originally published 12/1/2006

Professor Paul Weston discusses theologian Lesslie Newbigin’s time in India and how it influenced his thought and work. Weston, editor of the anthology Lesslie Newbigin: Missionary Theologian, explains that Newbigin traveled to India after completing his theological training, which had taught him to argue for the validity of the Gospel using the tools of the Enlightenment, reason and rational discourse. Those tools did not get him far with his hosts, however, because they did not use the same sorts of tools in dialogue. Newbigin returned to the West, read Karl Barth, and affirmed that one’s foundation for discussing the Gospel and culture ought to be the Gospel itself. Weston notes that Newbigin’s work challenges the Church to remember that foundation when engaging culture and to ask, and act from, this question: What would it mean to relate to culture with the revelation of God in Christ as the guiding light?

17 minutes

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