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The Other Side of 1984: Questions for the Churches
Book by Newbigin, Lesslie
- GenresChristian
Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
About the author
Lesslie Newbigin
95 books104 followersBishop James Edward Lesslie Newbigin was a British theologian, missiologist, missionary and author. Though originally ordained within the Church of Scotland, Newbigin spent much of his career serving as a missionary in India and became affiliated with the Church of South India and the United Reformed Church, becoming one of the Church of South India's first bishops. A prolific author who wrote on a wide range of theological topics, Newbigin is best known for his contributions to missiology and ecclesiology. He is also known for his involvement in both the dialogue regarding ecumenism and the Gospel and Our Culture movement. Many scholars also believe his work laid the foundations for the contemporary missional church movement, and it is said his stature and range is comparable to the "Fathers of the Church".
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 22, 2024
Responsing to the World
17 December 2024
This is another one of those outdated Christian books that was written by a bishop to church leaders. Actually it is more of an essay than a book, and I suspect that it isn’t one of those books that is directed at the laity. Mind you, I have read similar books in the past (such as by CS Lewis) so it really didn’t go over my head all that much. However, as I mentioned, it is very outdated, namely because it was written in the lead-up to 1984, and as you can probably tell from the title, he was drawing upon Orwell’s seminal work.
So, he explored the history of Christianity and explored where it was at the time of writing, which involved many people leaving the church and looking for salvation elsewhere. In fact, as a missionary in India, his focus was on a lot of Westerners travelling to India to seek purpose in the Eastern religions. However, as I have suggested, a lot of these writers really don’t seem to understand the history of the church, and why people were leaving.
In light of this let us consider the history of the church. So, from the Roman Empire, where the church was in a minority and persecuted around the 4th Century AD states started adopting Christianity as the main religion, and this of course culminated with Constantine declaring that Rome was a Christian nation. The thing is that this was actually a bad thing for the church because it lead into 1000 years of stagnation. Mind you, during this time we had writers such as Augustine and Aquinas who set the direction of Christianity for centuries.
However, in the 14th Century we had the Renaissance (in the West – this evolution of the church doesn’t apply to the Orthodox Church) where the classics returned to Western Europe, and with that independent thought. This lead to the Reformation with resulted in the splintering of the Western Church. While I would suggest that we had writers such as Luther and Calvin at the time, the splintering of the church meant that they didn’t have as much of an impact as previous writers had. This splintering continued with a revolt against state religions, and the Enlightenment where having no religion, and the scientific method, came to the fore.
However, I am reading, and writing, this some 40 years after 1984, which means that things have changed dramatically. The thing that these writers don’t seem to be asking is ‘why are people moving away from Christianity’. Sure, when this book was being written, we had Reagan as president of the US and Thatcher as PM of England, which resulted in an aggressive free market. The thing is that the church was courting the conservative politicians. Okay, we did have Carter, and the fact that Carter lost to Reagan meant that the modern church went in a completely different direction. In fact, it seemed as if the church reject the kindness and compassion of Carter to embrace the authoritarianism of Reagan.
Okay, I could go down the path of how the Church has embraced free market economics and consumerism, but the reality is that I have heard numerous sermons from conservative churches that decry the evils of consumerism, but it really does seem to fall on deaf ears. Yet the people who are rejecting excessive consumerism seem to be wandering away from the church because the conservative minority seem to have the loudest voices.
We are now in a world with a second Trump presidency, and a section of the church celebrating how he is God’s chosen to lead America into a new realm of prosperity, and a lot of people are being put off by the fact that they are literally worshipping a guy who they see as having a rather questionable character, and is appointing billionaires to his cabinet.
This is the thing that the church seems to be blind to, namely that Christianity doesn’t actually offer them anything. This was the case back in 1984, and that is very much the case now. Of course, as I mentioned, the issue is that a minority seems to have a much louder voice, but the thing is that, in my opinion, the church needs to look to itself inwardly, as opposed to assuming that all is well and good, and questioning why people are leaving what they consider to be a perfectly good religion (or simply accuse people of walking away from the church was rejecting Christ for a life of sin – I would like to know how many people out that don’t have an issue with Jesus, but have a massive issue with the church).
17 December 2024
This is another one of those outdated Christian books that was written by a bishop to church leaders. Actually it is more of an essay than a book, and I suspect that it isn’t one of those books that is directed at the laity. Mind you, I have read similar books in the past (such as by CS Lewis) so it really didn’t go over my head all that much. However, as I mentioned, it is very outdated, namely because it was written in the lead-up to 1984, and as you can probably tell from the title, he was drawing upon Orwell’s seminal work.
So, he explored the history of Christianity and explored where it was at the time of writing, which involved many people leaving the church and looking for salvation elsewhere. In fact, as a missionary in India, his focus was on a lot of Westerners travelling to India to seek purpose in the Eastern religions. However, as I have suggested, a lot of these writers really don’t seem to understand the history of the church, and why people were leaving.
In light of this let us consider the history of the church. So, from the Roman Empire, where the church was in a minority and persecuted around the 4th Century AD states started adopting Christianity as the main religion, and this of course culminated with Constantine declaring that Rome was a Christian nation. The thing is that this was actually a bad thing for the church because it lead into 1000 years of stagnation. Mind you, during this time we had writers such as Augustine and Aquinas who set the direction of Christianity for centuries.
However, in the 14th Century we had the Renaissance (in the West – this evolution of the church doesn’t apply to the Orthodox Church) where the classics returned to Western Europe, and with that independent thought. This lead to the Reformation with resulted in the splintering of the Western Church. While I would suggest that we had writers such as Luther and Calvin at the time, the splintering of the church meant that they didn’t have as much of an impact as previous writers had. This splintering continued with a revolt against state religions, and the Enlightenment where having no religion, and the scientific method, came to the fore.
However, I am reading, and writing, this some 40 years after 1984, which means that things have changed dramatically. The thing that these writers don’t seem to be asking is ‘why are people moving away from Christianity’. Sure, when this book was being written, we had Reagan as president of the US and Thatcher as PM of England, which resulted in an aggressive free market. The thing is that the church was courting the conservative politicians. Okay, we did have Carter, and the fact that Carter lost to Reagan meant that the modern church went in a completely different direction. In fact, it seemed as if the church reject the kindness and compassion of Carter to embrace the authoritarianism of Reagan.
Okay, I could go down the path of how the Church has embraced free market economics and consumerism, but the reality is that I have heard numerous sermons from conservative churches that decry the evils of consumerism, but it really does seem to fall on deaf ears. Yet the people who are rejecting excessive consumerism seem to be wandering away from the church because the conservative minority seem to have the loudest voices.
We are now in a world with a second Trump presidency, and a section of the church celebrating how he is God’s chosen to lead America into a new realm of prosperity, and a lot of people are being put off by the fact that they are literally worshipping a guy who they see as having a rather questionable character, and is appointing billionaires to his cabinet.
This is the thing that the church seems to be blind to, namely that Christianity doesn’t actually offer them anything. This was the case back in 1984, and that is very much the case now. Of course, as I mentioned, the issue is that a minority seems to have a much louder voice, but the thing is that, in my opinion, the church needs to look to itself inwardly, as opposed to assuming that all is well and good, and questioning why people are leaving what they consider to be a perfectly good religion (or simply accuse people of walking away from the church was rejecting Christ for a life of sin – I would like to know how many people out that don’t have an issue with Jesus, but have a massive issue with the church).
June 13, 2022
Classic Newbigin, advocating for genuine missionary encounter with the West. He is grappling with Modernity, Enlightenment legacy and its shaping of understanding of reason, knowledge, Truth, etc. How to move forward with confidence and faith and witness without returning to Christendom?
Good stuff for its time. We are much further down the road now, but it remains very importantly relevant.
Good stuff for its time. We are much further down the road now, but it remains very importantly relevant.
December 24, 2008
This little book raises several important questions about the future of Western culture, and where the church fits in. The author believed that - in the UK, at least in the 1980s- the Enlightenment view of science as somehow superior to religion was fast becoming obsolete.
He acknowledged that we did not wish to return to the Dark Ages, and that science and technology have improved our lives in many important ways. Nevertheless, he believed that Christians needed to make a stand not just in private but in public life too, so that the emergence of new societal structures would in some way reflect the ethos and morality of Scripture.
A bit dry in places, and now nearly 25 years later it seems a bit dated, though still relevant to many. Probably three-and-a-half stars.
He acknowledged that we did not wish to return to the Dark Ages, and that science and technology have improved our lives in many important ways. Nevertheless, he believed that Christians needed to make a stand not just in private but in public life too, so that the emergence of new societal structures would in some way reflect the ethos and morality of Scripture.
A bit dry in places, and now nearly 25 years later it seems a bit dated, though still relevant to many. Probably three-and-a-half stars.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews