Gospel in a Pluralist Society: Revelation in History (ch. 6)

Newbigin discusses the philosophical issues related to God’s revelation in history. This chapter is a little confusing, but it settles with the fact that God can reveal Himself both generally to the entire world (in creation, or otherwise) and specifically to a particular group of people (the Jews). In the “friendship” of this particular revelation, the knowledge of God and His ways are clearest because of the close relationship, but others can observe the work of God to know Him from afar. When put into this “friendship” context, this is a quite logical perspective on particularity. Newbigin also notes that there is no logical reason why God would choose Israel over Japan, but He has, and He must be particular in “full” self-disclosure, which is the argument in the next chapter.