Series: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII
The final chapter of this book discusses what it looks like to dialogue with people of other religions. How does this look? How do we approach these people? One view that he deconstructs is that we call those who are serious, committed adherents to another faith “anonymous Christians.” He rejects this view as valid for a couple reasons.
First, he notes that it fails to take the person’s other faith seriously (172). Second, “it assumes that our position as Christians entitles us to know and declare what is God’s final judgment.” (173) In reading this, my first thought was, “well, don’t we?” But, he writes, “I find it astonishing that a theologian should think he has the authority to inform us in advance who is going to be ‘saved’ on the last day” (173).
This concept is difficult to work through because it seems to take the Lordship of Christ lightly. On the other hand Newbigin has a very valid point when we writes, “This is not a small matter. It determines the way in which we approach the man of another faith. It is almost impossible for me to enter into simple, honest, open, and friendly communication with another person as long as I have at the back of my mind the feeling that I am one of the saved and he is one of the lost” (173).
When it comes down to it, I believe this actually takes the Lordship of Jesus Christ more seriously. While we might not claim to know the destiny of this persons soul, we “meet the person simply as a witness, as one who has been laid hold of by Another and placed in a position where I can only point to Jesus as the one who can make sense of the whole human situation that my partner and I share as fellow human begins. This is the basis of our meeting.” (174) Here we see why in the beginning of this book Newbigin states that he is “wagering his life on the faith that Jesus is the ultimate authority.” (15)
This has been a challenging book for me. I have found it quite difficult to try and summarize such a well articulated thought pattern (which shows by the length of this review!). This book has not so much given me brand new information as much as it has given me a deeper theology to explain my understanding of mission. It has also really challenged me to think carefully about how we individualize and privatize our faith rather than giving it its proper place in world history. To me, this is a revolutionary way to look at the church’s involvement in the culture. It demands that we take issues of social justice seriously, especially for those of us who are pastoring in wealthy (by world’s standards) suburban contexts.
Scott said...
1Todd,
I’m sitting here in Iowa and thought I would take some time to comment on your wonderful blog! See I still read it!
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. It is nice to see what you are stuyding and wrestling with.
Just a quick comment:
While I would agree that we have no right to judge whether a person is “saved or not” (this is ultimately up to them and God). I do think that it is appropriate to share the importance of meeting Jesus in a personal way and that to “be saved” is being made alive in Christ.
So while we have no right to say “who is in and who is out” the bottom line is that there are those who are part of Jesus’s story and those who are not…even if we do not know who those people are.
And since Jesus calls us to follow him, it would only make sense that we
invite others to do likewise.
Thanks for listening!
01/5/07 8:44 PM | Comment Link
Wasihun Gutema said...
2Dear brother,
Greetings to you!
I am an Ethiopian currently progressing MTh at the Western Theological Seminary here in Holland Michigan.I liked your reflection.
Despite what what my friend wrote you above I am here to judge whether some one is saved or not depending on the Bible. Any one who did not/does not accept Christ is not saved.Salivation is by faith in Christ alone and when we are saved our life reflects that. We also witness that we are saved. Jesus is also met personally and not by commitee or any other way. We meet Christ personally and share that as we are Chosen particularly for the universality of the salivation of Humanbeing.
Blessed are you!!
10/8/08 5:55 PM | Comment Link
JamesDX said...
3Anyone know how to do things like this?
02/15/10 2:48 AM | Comment Link
Peter Sammons said...
4Bloggers may be interested in my book “The Empty Promise of Godism” in this regard (UK – Glory to Glory Publications 2009).
We Christians need to engage boldly with the question of the eternal destiny of those of the religions, as well as those who have never heard the name of Jesus. At risk for a long blog, let me quote a review of my book which I hope helps in this:
Book review
“The Empty Promise of Godism” by Peter Sammons
Glory to Glory Publishing – 2009
382 pp – £6.99 RRP (available: CLC – STL and normal outlets)
Written from a normative Christian standpoint, this book seeks to answer the question: are there multiple paths to peace with God and if so, what does that tell us about the nature of God? Subtitled “Reflections on the Multi-Faith Agenda” Sammons identifies, isolates and examines a contemporary current of thought within all Christian denominations, which he calls “Godism”. This is a 380 page paperback format, so the subject is explored in useful depth and seeks to reach definitive conclusions at a time when many, inside and outside the church, are seeking answers as to the nature of God and the nature of salvation through His Son, the Messiah Jesus.
Sammons takes several chapters before finally defining Godism. He sets the scene by looking at the ‘promise’ apparently held out by proponents of the multi-faith position – namely that peace and brotherhood will follow once the various religions ‘get their act together’ and recognize that they worship ‘the same’ deity. The book traces the growth of Godism as a popular received-wisdom and traces its lineage through the encounters of Christianity with Theism, Deism, Monism, and Gnosticism. Sammons concludes that these ancient and more modern heresies have recurred in various strains like a virus throughout the church’s history.
A useful element of the book is its first Appendix – a simple one-page logic map challenging the Godist mindset, and concluding that this mindset is ultimately dismissive of God, even if it purports to be otherwise. If God is as the Holy Bible suggests He is, then would it be good to reveal Himself in contradictory ways? Sammons devotes a chapter to review the question – is God good? He devotes another to review the question – is God holy? In both chapters, Sammons finds compelling biblical arguments in the affirmative, despite what some consider to be ‘the difficult bits’ of the Bible, which Sammons begins to explore and to identify the true goodness of God even within what are popularly considered to be harsh commands.
To Anglicans, one of the most interesting areas covered in this book will be the question of whether Prince Charles should correctly be classified as a Godist, in view of his known and enthusiastic interest in religions and support for the multi-faith position – exemplified in his well known desire to become defender of faith rather than defender of the faith. Sammons’ royal debate straddles chapters 5 and 6 of the book – as it explores whether Godism is a truly new phenomenon or merely a recurrence of syncretist thought that has afflicted the church from time to time. Sammons asks the question whether the Prince’s active rejection of the promises made by Queen Elizabeth in 1953 may unwittingly call into question the monarchy itself, as Sammons argues that the only royal task that must be personified in the monarch is defence of Christianity. Every other royal function could be accomplished by Parliament, argues Sammons – but singularly not defence of the faith. If the monarch has abandoned Christianity, will God abandon the monarchy?
The book concludes with an exploration of the question about the eternal destiny of those of other faiths – and indeed of those who never even hear the name of Jesus. Are they lost forever? Sammons goes a long way to provide a definitive and biblically astute answer, and highlights the weakness in Lesslie Newbigin’s argument set forth in his book …….. that agues the case for exclusivity through Jesus but allows the possibility of salvation via the religions. Whilst, at a simple level, Newbigin’s position appears to locate ultimate truth in Jesus, Sammons suggests it is perilously close to Godism and is today used in that way by Christians flirting with multi-faithism.
Whilst readers may not agree with all Sammons’s conclusions, his book does give an excellent overview of the challenge of multi-faithism to orthodox Christianity, why the Godist philosophy has reached its current (and growing?) popularity, and at the topography of the arguments that Christians must wrestle with in today’s multi-culture, multi-religion world. Apart from giving an exhaustive review of the issues and biblical solutions to the inevitable ‘problems’ encountered, Sammons book quotes usefully and extensively from the Holy Bible to draw out God’s heart in this important matter. This avoids the problem of many Christian books that quote chapter and verse numbers to their readers who find it difficult and inonvenient to check-out the references as they read the book.
Overall, The Empty Promise of Godism is an important contribution on a debate of growing importance. At £6.99 it is also surprisingly inexpensive. Its style is accessible to general readers and it aims to be of use to non-Christians as well church-goers.
04/28/10 8:38 AM | Comment Link