Ronald Reagan. He died at age 95, following a stroke, on December 24, 1993, in Pawling, New York. Ruth Stafford, his wife of 63 years, influenced his publication of The Power in 1952, and was the co-founder of Guideposts.

Early life and education

Peale was born in Bowersville, Ohio on May 31, 1898, the eldest of three sons of Charles and Anna (née Delaney) Peale. Charles was a physician-turned-Methodist minister in southern Ohio, and as such, his three sons were raised as Methodists.

Peale graduated from Bellefontaine High School, Bellefontaine, Ohio in 1916. He attended and earned a bachelor's degree at Ohio Wesleyan University, where he became a brother at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. After graduating from Ohio Wesleyan, he worked as a newspaper reporter in Findlay, Ohio, and then in Detroit, Michigan. In 1921, he entered Boston University School of Theology to study for the Methodist ministry, and was ordained in 1922. He served for two years as pastor of a small church in Berkeley, Rhode Island. He graduated from Boston University in 1924, with a Master of Arts and an Bachelor of Sacred Theology.

Career

Beginnings

After graduating from Boston University School of Theology, he moved to Brooklyn, New York, and became assistant pastor at St. Mark's Methodist Church. He then took control of a struggling congregation in Brooklyn; built a new church, and named it Kings Highway Church, where he served for three years, and increased its membership from just 40 people to around 900. In 1927, he received a call to Syracuse, New York, and took the pulpit at the University Methodist Church. It was also while there that he became one of the first American clergymen to bring his sermons to the emerging commercial technology of radio, a media decision that added to his general popularity, and that he would later extend in the same way to television.