The Shelter

Tonight Joe Martin drove our reading group to English L'Abri for one of their public lectures.

We arrived at the Manor House just after dinner had started, and quickly made our way to dining room where we mingled with the other guests. I chatted with a lady from Chicago and a couple from Slovakia, newly arrived for the summer term. After the meal, our group explored the gardens, complete with apple orchard and chicken roost. The profusion of rhododendrons reminded me of Virginia -- apparently the soil in Oxford is too acidic for them. When I was last at L'Abri, in November, it was dark by the time I arrived, so I'd seen nothing of the property.

The lecture, entitled "The Intriguing Friendship Between Francis Schaeffer and Hans Rookmaaker," began promptly at 8:00. The speaker was Edith Reitsema, one of the workers at English L'Abri. She compared the work of Francis Schaeffer, Christian philosopher and founder of L'Abri Fellowship, with that of Hans Rookmaaker, art historian and founder of Dutch L'Abri. Passages from their respective books were used to show the influence that each man had on the other's thinking. Schaeffer and Rookmaaker shared the fundamental conviction that being a Christian should affect every area of one's life, not only the moral dimension.

Afterwards we lingered for a long time that felt short, chatting with Edith and some of the students about literature and Rookmaaker's idea that Christian art must be true to reality. Being true to reality means not ignoring the evil in our world, but portraying it as evil, not as good and attractive.

On the way home we talked long and earnestly about the need for high standards in Christian art and how to pursue cultural understanding together with personal godliness.