Faith and Power: Christianity and Islam in 'Secular' Britain

by Lesslie Newbigin

"The issue . . . in the multicultural millennium is not so much the 'Islamization' of a once-Christian culture as the emergence, with state collusion, of discrete territories where vastly different norms prevail, shut off and resentful, a breeding ground for ferment and a target for hostility." In the aftermath of the London suicide bombings, this unusual book seems more prophetic than ever. Begun six years before 9/11, it examined the roots of political Islam and its offshoots in Britain. In describing the indifference of policy makers and government officials to religion, it warned of extremism taking root among disaffected young Muslims -- and offered a vision of hope tempered with realism that might have helped avert tragedy had it been more widely heeded. The book's timely republication offers another -- and a way out of it. Lamin Sanneh, himself a former Muslim, explores the history of Islam's always controversial accommodations with the West. Jenny Taylor's debut engages contribution critically at the grassroots level, looking in detail at Islam in Britain, its mission and tactics, and the State's inadequate response to them. "Neglect would appear to have been government policy." Lesslie Newbigin describes the loss of a sense of direction in the West as bankrupt secular ideologies confront fundamentalism with politically correct platitudes or coercive legislation that is destroying the West's historic freedoms. All three authors call for a radical Christian critique to replace the false and evidently failed policies of neutrality of the State.

196 pages, Paperback

First published July 30, 1998

About the author

Bishop 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".

Reviews

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essential reading in Anglican political theology for those interested in the question of Christian-Muslim relations in the public sphere. Close reading for the subtle differences in thought between this work at Mathew Kaemingk's "Christian Hospitality and Muslim Migration in the Age of Fear" (Eerdman's, 2018) will reward readers. I judge this work to be more wholistic insofar as its focus on the Christian gospel, rather than Christian worship, as the source of a generous tolerance and pluralism towards Muslims in the civic life of a nation-state. The gospel can encompass the need for worship without dispensing of the need for mission. The latter is something which Kaemingk's work can sometimes downplay. This ultimately reflects a difference in thought between the Dutch Reformed school of theology with its philosophy of "separate spheres" between church and state, and the Augustinian Anglican belief that the gospel can influence the way that rulers come to govern.

[Dan Glover · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was uneven. The chapters by Newbigin are, as usual, well argued and well written. The chapters by the two other contributers are sometimes too dense and their arguements less than clear and therefore less than convincing. I would give this 4 stars for Newbigin's contribution but only 2.5 for the others. They read like doctoral theses which haven't been reworked quite enough for public consumption.

Oh yeah, and on the issue of the tyrany of the majority over minorities in a democracy, wow, did this work ever miss the boat in their argument that Christianity is the only public theology/worldview which can balance the two. Their position would have been infinitely stronger if they had argued it from the ground that Christianity is unique because of its doctrine of the Trinity. Due to its core belief that man is made in the image of a triune God, three in one, individuality and community in balance and harmony, it really is the only worldview which does not need to have either individual liberty and autonomy triumph over the majority or the collective strength of the majority tyranize over the various weaker minorities.

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