Conversion and Community: Revisiting the Lesslie Newbigin—M. M. Thomas Debate
In India in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Bishop Lesslie Newbigin and M. M. Thomas debated the nature of conversion and Christian community. The importance of the subject was underlined by the findings of sociological research that in major urban centers such as Madras there were thousands of Indi...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage Publishing
1998
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| In: |
International bulletin of mission research
Year: 1998, Volume: 22, Issue: 3, Pages: 112-117 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In India in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Bishop Lesslie Newbigin and M. M. Thomas debated the nature of conversion and Christian community. The importance of the subject was underlined by the findings of sociological research that in major urban centers such as Madras there were thousands of Indians who believed in “Jesus as the only God” though they had no visible connection with the Christian church. The Bangalore theologian Kaj Baago sharpened the issue by asking, “Must Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims become Christians in order to belong to Christ?” Baago wished to advocate the kind of Christian witness that might lead to “the creation of Hindu Christianity or Buddhist Christianity.”On the occasion of the March 1966 Nasrapur Consultation on mission Newbigin launched the debate by responding. first to Baago. By 1969 the debate became focused in published discussions between Newbigin and his friend M. M. Thomas. The following essay reacquaints us with the issues as Newbigin and Thomas saw them. As we approach the twenty-first century in Christian mission, the issues taken up in the Newbigin-Thomas debate remain as relevant as ever. |
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| ISSN: | 2396-9407 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: International bulletin of mission research
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/239693939802200308 |