(1909-1998) Lesslie Newbigin was born in Newcastle-on-Tyne, U.K.,
in 1909. He completed his undergraduate studies in Cambridge and
then served as Staff Secretary of the Student Christian Movement in
Glasgow, Scotland. He studied theology at Westminster College at
Cambridge and was ordained by the Presbytery of Edinburgh, Church
of Scotland in 1936. That same year Newbigin married Helen
Henderson and the two of them left for India where he was to be
missionary of the Church of Scotland.
In 1947 Reverend Newbigin was consecrated Bishop in the Church of
South India, formed by the union of Anglican, Methodist, and
Reformed churches. He also served on the Central Committee of the
World Council of Churches and as Chairman of the Advisory Committee
on the main theme of the Second Assembly. Other members of the
committee included famous theologians such as Barth, Brunner, and
Niebuhr.
In 1959 Newbigin was called to be General Secretary of the
International Missionary Council with offices in London and New
York. He was responsible for carrying through final negotiations
for the merger with the World Council of Churches. In 1962 he
became the first director of the Division of World Mission and
Evangelism, and Associate General Secretary of the World Council of
Churches with headquarters in Geneva.
In 1965 he was recalled by the Church of South India as Bishop in
Madras and remained there until his retirement in 1974. He lived in
London, England, until his death in 1998.
Myron S. Augsburger
--in Mission Focus
"This is an extraordinary book on contemporary missiology. Writing
from four decades of experience in Christian mission, Lesslie
Newbigin applies the same discernment involved in contextualizing
the gospel in another culture to the issues involved in
contextualizing the gospel in our Western culture. He lays bare the
pervasive and subtle synergism that alters the gospel, and he calls
us to a thorough critique of our culture and of the way in which we
understand or misunderstand the gospel of Christ. . . Important
reading for a stimulating perspective on the gospel and Western
culture." Tim Stafford
--in Christianity Today
"Newbigin's analysis is the best part of this stimulating book. I
do not know of another such brilliantly comprehensive treatment of
Western society." Gottfried Oosterwal
--in Missiology
"The central question posed by Bishop Newbigin in this stimulating
book is: What would be involved in a genuinely missionary encounter
between the gospel and Western culture? . . . The result is a very
profound study. . . Newbigin has given us a masterful analysis of
the essential features of Western culture and has pointed the way
for an effective missionary encounter." David Heim
--in The Christian Century
"Newbigin's missionary enthusiasm and his experience in
cross-cultural missions make this book far more invigorating than
the usual disquisition on the problems of belief in the modern age.
. . With his vast learning worn very lightly and, above all, with a
deep commitment to the gospel, Newbigin pierces some holes in the
secular plausibility structure that Christians have come in large
part to accept."
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