Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty in Christian Discipleship

Rating:
Summary: Silliness
Review: Essentially asserts that, since knowledge is difficult to come by, and since certainty is virtually impossible because all experience is subjective, that the Bible should be taken as historically accurate.

Asserts that believing that Jesus actually rose from the dead, requires the same amount of faith as believing that 2+2=4. Because we only 'really know' that 2+2=4 because we are willing to accept our current society's definition of '2.'

Ignores that this same philosophy can be applied just as easily to defend *any* other system of faith.

Rating:
Summary: This book is a blast of fresh air.
Review: I believe Lesslie Newbigin is a great saint of the Church. His book, "Proper Confidence," is an invigorating defense of the synthesis of faith, reason and discipleship. He reclaims theology for the Church. What I found especially refreshing was his head-on challenge to the Enlightenment-rationalist boxes that modern scholars have constructed to contain Christianity. Newbigin confirms what I have long suspected from my Biblical studies classes at seminary; that instructors rule out certain possibilities that do not fit in with the paradigms that press down upon most seminaries like a totalitarian dictatorship. Since it is not "rational" to believe in supernatural events, the possibility that Scripture has been divinely inspired as it appears is ruled out. The funny thing is, the professors have no more evidence for their theories than I do for a claim that the Holy Spirit is responsible for the similarities between various Gospels. Instead, the professors literally must *invent* a common source (that no one has ever found) in order to shoe-horn the Bible into an Enlightenment framework. Thus, instead of the academy serving the Church and God (which is really what a seminary should be doing), God's Word is made to serve the biases of the academy. Instructors who formally profess belief in the Trinity fall at the feet of the "historical-critical method" of Biblical interpretation. That is, I believe, tragically misguided. Lesslie Newbigin's book gives faithful people the intellectual skills to finally fight back and hopefully reclaim academic theology for the Church.

Rating:
Summary: This book is a blast of fresh air.
Review: I believe Lesslie Newbigin is a great saint of the Church. His book, "Proper Confidence," is an invigorating defense of the synthesis of faith, reason and discipleship. He reclaims theology for the Church. What I found especially refreshing was his head-on challenge to the Enlightenment-rationalist boxes that modern scholars have constructed to contain Christianity. Newbigin confirms what I have long suspected from my Biblical studies classes at seminary; that instructors rule out certain possibilities that do not fit in with the paradigms that press down upon most seminaries like a totalitarian dictatorship. Since it is not "rational" to believe in supernatural events, the possibility that Scripture has been divinely inspired as it appears is ruled out. The funny thing is, the professors have no more evidence for their theories than I do for a claim that the Holy Spirit is responsible for the similarities between various Gospels. Instead, the professors literally must *invent* a common source (that no one has ever found) in order to shoe-horn the Bible into an Enlightenment framework. Thus, instead of the academy serving the Church and God (which is really what a seminary should be doing), God's Word is made to serve the biases of the academy. Instructors who formally profess belief in the Trinity fall at the feet of the "historical-critical method" of Biblical interpretation. That is, I believe, tragically misguided. Lesslie Newbigin's book gives faithful people the intellectual skills to finally fight back and hopefully reclaim academic theology for the Church.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good
Review: Lesslie Newbigin, who was a missionary in India, general secretary of the International Missionary Council, and associate general secretary of the World Council of Churches, knew a lot about methods in missions and apologetics, most of it garnered from experiences sharing the Gospel with people who shared almost nothing in common with the Western, Christianized worldview. This book represents the culmination of his thought in apologetics and philosophy. It is a ringing rejection of the foundationalist and Enlightenment tradition in Western Philosophy.

In Chapter 1, Newbigin begins with a brief history of the relationship between faith and reason. Augustine and the early fathers viewed faith as the way to knowledge, a sentiment encapsulated in the motto credo ut intellegam. The early Christians sought to take the language of the dominant Greek philosophy and infuse it with new meanings. Their use of logos is a good example.

Chapter 2 chronicles the Thomist synthesis. Newbigin sees Aquinas as separating knowledge from faith. Aquinas asserts the existence of certain knowledge - knowledge that does not depend on faith. Aquinas also brings the division between the god of the philosophers and the God of the Bible. The first is the one known through reason alone; the second is known only through revelation. In addition, Aquinas based faith on reason, a move that led to the skepticism of Hume, who disproved Aquinas's theistic arguments and thus left faith without a basis. The Thomistic tradition of the search for a certain foundation found its most radical expression in Descartes. Newbigin points to Descartes as the beginning of the idea that certainty could be found through radical doubt, doubt that pared away unjustified beliefs until only the self-evident foundation remained as the Gibraltar upon which an entire body of knowledge could be built.

This search for certainty brought only nihilism, Newbigin asserts in Chapter 3, as Descartes' starting point produced a number of dualisms that have plagued Western philosophy since. Newbigin believes that Michael Polanyi shows the way out of this skeptical nihilism, with his repudiation of the objective/subjective dualism. Polanyi's notion of personal knowledge aids Christianity by showing that all knowledge is contextual - that is, part of a tradition - and that beliefs do not have to be justified or even justifiable in order to rise to the level of knowledge. This is because all knowledge depends on certain assumptions that can not be proved, but that are accepted on faith. Any philosophy that requires certainty can never transcend the solipsism of Descartes' cogito. The redemptive narrative of Scripture can never provide that kind of certainty, but neither can any other livable philosophy.

This realization leads to Newbigin's exposition of the Christian doctrine of revelation and knowledge. Knowledge comes by grace alone. We do not gain truth by free inquiry. Instead, truth is the precondition for free inquiry. Because all truth claims by necessity occur within a context, there are few demonstrably objective truths, which isn't to say that there is no objective truth.

Newbigin concludes with a rousing affirmation of the historicity of the resurrection, the infallibility of the Scriptures, and the fiduciary nature of all knowledge. He ends by advocating a form of apologetics that is virtually identical to evangelism, but which includes the destruction of non-believing systems. Apologetics is first and foremost proclamation.

This is one of the best books on apologetics and religious epistemology that I have ever read. It is clearly written and persuasively argued. Together with the work of Gordon Clark and Alvin Plantinga, the ideas in this book should change the face of apologetics and the nature of the Christian defense as it confronts an increasingly postmodern world. Evidentialists and classical apologists continue to adhere to unbiblical notions of knowledge, proof, and certainty at their own peril. Their apologetic paradigms are exposed as powerless in the face of the postmodern onslaught. Newbigin was prophetic in his prescience and should be heeded by all Christians who are interested in the defense of the faith.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Clear and Relevant
Review: Like most of Newbigin's works, I can't say enough good things about this one. This book can be read in many ways: as a treatise on the relation between science and Christianity, as a book of encouragement in discipleship, as a work in apologetic method, or as a theological epistemology, just to name a few.

Newbigin explores a number of central issues in discipleship in this book, particularly the issues of faith, doubt and certainty as the subtitle indicates. In conversation with the renowned philosopher of science Michael Polanyi, Newbigin shows that the distinction between "faith" and "reason" is actually a false distinction. All human thought and reasoning occurs within a "fiduciary framework" to use Polanyi's term. All acts of human knowing involve subjectivity and require faith. Thus, scientific reasoning does not hold a privileged position over Christian theology. Both are forms of reasoning that occur within fiduciary frameworks of presuppositions and faith. Thus, the "problem" of science and religion is placed in a very different key.

Newbigin also shows how doubt is not epistemologically more preferable or admirable than trust. While the epistemology of the Enlightenment insisted that the responsible knower must doubt everything as the way to acheive certainty, Newbigin shows this way of putting things to be false since we cannot doubt anything except on the basis of other beliefs of which we are certain. Thus, every act of doubt is an act of trust in something else. Therefore, it is not epistemically irresponsible for a person to believe in the Christian faith on the basis of trust, since all belief is on the basis of trust.

Newbigin then goes on to argue for the truth of the Christian narrative on the basis of its ability to illumine and interpret all other knowledge. Thus, it is the coherence and interpretive power of the Christian story that makes it the most worthy object of faith and trust. This has significant implications for apologetics and witness, as Newbigin demonstrates at length.

It's a good idea to read this in the context of Newbigin's other works, particularly THE GOSPEL IN A PLURALIST SOCIETY and FOOLISHNESS TO THE GREEKS. However, this book is perfectly intelligible on its own. This book is small, but it is very full of content. Highly reccomended.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Clear and Relevant
Review: Like most of Newbigin's works, I can't say enough good things about this one. This book can be read in many ways: as a treatise on the relation between science and Christianity, as a book of encouragement in discipleship, as a work in apologetic method, or as a theological epistemology, just to name a few.

Newbigin explores a number of central issues in discipleship in this book, particularly the issues of faith, doubt and certainty as the subtitle indicates. In conversation with the renowned philosopher of science Michael Polanyi, Newbigin shows that the distinction between "faith" and "reason" is actually a false distinction. All human thought and reasoning occurs within a "fiduciary framework" to use Polanyi's term. All acts of human knowing involve subjectivity and require faith. Thus, scientific reasoning does not hold a privileged position over Christian theology. Both are forms of reasoning that occur within fiduciary frameworks of presuppositions and faith. Thus, the "problem" of science and religion is placed in a very different key.

Newbigin also shows how doubt is not epistemologically more preferable or admirable than trust. While the epistemology of the Enlightenment insisted that the responsible knower must doubt everything as the way to acheive certainty, Newbigin shows this way of putting things to be false since we cannot doubt anything except on the basis of other beliefs of which we are certain. Thus, every act of doubt is an act of trust in something else. Therefore, it is not epistemically irresponsible for a person to believe in the Christian faith on the basis of trust, since all belief is on the basis of trust.

Newbigin then goes on to argue for the truth of the Christian narrative on the basis of its ability to illumine and interpret all other knowledge. Thus, it is the coherence and interpretive power of the Christian story that makes it the most worthy object of faith and trust. This has significant implications for apologetics and witness, as Newbigin demonstrates at length.

It's a good idea to read this in the context of Newbigin's other works, particularly THE GOSPEL IN A PLURALIST SOCIETY and FOOLISHNESS TO THE GREEKS. However, this book is perfectly intelligible on its own. This book is small, but it is very full of content. Highly reccomended.

Rating:
Summary: Challenging look at how we know things
Review: This is a short paperback, but a good piece of lucid writing. Newbigin spent thirty years in India as a missionary, and learned there how to talk about his faith to people who grew up with a different view of how the world is. Then he retired and returned to his native Great Britain, only to discover that his homeland had become a place in which had a different view of how the world is.

Newbigin spent another couple of decades learning about the changes that had occurred in society, as well as how the Gospel message fits in with this, and wrote this book at the end of his life.

The book describes with great clarity the impact of Cartesian ideas on our society ("Doubt as the path to certainty"), the correction provided by Michael Polanyi and others, and the Biblical picture of how we should think about knowing and believing. The book ends with a marvelous address in three directions: Newbigin defends his conclusions against Catholic natural theology, liberal theology, and fundamentalist theology. It is a really good book, and I recommend it highly. It is already changing the way that I think about apologetics.

But it also affects the way I think about my Christian discipleship across the board. Newbigin centers on the person of Christ. This quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer opens the book, and--now that I understand it better--sums up Newbigin's ideas well:

Faith alone is certainty. Everything but faith is subject to doubt. Jesus Christ alone is the certainty of faith.