How can biblical authority be a reality for those shaped by the modern world? This book treats the First World as a mission field, offering a unique perspective on the relationship between the gospel and current society by presenting an outsider's view of contemporary Western culture.
How does the gospel relate to a pluralist society? What is the Christian message in a society marked by religious pluralism, ethnic diversity, and cultural relativism? Should Christians encountering today's pluralist society concentrate on evangelism or on dialogue? How does the prevailing climate of opinion affect, perhaps infect, Christians' faith? These kinds of questions are addressed in this noteworthy book by Lesslie Newbigin. A highly respected Christian leader and ecumenical figure, Newbigin provides a brilliant analysis of contemporary (secular, humanist, pluralist) culture and suggests how Christians can more confidently affirm their faith in such a context. While drawing from scholars such as Michael Polanyi, Alasdair MacIntyre, Hendrikus Berkhof, Walter Wink, and Robert Wuthnow, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society is suited not only to an academic readership. This heartfelt work by a missionary pastor and preacher also offers to Christian leaders and laypeople some thoughtful, helpful, and provocative reflections.
Respected missiologist Lesslie Newbigin's commentary on John is unique both in its power to prepare pastors and teachers to declare the Word of God to others and in its ability to communicate John's message to contemporary readers.
The late Lesslie Newbigin was widely regarded as one of this generation's most significant voices on Christianity in relation to modern society. Now that he is gone, there is a call for his unpublished writings to be made available. To that end "Signs amid the Rubble" gathers some of Newbigin's finest statements on issues of continuing relevance. The first set of chapters consists of the 1941 Bangalore Lectures, in which Newbigin speaks powerfully of the kingdom of God in relation to the modern - severely deficient - idea of "progress." The second group of writings, the Henry Martyn Lectures of 1986, deals mainly with the importance of Christian mission. In the last piece, his address to the World Council of Churches conference on mission and evangelism in Brazil in 1996 - which editor Geoffrey Wainwright calls his "swan song on the ecumenical stage" - Newbigin wonders aloud how future generations will judge today's practice of abortion.
Modern man finds the concept of finality alien to his whole way of thinking. Science teaches him that human history is only a moment in the life of an infinite universe. His study of world religions calls into question the uniqueness of Christianity. Western man's uneasy conscience--due to the excesses of colonialism--makes him hesitant to press his own faith on others. By taking the issues of finality out of the classroom, Lesslie Newbigin demonstrates its importance to Christians with loyalties both to the community of the church and to the community of man. He asserts that conversion does not involve either a denial of the value of a person's previous faith or a blanket acceptance of the church's way of doing things. Bishop Newbigin examines the various Christian interpretations of finality, giving special attention to the views of Dutch theologian Hendrik Kraemer about the relationship of Christianity to world religions. The author advances the debate by showing that the way to move beyond Kraemer's position is to look for the place of the gospel in secular history. The gospel is the announcement of an event which demands that all men make a decision for or against. It is the clue to history--the history of mankind and of the individual.
Fresh insights on the missionary task in other cultures and points to consider for those seeking to proclaim the lordship of Christ in our secularized society.
Monumental figure in the twentieth-century worldwide church. Internationally esteemed British pastor and missionary theologian. Ecumenical statesman and prolific writer. Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998) was all of these and more. This reader fills a long-standing need for a comprehensive introduction to Newbigin and his legacy. Opening with a short biography of Newbigin and a discussion of his major theological and missiological themes, the volume sets selected readings in context with brief introductions and offers suggestions for further reading from Newbigin's corpus. Praise for Lesslie Newbigin and his writings: "Newbigin has made a bold and major step forward in the debate on Christianity, pluralism, and Western self-understanding." -- Lamin Sanneh in "The Christian Century""When my students finally realize what Newbigin is saying, they panic. When they realize that even the most faithful circles they know have been seduced by sectarianism, solipsism, Gnosticism, and nihilism, they worry that apostasy is unavoidable. . . . Yet, despite the surrounding darkness, Newbigin never loses hope, because he stays focused on the light that has come." -- Telford Work in "Pro Ecclesia""Newbigin is most impressive, indeed awesome, when defending the universality of the Christian gospel and exposing the muddleheadedness and loss of nerve that have turned many Western churches into domestic chaplaincies rather than launching pads for cross-cultural mission at home and abroad." -- Vinoth Ramachandra in "Themelios""Seeing both liberal and fundamentalist Christians imprisoned in the epistemological presuppositions of the Enlightenment, Lesslie Newbigin offers them liberation bypointing to the fiduciary character of all human knowledge. The best form of apologetics, he contends, is the preaching of the particular yet universal gospel." -- Geoffrey Wainwright on Newbigin's "Proper Confidence
Looking to end the divisive conflict that has raged between Christians who attack each other either as "liberals" or as "fundamentalists," Newbigin here gives a historical account of the roots of this conflict in order to begin laying the foundation for a middle ground that will benefit the Christian faith as a whole. What results is a perspective that allows Christians to confidently affirm the gospel as public truth in our pluralistic world.
Religion is much too great and permanent an element in human experience to be swept out of sight," writes Bishop Newbigin. "I want to ask what must be the religion of a Christian who accepts the process of secularization and lives fully in the kine of world into which God has led us." His answer involves relating the universal fact of secularization to the biblical picture of the nature and destiny of man. It involves, too, some criticism of recent Christian responses to secularization - but the whole tone of this book is positive. The emphasis is on knowing God, being God's people, and living of God in the midst of the secular.
This book discusses the question that the author regards as central in the present ecumenical debate: the nature of the Church itself. He thus describes the plan of theÊbook: The First chapter sketches the present context of the discussion and touches on the Biblical meaning of the word Church. The next three chapters examine the three answers to the central question, which may be roughly categorizedÊ as Protestant, Catholic, Pentecostal. The last two chapters argue that the Church is only to be understood in a perspective that is at once eschatologicalÊand missionary, the perspective of the ends of the earth. Bishop Newbigin's evaluations are provacative, scholarly, and filled with profound passion and insight. He is concerned with the searching questions men today are asking: Is there in truth a family of God on earth to which I can belong, a place where all men can be truly at home? If so, where is it to be found and how is it that those who claim to be spokesmen of that holy fellowshipÊare themselves at war with one another as to the fundamentals of its nature? I think there is no more urgent theological task than to try to give plain and simple answers. This he does, drawing deeply upon biblicalÊsources.
An important book for all who are concerned with the impact of Christianity on today's world, Truth To Tell affirms the gospel as the truth - not only for personal life but also for life at the public, societal level.
Is the world really becoming one civilization? If so, will its religions merge? Or if Christianity has a unique authority, what are the presuppositions and content of the revelation which it embodies? And how must its institutions change in order that it may fulfill its mission to the nations? These are the questions asked, and to a surprising extent answered, by Lesslie Newbigin, one time Bishop of the Church of South India who lead the "missionary" studies sponsored by the World Council of Churches. All who are interested in the comparison of religions or in the mission of the Church, will value his presentation of vast and important themes. One of the thinkers criticized is Dr. Arnold Toynbee, who writes: "A fine book . . . I particularly admire the way in which Bishop Newbigin states the case of people with whom he disagrees." Another, Sir S. Radhakrishnan, writes: "I have read it through with great interest. It is written with deep conviction and expresses the orthodox Christian point of view.
Complete with a provocative new chapter for this revised edition of his popular autobiography, Lesslie Newbigin describes the breadth and depth of his missionary service-as a student, wrestling with problems of faith and vocation; as a Church of Scotland missionary, helping to build the Church of South India; as a bishop in Madurai and Madras; as a midwife of the integration of the International Missionary Council and World Council of Churches; and as pastor in one of Birmingham's toughest inner city areas. With commitment, spirituality, and a happy marriage to support him, he invites the reader to share the joy of his adventure in Christ.
Trinitarian Doctrine for Today's Mission This stimulating little book introduces some of the issues involved in mission in the twentieth century. Newbigin discusses missions from an ecumenical perspective before considering the limits of ecumenicity and the need for truth. He considers that the present situation of the missionary movement has brought the question of the uniqueness and finality of Christ into sharp focus. This question, he argues, and the question of the relation of what God is doing in the mission of the Church and in the secular events of history will only be answered correctly in the framework of a fully and explicitly trinitarian doctrine of God. With and introduction by Eleanor Jackson.
In this brilliant and tightly reasoned volume, well-known author Lesslie Newbigin analyzes the sources of truth and authority in the modern world. He acknowledges that modern society treats all claims to authority with suspicion. With what authority, then, can and does the Christian church present the gospel to modern society? Bible, tradition, reason, and experience are all used in answering this question, and this book seeks to examine their proper use and their relations to each other.
Monumental figure in the twentieth-century worldwide church. Internationally esteemed British pastor and missionary theologian. Ecumenical statesman and prolific writer. Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998) was all of these and more. This reader fills a long-standing need for a comprehensive introduction to Newbigin and his legacy. Opening with a short biography of Newbigin and a discussion of his major theological and missiological themes, the volume sets selected readings in context with brief introductions and offers suggestions for further reading from Newbigin's corpus. Praise for Lesslie Newbigin and his writings: "Newbigin has made a bold and major step forward in the debate on Christianity, pluralism, and Western self-understanding." -- Lamin Sanneh in "The Christian Century""When my students finally realize what Newbigin is saying, they panic. When they realize that even the most faithful circles they know have been seduced by sectarianism, solipsism, Gnosticism, and nihilism, they worry that apostasy is unavoidable. . . . Yet, despite the surrounding darkness, Newbigin never loses hope, because he stays focused on the light that has come." -- Telford Work in "Pro Ecclesia""Newbigin is most impressive, indeed awesome, when defending the universality of the Christian gospel and exposing the muddleheadedness and loss of nerve that have turned many Western churches into domestic chaplaincies rather than launching pads for cross-cultural mission at home and abroad." -- Vinoth Ramachandra in "Themelios""Seeing both liberal and fundamentalist Christians imprisoned in the epistemological presuppositions of the Enlightenment, Lesslie Newbigin offers them liberation bypointing to the fiduciary character of all human knowledge. The best form of apologetics, he contends, is the preaching of the particular yet universal gospel." -- Geoffrey Wainwright on Newbigin's "Proper Confidence
The first edition of this book, published in 1948, was widely discussed. "There is hardly a page which does not bear evidence of shrewd insight, profound theological grasp and evangelistic passion," wrote Principal F. J. Taylor in The Churchman. Essentially, the book was an explanation of the theology behind the infant Church of South India in which Dr. Newbigin was a bishop. For this edition, first published in 1960, Dr. Newbigin wrote a new introduction. This drew out the significance of the Church of South India's experience after 1948, and was an important contribution to the continuing worldwide discussion. An outspoken commentary on the Lambeth Conference of 1958 is included.
The issue . . . in the multicultural millennium is not so much the 'Islamization' of a once-Christian culture as the emergence, with state collusion, of discrete territories where vastly different norms prevail, shut off and resentful, a breeding ground for ferment and a target for hostility." In the aftermath of the London suicide bombings, this unusual book seems more prophetic than ever. Begun six years before 9/11, it examined the roots of political Islam and its offshoots in Britain. In describing the indifference of policy makers and government officials to religion, it warned of extremism taking root among disaffected young Muslims -- and offered a vision of hope tempered with realism that might have helped avert tragedy had it been more widely heeded. The book's timely republication offers another -- and a way out of it. Lamin Sanneh, himself a former Muslim, explores the history of Islam's always controversial accommodations with the West. Jenny Taylor's debut engages contribution critically at the grassroots level, looking in detail at Islam in Britain, its mission and tactics, and the State's inadequate response to them. "Neglect would appear to have been government policy." Lesslie Newbigin describes the loss of a sense of direction in the West as bankrupt secular ideologies confront fundamentalism with politically correct platitudes or coercive legislation that is destroying the West's historic freedoms. All three authors call for a radical Christian critique to replace the false and evidently failed policies of neutrality of the State.
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