CM 6440

Contemporary Theologies of Mission

Fall 2006

CM6440

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An examination of theological developments affecting contemporary missions through reading and discussion of the works of Lesslie Newbigin. Themes addressed will include pluralism, ecumenism, contextualization, trinitarian theology, evangelism, and social action.

Instructor: Room: GH 306

Frieder Ludwig Day: Thursday

BH 122 Time: 6:30PM-9:30PM

651.641.3290

fludwig@luthersem.edu

Approach:

Participants will access and use resources that assist them in studying and reflecting on the life and work of Lesslie Newbigin. Particular attention will be given to the debates in which he was involved. We will read extracts of Newbigin’s writings in their context and then discuss their relevance for today. Different cultural perspectives will be studied.

The primary project for this course will be for students to shape an applied theory and strategy for mission in relationship to the context in which they anticipate working and teaching in future years.

The seminar will meet weekly to engage in discussion of the assigned reading and projects for that week. Students will be expected to facilitate the discussion around papers and projects that are assigned to them.

Conversation is the central mode of learning in this seminar. The conversation is to be progressive, reflective, and open. Each seminar participant will be assigned two presentations in different sessions – one which presents Newbigin’s concepts; a second one which introduces “the other side”.

Requirements:

A. PREPARATION FOR CLASS: Prepare yourself to participate actively in all of the sessions. Read the assigned texts.

B. PRESENTATIONS: You will be asked to give two presentations (15-25 minutes) in class and to introduce the assigned texts. If you miss a session, then you must turn in a 500-word analysis of the question addressed in the precept.

C. ESSAY: You are asked to write one extended essay (12-15 pages) which focuses on one aspect of Newbigin’s theology or a period of his life.

CLASS SCHEDULE

09-14	Introduction: Leslie Newbigin – a theological missionary and a missionary theologian Unfinished Agenda, 39-83 Weston, 1-13 http://www.newbigin.net/general/biography.cfm Martin Conway, Lesslie Newbigin’s Faith Pilgrimage, Mission Studies 11/1994, pp. 191-202 George R. Hunsberger, Missionary Biography as Missiology: The Case of Lesslie Newbigin, Missiology 27/1999, pp. 523-531
09-21	Missionary in India. Newbigin’s approaches to Church Union Unfinished Agenda, 84-120 Wainwright, 84-116 Joint Theological Commission of the Church of South India and the Federation of Evangelical Lutheran Churches India, The C.S.I.-Lutheran theological conversations, 1948-1959, Madras,1964 BX14.I6 J66 Newbigin, Lesslie. Title: The reunion of the church; a defence of the South India scheme. London, S C M Press [1960] BX5671.I54 N38 Copy 1 Lesslie Newbigin, The Household of God, 1952 India’s Independence and Debates on Religious Plurality in the 1950s and 1960s Weston, 66-80 William Ernest Hocking, Coming World Civilization,1958 Arnold Toynbee, Christianity Among the Religions of the World, 1958 Leslie Newbigin, “The Quest for Unity through Religion”, in The Journal of Religion 35(1955), 17-33 Lesslie Newbigin, A Faith for this one World?, London 1961 Gospel in a Pluralist Society, 171-183
09-28	World Council of Churches: Debates on Salvation and Humanisation Unfinished Agenda111-120, 168-213 Wainwright, 243-256 M.M. Thomas, Salvation and Humanisation: Some Crucial Issues of the Theology of Mission in Contemporary India, Madras 1971: Lesslie Newbigin, Review Article, in: Religion and Society 18/1, pp. 71-80: letters from Thomas to Newbigin and from Newbigin to Thomas in Religion and Society 19/1, March 1972, pp. 61-90 and Some theological dialogues, pp. 110-137 The debate with Konrad Raiser Wainwright, 128-134 Weston, 81-92 K. Raiser, Ecumenism in Transition: A Paradigm Shift in the Ecumenical Movement, Geneva 1991 Review by LN in International Bulletin of Missionary research 18/1, 1994, 2-5; 18/2, 1994, 50-52
10-05	Birmingham 1984 Lesslie Newbigin, The other side of 1984, Geneva 1984 Lesslie Newbigin, The Welfare State: A Christian perspective, Oxford 1985 Foolishness to the Greeks, 1986
10-12	Missionary to the West – “The gospel and our culture” Weston, 185-264 Gospel in a Pluralist Society, 184-241 George R. Hunsberger, The gospel and our culture, Missiology 19/1991,pp. 391-473, 495-498
10-19	The Legacy of Lesslie Newbigin. A critical appraisal Thomas F. Best, “In honour of Lesslie Newbigin”, Ecumenical Review 52, 2000, pp. 351-378 Michael W. Goheen, “’As the Father has sent me, I am sending you’: Lesslie Newbigin’s missionary ecclesiology”, International Review of Mission 91, 2002, pp. 354-369 Michael W. Goheen, Is Lesslie Newbigin’s model of contextualization anticultural?”, Mission Studies 19/2, 2002, pp. 136-158 Lamin Sanneh, Particularity, pluralism and commitment, Christian Century 107/1990, pp. 103-108 W. R. Shenk, “Lesslie Newbigin’s contribution to mission theology”, International Bulletin of Missionary Research 24/2000, pp. 59-60, 62-64 Paul Weston, Lesslie Newbigin: a postmodern missiologist?, Mission Studies 21/4, 2004, pp. 229-248 William H. Willimon, “Preaching as Missionary Encounter with North American Paganism” (In homage to Lesslie Newbigin, 1909-1998, Journal for Preachers 22/3 1999, pp.3-10.

REQUIRED AND RECOMMENDED READING

Required Reading

Paul Weston (ed.), Lesslie Newbigin. Missionary Theologian, Grand Rapids 2006

Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, Grand Rapids 1995, 2001

Articles in http://www.newbigin.net/

Approach:

CLASS SCHEDULE

REQUIRED AND RECOMMENDED READING

Required Reading

Recommended Reading