Lesslie Newbigin: Missionary Theologian: A Reader

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"

Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998) was an internationally esteemed British missionary, pastor, apologist, theologian, and ecumenical statesman. His long career included serving as a village evangelist in India, pastor in the United Reformed Church (UK), bishop of the Church of South India, general secretary of the International Missionary Council, and associate general secretary of the World Council of Churches. His highly regarded books have included Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, The Open Secret, and Proper Confidence (all Eerdmans).

This reader concentrates for the most part on his later writings, demonstrating his missionary engagement with Western culture following his return to from India to the UK in 1974. Some of his earlier work is also included so as to show the ongoing significance of certain themes in his thought.