The Open Secret: An introduction to the Theology of Mission, rev. ed. - book reviews

"When it came to the presentation by Bishop Lesslie Newbigin, he was given a standing ovation lasting many minutes and spoke for an hour without any notes. His message was that the task of mission is to recover the power of the gospel and not to encourage privatised faith." Thus wrote Raymond Singh for the United Reformed Church monthly magazine Reform about a session of the WCC Conference on World Mission and Evangelism in Salvador, Brazil, in December 1996. He could have been describing any number of occasions in recent years when in "retirement" Bishop Newbigin has shown his continued vigour and clarity.

It is no wonder then that there has been a demand for a new edition of the book which encapsulates his lectures on missiology, originally given to the international student body of the Selly Oak Colleges in Birmingham, England, when he lectured there for several years in the 1970s. With the valued help of Eleanor Jackson in bringing the book up to date "in several points both of style and substance" (p.vi), Newbigin and Eerdmans now meet the demand. Beyond expressing gratitude for the renewed availability of a valued text, a review of a revised edition must examine the abiding relevance, after a turbulent twenty years in world, church and mission, of a book first published in 1978.

The first point to be made is that there are books which are of permanent value and relevance because they persuasively express basic theological positions that remain in dialogue with one another over generations and even centuries. The first six chapters of this book are such a statement of views which, as his autobiographical writings have revealed, have been at the heart of Bishop Newbigin's thought since he was a student at Westminster College Cambridge, in the 1930s. They are summed up on p. 15: "I am -- in Pascal's famous phrase -- wagering my life on the faith that Jesus is the ultimate authority... It is a personal commitment to a faith that cannot be demonstrated on grounds established from the point of view of another commitment." Here are echoes of the neo-orthodoxy of Karl Barth and Hendrik Kraemer but also, explicitly, of Blaise Pascal and, later in the book, of Augustine of Hippo. Newbigin's philosophical mentor, Michael Polanyi, is cited (p.28) for the claim that "modern man is unprecedented; yet we must now go back to St Augustine to restore the balance of our cognitive powers" because Augustine "taught that all knowledge was a gift of grace, for which we must strive under the guidance of antecedent belief".

Despite some accusations to the contrary, Newbigin has not been seeking in his recent writings about the Enlightenment to return to a pre-scientific worldview. He fully recognizes and is grateful for the many enrichments and material advances that have made "modern man" [sic] in many ways "unprecedented". Yet he believes that the assumptions -- and, yes, the prejudices -- of "modern man" are at bottom statements of faith. "All statements that claim to speak the truth about realities external to the speaker are affirmations of faith to which the speaker commits himself" (p. 15).

Much of the exposition in the first six chapters describes the welcome common ground which enables the ecumenical movement to pursue mission objectives in partnership. Indeed, it could be used to draw together those who have been enthusiasts for ecumenism with those who have suspected it of withdrawing from the primary missionary calling of the church.

As the author fully realizes, he enters more controversial areas in the last four chapters, as he seeks to apply his "kingdom" missiology.

Can a universal history be read from the starting point of the gospel? Yes, says Newbigin, indeed it must be so read, because the good news is of God's purpose in Christ for the whole of humankind and the whole universe, not only of salvation for individual believers. The scandal of particularity in the affirmation of Jesus' divine authority as Lord and Christ is also the open secret of all things.

So far, so good -- but the Christian claim has to be vindicated in action for God's justice and in church growth by conversions. Neither can stand alone as the Christian "programme". So chapters 8 and 9 respectively address questions raised by liberation theology and by the church growth movement. In the former area one would have liked to see more said in this 1995 revision about the changed situation in Europe. It is not enough to observe such factors as the Soviet attitude to natural science (p.115) or even the removal of the Berlin wall. The swing to a capitalist materialism also needs to be more fully examined in the light of the gospel.

In debate about "discipling the nations", there is developed a view of culture which sees it as both enriching in its diversity and also necessarily changing. There is also an awareness of the challenging question: "Are those who accept the uniqueness and finality of God's revelation of himself in a Jewish male of the first century obliged to accept the cultural forms in which that revelation was given?" (p.155). No, says Dr Newbigin, citing in evidence the culture shift from the Jewish to the Hellenic within the New Testament itself. Yet when that "No" has been said, is there a limit to change -- for example, in perceptions of human sexuality now under debate in the United Reformed Church, with Newbigin himself as a conservative protagonist?