Humble Confidence: Lesslie Newbigin and the Logic of Mission
Ebook
Lesslie Newbigin remains one of the most important missionary theologians of the twentieth century. In responding to the challenges of late modernity, he developed a fresh paradigm of missionary theology and cultural engagement that continues to be compelling and prophetic. This book also explores the way in which Michael Polanyi's understanding of "personal knowledge" helps to give language and metaphor to Newbigin's convictions about cultural engagement and responsive witness and suggests vibrant insights and applications for mission today.
“In an age when the ‘acids of modernity’ and post-modernity have challenged Western Christianity as it has never been challenged before, Lesslie Newbigin’s thought offers a powerful, inspiring, cogent, and joyful ‘logic’ of Christian mission. In this lucid, rich, and deeply engaging book, Newbigin’s friend and disciple Paul Weston explains his vision in ways that not only reveal Newbigin’s genius but also his faith-filled ‘humble confidence’ in the revolutionary meaning of Jesus Christ. It is one of the best books I have read in the past year.”
—Stephen Bevans, SVD, Catholic Theological Union
“Many books skate over the surface of their subject matter. Not this one. It is the fruit of many years of deep engagement with the thought of one of the most significant recent thinkers in missiology, and it is written by someone who doesn’t just think about mission but engages with it on the streets as well. This will be an essential guide to the work of Lesslie Newbigin for many years to come.”
—Graham Tomlin, director, Centre for Cultural Witness
“Humble Confidence is the fruit of decades of sustained reflection and engagement with the thought of Lesslie Newbigin. Paul Weston writes with the skill of a missiologist and the heart of an evangelist. By exploring the interplay between revelation, knowing, and story, he gets at the inner logic of Newbigin’s vision, and finds dynamic insight for what Newbigin called the ‘missionary encounter’ between the gospel and our culture. This is a must-read book for those who care about that encounter in the twenty-first century.”
—Scot Sherman, executive director, The Center for Church Innovation
“A fine study of the remarkable vision of twentieth-century churchman Lesslie Newbigin, with careful attention to its critical intersection with the era-healing philosophy of scientific discoverer and public intellectual, Michael Polanyi. Essential reading for the rehabilitation of the Christian church in our time.”
—Esther Lightcap Meek, author of Contact with Reality: Michael Polanyi’s Realism and Why it Matters
- Title: Humble Confidence: Lesslie Newbigin and the Logic of Mission
- Authors: Paul Weston, Scot Sherman
- Publisher: Cascade Books
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666754742, 9781666754728, 1666754722, 9781666754735, 1666754730, 1666754749
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666754742
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2023-05-16T22:34:18Z
Paul Weston is director of the Newbigin Centre for Gospel and Western Culture, Ridley Hall, Cambridge. He lectures in mission studies in the Cambridge Theological Federation and is an affiliated lecturer in the Cambridge University Divinity Faculty. His PhD was on Lesslie Newbigin’s missionary engagement with Western culture, and he has written widely on his work. He is editor of Lesslie Newbigin, Missionary Theologian: A Reader (2006), and co-editor of Theology in Missionary Perspective: Lesslie Newbigin’s Legacy (2012).