By Kenneth Gordon | Active retired minister of the Scottish Episcopal Church, Aberdeen, United Kingdom
In preaching and living, Newbigin’s spiritual integrity is everywhere apparent. His close “walk with Jesus” was the foundation of his personal life. That is surely the master key for us all. Dan Beeby tellingly said of him, “When he dropped a name, it was always the name of Jesus.”
15 1. Address by the Rev. Dr. Dan Beeby at Newbigin’s funeral service, Dulwich Grove URC Church, London, on 7 February 1998.
2. Hastings, A., Mason, A., & Pyper, H. (Eds.),
The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought, (Oxford, OUP, 2000), p. 471.
3. These are chapter headings in Wainwright, G.,
Lesslie Newbigin: A Theological Life, (Oxford, UK, OUP, 2000).
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4. vide Newbigin, L.,
A Word in Season, (Edinburgh, St Andrew Press, 1994), p. 204.
5. Wainwright, G.,
Lesslie Newbigin: A Theological Life, (Oxford, OUP, 2000), p.299.
6. These are held in the Special Collections Section of the Main Library of the University of Birmingham, UK.
7. Wainwright, op. cit. p. 279
8. ibidem
9. His facility of memory was a great asset during these final years when he became almost blind.
10. Newbigin, L.,
A Walk Through the Bible, (London, SPCK, 1999), p. viii, (Foreword, by Rt. Rev. Sandy Millar). The book contains the talks as given, in straightforward and simple language.
11. Conway is a former president of the Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham, UK, where Newbigin taught after he left India.
12.
Epworth Review, 20/3, September 1994, art. “Profile: Lesslie Newbigin’s faith pilgrimage,” also quoted by Wainwright, op. cit., p. 279.
13.
Church Times, 6 February 1998. cf. also, “His last and best sermon was the one he preached in the Abbeyfield Home” — referring to the humble and caring actions he displayed to fellow-residents, virtually all of whom had no awareness of his fame or achievements.
14. Address at Newbigin’s funeral service, Dulwich Grove URC Church, London, on 7 February 1998.
15. ibidem.
