Thank you! I read The Gospel in a Pluralist Society years ago in seminary, shortly after it came out in 1989, and still have the copy. My concerns and perspective were different at the time, so I didn’t absorb him well. Also, I’ve slept since then, and my memory ain’t what it used to be. I’ve put it at the top of my book pile.

Newbigin was a missionary to India from England. He engaged Hindu culture and sacred texts so well that he actually became a respected authority on them in India. He also became a bishop in the Church of South India, an ecumenist and former president of the WCC, he believed denominationalism was the greatest sin of the church. But one of the interesting turns of his life came after “retirement” when he returned to a culture (UK) he didn’t know and a church he didn’t know – and it was during this time (’74-’98) that he wrote most of his most compelling work, including “Foolishness to the Greeks,” “The Open Secret,” and “The Gospel in a Pluralist Society.” Here’s what his biographer (Geoffrey Wainwright) says:

“For the last quarter century of his life, from his return to Britain in 1974 until his death in 1998, Lesslie Newbigin devoted himself principally to the diagnosis and treatment of the crisis of the Christian faith in the modern world. He sought by the Gospel to remedy both the Church and the culture. It is as an apologist to the doubting and to the unbelieving that he now became chiefly known.”

If you’re truly interested in “how” to exegete Western culture, I’d begin with Newbigin. This guy blew my socks off in more ways than one.

I’m talking more in terms of exegeting current culture than biblical culture. Case in point, the text file for this article sat on my computer for a week before I got up the guts to post it. It took me over an hour to format it on WordPress, and the paragraphs still did not break where I wanted them to break. I feel foolish, like I can’t put together a well presented thought. The frustration alone has frightened me away from communicating electronically, which makes me feel even more behind the 8-ball. If things like WordPress stymie me, what am I going to do about more pressing matters like paradigms shifts and cultural innovations?

How can I pastor effectively with people whose culture has left me in the dust? How can I come up to speed quickly without spending my time in constant study? There are only so many hours in the day. I don’t want to shortchange older members in order to relate with younger and potential members.

Grrr! Is there an emoticon for tearing one’s hair out?

You’ve hit on something with the concept of culture exegesis. Unfortunately, the parallel term we’ve been using in the Emerging Church conversation –deconstruction– comes from the literary/philosophical world, and seems to really frighten or distance people from theological backgrounds.