oa Lesslie Newbigin als postmodern apologeet

After having provided stipulative definitions of the concepts of ‘apologetics’ and ‘postmodernism’ the author argues that some recent work of Lesslie Newbigin, especially in his somewhat ignored The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, can adequately be characterized as ‘postmodern apologetics’. It is indicated how Newbigin adopts the current postmodern critique of modernity in the realms of epistemology, theory of language, and social philosophy and ethics, and how he transforms this critique into a reaffirmation of the plausibility of the Christian story. Finally, Newbigins project is briefly evaluated by testing in how far he resists the dual temptations of repristinating and revising classical theology.