Categories
Audio Business Duke Divinity School Ecclesiology Kavin Rowe L. Gregory Jones Leadership Missiology

Greg Jones on Traditioned Innovation

On October 5th at the Duke 2009 Convocation & Pastors’ School, I listened to a workshop by Duke Divinity School Dean Greg Jones on "traditioned innovation." 

Update January 27, 2010: Duke Divinity School Press Release: 

Dean L. Gregory Jones to Become Senior University Advisor for International Strategy Jones will step down as dean of Duke Divinity School at the end of the current academic year; Professor Richard Hays to finish out Jones’ term.  

R. R. Reno writes in A 2009 Ranking of Graduate Programs in Theology, "Duke and Notre Dame remain at the top.  Indeed, they are stronger than
ever, in large part because the longtime Dean of Duke Divinity School,
L. Gregory Jones
, and the longtime chair of the Notre Dame department
of theology, John Cavadini, provide steady leadership."

I just thought I would share with you the resources Jones mentioned since
it is fascinating to get a glimpse into what is on his mind. 

He mentioned a few leadership books that he has recently learned from.  But he later said they do not provide a completely satisfactory account of Christian leadership so he is exploring a concept he is calling "traditioned innovation."

Product Details

Going to Extremes: How Like Minds Unite and Divide by Cass R. Sunstein (Hardcover – May 13, 2009)

Product Details

The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World by Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky, and Alexander Grashow (Hardcover – May 18, 2009)

Product Details

Leading Minds: An Anatomy Of Leadership by Howard E. Gardner and Emma Laskin (Paperback – Jun 13, 1996)

Product Details

Enterprising Nonprofits: A Toolkit for Social Entrepreneurs by J. Gregory Dees, Jed Emerson, and Peter Economy (Hardcover – Mar 29, 2001)

(Dees teaches at Duke's Fuqua School of Business).  

Jones reflected briefly on these business books in an article at Duke Divinity's Faith & Leadership website.

‘The end’

Jones then explained that he was talking with Duke Divinity professor Kavin Rowe who has recently written:

Product Details

World Upside Down: Reading Acts in the Graeco-Roman Age by C. Kavin Rowe (Hardcover – Jun 29, 2009)

After talking with Jones, Rowe explored in four articles this idea of "traditioned innovation" at Duke Divinity's Faith & Leadership website. 

  1. Traditioned innovation: A biblical way of thinking
  2. Pentecost as traditioned innovation
  3. Navigating the differences in the Gospels
  4. The New Testament as an innovation of the Old

That was the basic flow of Jones's talk. 

However, Jones also mentioned in passing a number of other books as illustrations of various points.  

Product Details

Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul by Richard B. Hays (Paperback – Jan 27, 1993)

Product Details

Improvisation: The Drama of Christian Ethics by Samuel Wells (Paperback – Sep 1, 2004)

Product Details

The Promise by Chaim Potok (Paperback – Nov 8, 2005)

Product Details

The Chosen by Chaim Potok (Mass Market Paperback – April 12, 1987)

Product Details

On Job: God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent by Gustavo Gutierrez (Paperback – Jun 1987)

Product Details

Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations by Robert Schnase (Paperback – May 1, 2007)

Product Details

Numbers (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible) by David Stubbs (Hardcover – Oct 1, 2009)

Product Details

The Art of Reading Scripture by Ellen F. Davis and Richard B. Hays (Paperback – Oct 2003)

He also mentioned:

the article Walk into the Bible

and

Jones has also written:

Product Details

Resurrecting Excellence: Shaping Faithful Christian Ministry (Pulpit & Pew) by L. Gregory Jones and Kevin R. Armstrong (Paperback – Mar 30, 2006)

Product Details

The Scope of Our Art: The Vocation of the Theological Teacher by L. Gregory Jones and Stephanie Paulsell (Paperback – Oct 25, 2001)

All of Faith & Leadership's audio and video content is available for free download on iTunesU.

and now also they are on Twitter.  http://twitter.com/faithleadership

Categories
Books Ecclesiology Evangelism Lesslie Newbigin Missiology

Book Review: Signs Amid the Rubble by Lesslie Newbigin

I am a teaching assistant for Geoffrey Wainwright’s course on Lesslie Newbigin at Duke Divinity School this semester.  Here is my Amazon.com review of the first book we read in the course.

Signs Amid the Rubble: The Purposes of God in Human History by Lesslie Newbigin, edited by Geoffrey Wainwright (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003).

 

5.0 out of 5 stars
Important Lectures by Newbigin on Eschatology and Evangelism , September 7, 2009
By  Andrew D. Rowell (Durham, NC) – See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
  

This collection of Newbigin’s lectures demonstrate his ability to think
theologically, logically, fairly and passionately about Christian
engagement in the world. It is not surprising that many have found
Newbigin to be a helpful guide through these difficult waters.

Signs Amid the Rubble contains three sets of lectures by Lesslie
Newbigin (1909-1998) introduced by Duke University theologian Geoffrey
Wainwright, author of Lesslie Newbigin: A Theological Life.

The first are a set of 4 lectures given in Bangalore, India in 1941
when Newbigin was 32 years old called “The Kingdom of God and the Idea
of Progress” (pp. 1-55). Newbigin criticizes the prevailing view that
the world is becoming better and better. He points out the evidence
against this view and then makes the case that the concept of the
Kingdom of God is far more useful as a framework for understanding
reality. In particular he singles out C. H. Dodd for his over-realized
eschatology. “The eschaton, the end, enters into our present experience
by qualifying all present action: that is its significance. But the
point is whether it does not lose that significance unless it be also a
fact which is really going to happen” (33-34). Indeed, Newbigin goes on
to emphasize that in fact he believes the eschaton is “really going to
happen”–it is not just a symbol.

The second set of three lectures are The Henry Martyn Lectures
delivered at the University of Cambridge in 1986 when Newbigin was 77
years old (57-109). These have the theme of “mission then and now”
(97). Newbigin addresses some of the most difficult questions that
missionaries face. Will all people be saved or only some (66-75)?
Newbigin writes, “As I find myself in D’Costa’s book classified as an
exclusivist, I will try to say why” (72). He goes on to criticize the
trendy terms “dialogue” and “conversation”–arguing that there is a
legitimate place for “preaching” and action (75-77). He then looks at
the ways missionaries have engaged culture–arguing that conversion is
a legitimate pursuit despite the errors of colonialism (78-94).
Christianity is something that affects “facts” of life (the important
stuff!) and not just the “values” (one’s preferences and feelings)
(90). Finally, in the last lecture of the Martyn lectures, Newbigin
soars. This piece perhaps could be read by itself for its clarity on
the question of the relationship between evangelism and social justice
(95-109). He explains that social justice is not a substitute for
evangelism but that it is still appropriate to love through healing and
caring ministries while proclaiming the gospel. “Election” (103)
reminds Christians that they are blessed by God that they might be a
blessing to others (Genesis 12:2). Newbigin also addresses the
relationship between the church, the kingdom of God and politics. The
church is to be “a sign, instrument and foretaste” of the reign of God
(103).

The third set of addresses by Newbigin takes up just 10 pages
(111-121) at the end of the book. They are brief remarks Newbigin made
in 1996 (at age 87) to the The World Conference on Mission and
Evangelism in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil in December 1996. They are
blunt and informal remarks about the importance of evangelism. He
criticizes the god of the free market and the lack of prioritizing of
telling the story of Jesus. He goes on to criticize abortion on demand,
point out the challenge of Islam, and recommend the pursuit of the
glory of God from a heart of joy.

I would recommend reading these addresses in reverse order. Read
the ones from 1996 first, then the 1986 Martyn lectures, then the 1941
Bangalore lectures. The Bangalore lectures are slightly more
philosophical and thus slightly more difficult. The Martyn lectures
wonderfully summarize many of the themes in Newbigin’s later works The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission, Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture, and The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. The most accessible place to learn about Newbigin though is his own autobiography: Unfinished Agenda: An Updated Autobiography, which I have reviewed on Amazon.

Christians looking for a guide on how to think about engagement
with the world will find a trustworthy, experienced, and wise voice in
Newbigin.

Categories
Books Lesslie Newbigin Missiology

Recommended: Lesslie Newbigin’s Unfinished Agenda: An Updated Autobiography

This fall I am one of the teaching assistants for Geoffrey Wainwright’s course at Duke Divinity School: The Theology of Lesslie Newbigin.  I will be posting more about that course eventually. 

In reading Newbigin’s autobiography, Unfinished Agenda: An Updated Autobiography, I was impressed with his leadership, passion for the unity of the church, constant championing of evangelism, love for missions, and emphasis on Bible study.

Unfinished Agenda: An Updated Autobiography by Lesslie Newbigin

Here is my Amazon.com review: 

5.0 out of 5 stars
The best introduction to Newbigin is this–his accessible autobiography, August 21, 2009
By  Andrew D. Rowell (Durham, NC) – See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
  

This accessible autobiography is the best way to get to know Lesslie
Newbigin (December 8, 1909 – January 30, 1998) who was an Englishman, Scottish pastor, missionary to India, bishop, ecumenical leader, theologian and
missiologist. Newbigin briefly describes his life with stories and
summaries of the different chapters of his life. It is enormously
helpful for making sense of the complex relationships and positions he
had throughout his life and appreciating his writings.

“Unfinished Agenda” was originally published in 1985 when Newbigin
was 76 by SPCK (London) and Eerdmans (Grand Rapids). It was later
published with a new chapter in a revised version in 1993 when Newbigin
was 84 by Saint Andrew Press (Edinburgh) with a new subtitle
“Unfinished Agenda: An Updated Autobiography.” It is now in 2009 being
published by Wipf and Stock (and is available cheaper there than Amazon).

In a review in International Bulletin of Missionary Research 20 no 1 Ja 1996, p 36, Lamin Sanneh writes,

This updated autobiography of Bishop Lesslie Newbigin brings his
life’s story up to 1992. It is a rich and varied story, not just of a
remarkable man but of the ecumenical movement, one of whose architects
he was and the beginning of whose sad decline he has also witnessed . .
. As a guide to ecumenical affairs and their great, leading
personalities, Newbigin’s autobiography is a record of inestimable
value. It will also stand as the testament of a broad, generous spirit
whose tireless and characteristically self-effacing efforts for the
cause remain a reason for profound thanksgiving.

-Lamin Sanneh, the D. Willis James Professor of Missions and World Christianity at Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Connecticut.

The Wipf and Stock page gives this information about the book:

Complete with a provocative new chapter for this revised edition of
his popular autobiography, Lesslie Newbigin describes the breadth and
depth of his missionary service-as a student, wrestling with problems
of faith and vocation; as a Church of Scotland missionary, helping to
build the Church of South India; as a bishop in Madurai and Madras; as
a midwife of the integration of the International Missionary Council
and World Council of Churches; and as pastor in one of Birmingham’s
toughest inner city areas. With commitment, spirituality, and a happy
marriage to support him, he invites the reader to share the joy of his
adventure in Christ.

A fascinating autobiography full of wise comments on the developments in the World Church since 1945 . . .”

-Dr. Chris Wigglesworth

former moderator of CCOM,

Church of Scotland

“Lesslie Newbigin is one of the few great figures of the Church who has both practiced mission and thought deeply about it.”

-Bishop Hugh Montefiore

Bishop of Birmingham