Faiths and Faithfulness: Pluralism, Dialogue, and Mission in the Work of Kenneth Cragg and Lesslie Newbigin

How are people of faith to be faithful to their various traditions in today’s diverse society? How may we live together as neighbors and yet remain true to our differing religious convictions? How is it possible for the contemporary Christian to confess the Lordship of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths? These are some of the fundamental questions which this volume seeks to explore. It offers a critical account of two key twentieth-century missionary-theologians who attempted to address the issue of pluralism within a confessional framework: Bishop Kenneth Cragg and Bishop Lesslie Newbigin. This study argues for a reconsideration of the biblical themes of fullness and fulfillment which may offer a way of holding together the traditions of continuity, which Cragg shows can never be total, and of discontinuity, which Newbigin argues can never be absolute. In this way the book addresses some of the implications for the development of an appropriate missiological approach to inter-faith issues in the twenty-first century which requires us to take people of faith seriously but also allows faithfulness to the Christian gospel.