Mission, (post)modernity and apologetics: An appraisal and critique of Lesslie Newbigin

The late British missiologist Lesslie Newbigin made a profound impact on many evangelicals. His prophetical call to mission in the West was accompanied by a penetrating analysis of modernity and a rejection of apologetics. This workshop offers a critical engagement with Newbigin's thinking and seeks to identify a more adequate response to the challenges of (post)modernity.

I. Introduction to Lesslie Newbigin

1. Short biography
2. Newbigin's diagnosis of Western culture "plausibility structures"
   influence of Enlightenment ideas; loss of teleology; the fact-value dichotomy; secularization
3. Newbigin's remedy
   The Church as the "hermeneutic of the Gospel"
4. Newbigin's apologetics
   Rejection of classical apologetics

II. Appraisal and critique

1. Newbigin's cultural analysis
   1. appraisal
   2. critique
2. Newbigin's epistemology
   1. appraisal
   2. critique
3. Newbigin's vision for the church
   1. appraisal
   2. critique

Rev. Bjørn Hinderaker is a theologian, Bible teacher and apologist. He currently serves as a pastor in an evangelical church in Kristiansand, Norway, as well as being a part-time lecturer in worldviews, ethics and apologetics at Gimlekollen School of Journalism and Communication. Bjørn has previously been involved in theological education in Kenya, in Bible school ministry in Norway and with IFES Europe. Areas of special interest include the role of apologetics in mission to (post)modernity and in witness to New Age spiritualities and new religious movements.