Calls into question every human culture

“In speaking of ‘the gospel,’ I am, of course, referring to the announcement that in the series of events that have their center in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ something has happened that alters the total human situation and must therefore call into question every human culture.” (Lesslie Newbigin: Missionary Theologian p109)

This past week I walked through a new exhibit on human evolution at a local museum. As I did, I couldn't help but notice that they were putting forth a story of origins as true for everyone. In other parts of the same museum, the stories of origins of 'native' or 'ethnic' peoples are put forward as religious or cultural, and are not in any sense presented as true for everyone. The modern scientific world view, it is assumed, tells a story that is true for everyone.

The modern scientific world view is not immune from the Gospel. In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, something has happened that alters the total human situation and calls into question even this human culture. I believe that Newbigin is not mistaken when he says:

Both Christianity and modernity make global claims. Both are necessarily missionary faiths, because they claim to give the true understanding of the human situation, valid for all peoples at all times (ibid. p248).

This makes the clash between these two missionary faiths all the more violent. Yet Newbigin anticipates what we almost inevitably do (having been raised in this culture), and calls us to a truly gospel-centered encounter with our own culture:

The question with which I am wrestling [ . . .] is this: As people who are part of modern Western culture, with its confidence in the validity of its scientific methods, how can we move from the place where we explain the gospel in terms of our scientific world view to the place where we explain our modern scientific world view from the point of view of the gospel? (ibid. p 199)

The Gospel is the starting point, not less so, but even more so when we engage in dialogue those who don't believe it, or perhaps have never heard it because we've been trying to explain it in words taught by human wisdom rather than in words taught by the Spirit.