Francis Schaeffer
Posted by Paul | Filed under uncategorised
I found myself reading the article Francis Schaeffer, Last Great Modern Theologian, in parallel with a book of Schaeffer’s letters. I found it interesting to view L’Abri as ‘Community Apologetic’. If you haven’t come across L’Abri, it began with the Schaeffer’s opening their home to people who were searching — to help them work honestly through their questions and to show them the answers that Christianity presented. But more than that, my impression is that the visitors were welcomed into the community — it wasn’t just a matter of discussing apologetics, but of joining the life of the community while they were there. “He believed strongly that community is the place where God speaks. Not only that, but community is its own apologetic for the Gospel.”
Related to this, Schaeffer writes in one letter: “if this [intellectual defense] is all there is, eventually all it will prove is that Christianity is indeed the best system the mind of man has ever touched. In short, someting more is needed in addition if the system is to be proven to be Truth… this something in addition must be a demonstration that the existence of God is not merely theoretical … but a reality in history”
Interesting for someone who might be classed as strongly ‘modern’…
Tags: apologetics, L\'Abri/Francis Schaeffer
One Response to “Francis Schaeffer”
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jonnyjpg Says:
May 25th, 2005 at 9:04 am
interesting.
> “Not only that, but community is its own apologetic for the Gospel.” – i think Newbegin said something similar to this.- Jonny
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