Lesslie Newbigin – författare

The mission of the church is an open secret. This text offers a statement of the nature, authority and goal of Christian mission. The author highlights the vital importance of combining a biblically-based faith and trinitarian theology with a culturally-sensitive approach to mission.

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 concentrate on evangelism or dialogue? The Gospel in a Pluralist Society addresses these kinds of questions - providing an excellent analysis of contemporary culture and suggests how Christians can more confidently affirm their faith in such a context. While drawing on scholars such as Michael Polanyi, Alasdair MacIntyre, Hendrikus Berkof, Walter Wink and Robert Wuthnow, this heartfelt work by a missionary pastor and preacher is not only suited to an academic readership; it also offers to Christian leaders and lay people many thoughtful, helpful and provocative reflections. When Lesslie Newbigin died in 1998, The Times' obituary writer described him as 'one of the foremost missionary statesmen of his generation', and amongst 'the outstanding figures on the world Christian stage of the second half of the century'. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society has been widely influential and deserves to be reissued as an SPCK Classic.

"e;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."e;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. "e;Neglect would appear to have been government policy."e; 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.

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 the book: The First chapter sketches the present context of the discussion and touches on the Biblical meaning of the word "e;Church."e; The next three chapters examine the three answers to the central question, which may be roughly categorized as Protestant, Catholic, Pentecostal. The last two chapters argue that the Church is only to be understood in a perspective that is at once eschatological and 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 fellowship are 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 biblical sources.

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.

The first edition of this book, published in 1948, was widely discussed. "e;There is hardly a page which does not bear evidence of shrewd insight, profound theological grasp and evangelistic passion,"e; 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.

"e;Religion is much too great and permanent an element in human experience to be swept out of sight,"e; writes Bishop Newbigin. "e;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."e;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.

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 "e;missionary"e; 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: "e;A fine book . . . I particularly admire the way in which Bishop Newbigin states the case of people with whom he disagrees."e; Another, Sir S. Radhakrishnan, writes: "e;I have read it through with great interest. It is written with deep conviction and expresses the orthodox Christian point of view."e;