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Quote by Lesslie Newbigin

“The New Age movement, for all the validity of its protest and the value of some of its recommendations, is in truth a very old blind alley. There is a very long history to remind us of what happens when nature is our ultimate point of reference . . . . Nature knows no ethics. There is no right and wrong in nature; the controlling realities are power and fertility.”

Quote by Lesslie Newbigin

Book:Truth to Tell: The Gospel as Public Truth
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Work

Truth to Tell: The Gospel as Public Truth

Examining the intersection of Christian theology and contemporary culture, this work challenges the modern tendency to separate private faith from public fact. It presents an argument for understanding the Gospel as public truth, asserting that its claims about reality, history, and human purpose carry profound implications for social structures, ethics, and the common good. The text engages with the complexities of pluralism and secularism, offering a perspective on how foundational religious convictions can constructively inform broader public discourse and cultural engagement. more

Author

Lesslie Newbigin
Lesslie Newbigin

Lesslie Newbigin, born on December 8, 1909 and died on January 30, 1998, was a prominent Christian theologian and author. His work focused on cultural, religious, and social issues, and had a profound impact on contemporary Christian theology. more

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“The relativism which is not willing to speak about truth but only about ‘what is true for me’ is an evasion of the serious business of living. It is the mark of a tragic loss of nerve in our contemporary culture. It is a preliminary symptom of death.”

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Book:The Gospel in a Pluralist Society: SPCK Classic
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“One does not learn anything except by believing something, and -- conversely -- if one doubts everything one learns nothing. On the other hand, believing everything uncritically is the road to disaster. The faculty of doubt is essential. But as I have argued, rational doubt always rests on faith and not vice versa. The relationship between the two cannot be reversed.”

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“If the biblical story is true, the kind of certainty proper to a human begin will be one which rests on the fidelity of God, not upon the competence of the human knower. It will be a kind of certainty which is inseparable from gratitude and trust”

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“There is an appearance of humility in the protestation that the truth is much greater than any one of us can grasp, but if this is used to invalidate all claims to discern the truth it is in fact an arrogant claim to a kind of knowledge which is superior to [all others]...We have to ask: 'What is the [absolute] vantage ground from which you claim to be able to relativize all the absolute claims these different scriptures make?”

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“The resurrection is the revelation to chosen witnesses of the fact that Jesus who died on the cross is indeed king - conqueror of death and sin, Lord and Savior of all. The resurrection is not the reversal of a defeat but the proclamation of a victory. The King reigns from the tree. The reign of God has indeed come upon us, and its sign is not a golden throne but a wooden cross.”

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“How can this strange story of God made flesh, of a crucified Savior, of resurrection and new creation become credible for those whose entire mental training has conditioned them to believe that the real world is the world which can be satisfactorily explained and managed without the hypothesis of God? I know of only one clue to the answering of that question, only one real hermeneutic of the gospel: a congregation which believes it.”

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Author:Lesslie Newbigin
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“This withdrawal of theology from the world of secular affairs is made more complete by the work of biblical scholars whose endlessly fascinating exercises have made it appear to the lay Christian that no one untrained in their methods can really understand anything the Bible says. We are in a situation analogous to one about which the great Reformers complained. The Bible has been taken out of the hands of the layperson; it has now become the professional property not of the priesthood but of the scholars.”

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“To be elect in Christ Jesus, and there is no other election, means to be incorporated into his mission to the world, to be the bearer of God saving purpose for his whole world, to be the sign and the agent and the firstfruit of his blessed kingdom which is for all.”

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Book:The Gospel in a Pluralist Society: SPCK Classic
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