Name Paul Hiebert Role Missiologist | ||
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Died March 11, 2007, Balti, Maryland, United States Books Transforming Worldviews, The Gospel in Human Contexts, Understanding Folk Religion, Incarnational ministry, Anthropological reflections on missio | ||
Education University of Minnesota | ||
Paul Gordon Hiebert (13 November 1932 – 11 March 2007) was an American missiologist. He was "arguably the world's leading missiological anthropologist."
Hiebert was born in India to missionary parents, and studied at Tabor College, Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, and the University of Minnesota. Subsequently Hiebert went on an overseas mission to India and was Principal of the Mennonite Brethren Centenary Bible College, Shamshabad. After a period of missionary service, he proceeded to Pasadena, California where he taught at Fuller Theological Seminary before becoming Distinguished Professor of Mission and Anthropology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
Hibert was best known for his concept of the "excluded middle". He argued that most Westerners see the universe as consisting of two tiers - the invisible things of the other world, and the visible things of this world. In this way, they exclude the part in between - namely, the invisible things of this world, and in particular the unseen personal beings, such as angels and demons. Hiebert suggested that non-Westerners are much more likely to accept this "excluded middle".
A Festschrift in his honor, Globalizing Theology: Belief and Practice in an Era of World Christianity, was published in 2006. Hiebert died of cancer in 2007.