Vol. 12, No.4 nternatlona• October 1988 etln• Modernity and the Everlasting Gospel: Assessing the Newbigin Thesis n March 1984 Bishop Lesslie Newbigin, in his Warfield world are always reading cultural self-analyses. Newbigin I Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary, proposed a has come with the insight of an outsider." thesis that continues to challenge mission thinkers. The forces of Two highly practical articles follow-on the use of computers modernity, Newbigin declares, have produced in the West one in mission research, and on the need for precautionary prepa­ of the most pressing mission situations of all. What was once ration by mission communities to cope with threats of terrorism. known as Christendom has become "a pagan society whose Christian G. Baeta offers his personal story in our "Pil­ public life is ruled by beliefs which are false." (See "Can the grimage in Mission" series; and Paul Rowntree Clifford in our West Be Converted?" International Bulletin of Missionary Research, "Legacy" series highlights the pervasive influence of Norman January 1987.) Goodall in the London Missionary Society, the International Mis­ In this issue, David M. Stowe keys his critique of the New­ sionary Council, and the wider ecumenical movement. bigin thesis to the question, "What interpretation of the ever­ It remains profoundly true that mission issues are never fi­ lasting gospel communicates most effectively" in modern West­ nally solved, but must be reassessed by each generation. Dia­ ern culture? The Newbigin thesis, Stowe writes, fails to credit the logues such as found in the opening pages of this issue can help work of God's Spirit in producing the "humanist consensus" restate for our day the essential relation between the claims of and the "democratic consensus." These developments enable the gospel and the worlds of culture. modern societies to deal with problems in a much better way than, for instance, resorting to the establishment of an authori­ tative religion, such as Newbigin apparently advocates. On Page In his response to Stowe's article, Newbigin states that Stowe has misread him in regard to the roles of both religion and science. 146 Modernization and Resistance: Theological Furthermore, Newbigin points out, the humanist and democratic Implications for Mission movements have not produced the benefits promised but, rather, DavidM. Stowe 151 Response to David M. Stowe an unprecendented era of violence. "I stand by my statement," Lesslie Newbigin Newbigin declares, "that our culture is-in its central thrust­ 153 Mission to the West: A Dialogue with Stowe governed by a false creed, namely, that human beings are made and Newbigin for self-fulfillment apart from God, for 'happiness' on terms that Charles C. West they are free to decide for themselves and apart from any con­ 156 The Use of Computers in Mission Research sideration of what may be the ends for which God created us." Norman E. Thomas and Kenneth Bedell Charles C. West, invited by the editors to respond. to both 161 The Threat of Terrorism to Missionaries: writers, maintains that "Their debate at heart is about Chris­ Meeting the Challenge tology," how God works in the world to bring about the kingdom. Chester L. Quarles He chides Stowe for being too optimistic about the values of 165 My Pilgrimage in Mission modern Western society and of scientific inquiry. At the same Christian G. Baeta time, he observes that Newbigin's polemical vigor may mislead 168 The Legacy of Norman Goodall some of his readers; and he is compelled to say, "One would Paul Rowntree Clifford like to see more clearly how biblical reference and the person of 173 Book Reviews Christ inform his analysis." Still, he affirms that Newbigin, 182 Dissertation Notices "coming with a fresh perspective from a lifetime in India, . 183 Index, 1985-1988 has done for us a remarkable service. We who live in the Western 192 Book Notes of Isslonary• • search Modernization and Resistance: Theological Implications for Mission David M. Stowe irtually everyone in the world is affected by two realities. 1. Authenticity V One is the powerful attraction of the styles of life and thought exhibited in the highly "modernized" Western na­ God is God, and Jesus Christ of the Scriptures is still God's de­ tions. The other is the tenacity and staying power of traditional cisive word to humankind, in every culture and every age. Our culture. Even in the highly modernized United States, signs of effort must first be to understand and express the heart of the premodern culture abound. Multitudes believe in astrology or gospel-not a "modern gospel" or an "indigenous gospel" have a morbid fear of the number 13 (both Franklin Delano Roo­ for particular cultural enclaves. The writer of the book of Jude sevelt and Herbert Hoover were afflicted with triskaidekaphobia), spoke of "the faith once for all delivered to the saints" (jude which costs business an estimated $1billion a year in absenteeism, 3). Mission begins there. cancellations, and reduced commerce; millions believe the world It is important to note how that good news of a faith delivered was created in six 24-hour days. "once for all" is described with great economy of language. Christian missions have played an important part in the cre­ There is lengthy condemnation of those who subvert or deny it ation of this mix. In a thousand different ways they have chal­ by their manner of life. But about the essential faith itself we have lenged indigenous cultures with modernization and Westernization. only a few positive words, as eloquent as they are brief: the The charter of the first American foreign missionary society stip­ presence of the Holy Spirit, the love of God, the mercifulness of ulated that "diffusing a knowledge of the holy scriptures" was Jesus Christ, the hope of life beyond time and space (Iude 20­ 1 to be a principal purpose. That implies publication; which implies 21). both printing and literacy, that is, introducing a powerful new technology and, in many cases, reducing a hitherto unwritten 2. Communication Missionary theology must find ways of framing and communi­ "God is God, and Jesus cating this essential and authentic gospel so that it can effectively speak to all, "moderns" or "tribals" or "modernizing Christ of the Scriptures is Chinese" or whomever else. To borrow from the vocabulary of still God's decisive word Bible translators, a major part of the theological task is to find terms that provide a "dynamic equivalent" in the many local to humankind, in every sectors of a modernizing world for "the faith once for all de­ culture and every age." livered to the saints" of nearly 2,000 years ago. That is easy to say but hard to do. As Americans we have all around us a textbook model of a Western/modern culture. Yet language to writing; which carries with it the immense implica­ what interpretation of the everlasting gospel communicates most tions of a shift from an oral to a literary culture, open to all the effectively here? Various theologies have tried to speak in highly currents that flow throughout the global human society in print. modernized language about the Death of God in the Secular City, And yet missionary influence was not entirely on the side of but these seem to have had their little day and ceased to be. Many Westernization. Lamin Sanneh of Harvard University has recently denominations that would generally be counted as moderate argued that the massive missionary effort to translate the Bible "modernists" have been experiencing a generation of decline into many hundreds of languages, and its publication and dif­ in numbers and public status. In contrast, the Old Time Gospel fusion in those language areas, has contributed significantly to Hour and its television kin seem to flourish by communicating a the conservation of those cultures. By affirming and empowering premodern gospel-using ultra-modern electronic and psycholog­ a community's mother tongue, this missionary enterprise of Bible ical technologies. translation undergirds its resistance to "all schemes of foreign A former missionary colleague writes of the great interest in domination--cultural, political and religious.i" "power theology" in the very respectable seminary where he Having admitted-or claimed-missionary complicity in the teaches. It reflects a reversal of the usual flow of cultural influence creation of this mix of modernizationlWesternization and tradi­ from Western to non-Western societies. Sparked by requests from tional/indigeneity, we ask with more than an innocent bystander's missionaries and third-world church leaders who have to deal curiosity: What are the implications of this situation for mission with spiritistic beliefs and phenomena where they live and work, theology and mission practice? The two are, or ought to be, in­ one course on the book of Acts stresses that the gospel is a power separable; but our focus will be on the theology. I suggest four message and that telling the message involves one in a cosmic themes for theological reflection. power struggle. It also involves a power presentation, which shows itself in miraculous manifestations. In another course on system­ atic theology an extensive study of demons and angels is con­ ducted. There is coaching in how to minister to persons with David M. Stowe was a missionary in China and Lebanon, and was overseas problems relating to demonic activity. 3 This extensive use of ideas ministries executive oftheNational Council ofChurches in theU.S.A. from 1965 and perspectives familiar in the third world but at odds with what to 1970. He recently retired as executive vice president of the United Church would usually be taken as standard thinking in the "modern" Board for World Ministries.