L'Abri
Teaching
and statements
Four main emphases of the teaching of L'Abri
First, that Christianity is objectively true and that the Bible is God’s written word to mankind. This means that biblical Christianity can be rationally defended and honest questions can be asked.
Second, because Christianity is true it speaks to all of life and not to some narrowly religious sphere. Therefore, much of the material produced by L’Abri has been aimed at helping develop a Christian perspective on all aspects of life; from the arts to philosophy, from psychology to theology, from economics to ecology, from politics to history.
Third, in the area of our relationship with God, true spirituality is seen in lives which by grace are free to be fully human rather than in trying to live on some higher spiritual plane or in some grey negative way.
Fourth, Christianity is not a romantic utopianism but until Christ returns Christians must take the effects of the fall seriously, both in their own lives and in the world around them.
L’Abri is not only a place for “intellectuals”. We are as concerned for living as we are for thinking and from the beginning the concern has been that the truth is as much exhibited in everyday life as it is defended in discussion. We do not do this perfectly of course, but depend on the Lord to bring forth a measure of reality in our daily life.
The L'Abri Statements
When the Swiss L’Abri began in 1955 the Schaeffers produced a short 2-page document called variously, the Consensus of Faith, or the Basic Principles of Operation. (Appendix II, pg 22) In some respects it remains, even to the present, one of the most important documents to come out of L’Abri even though never published. Its use was principally internal, clarifying and controlling the direction of the work as it developed thereafter.
Approximately 40 years later we decided to produce a further document having the same objective in mind, yet without displacing the original. Hence the following statements. They are not meant to be exhaustive nor are they designed to be published (though we are happy to have them freely copied and distributed). We intend to use them actively within the Fellowship as a guide to those working or studying with us, but we hope they will also be helpful to others whatever their individual or organizational contexts may be.
As the opening paragraph of the section dealing with ‘Boundaries’ says, “We see the following statements as guidelines to lead us into truth together, not as credal formulations that would preclude further growth, correction and discussion.” And again, “Faithfulness to God must take shape and have certain parameters in specific, historical and cultural settings. Therefore we have outlined some of the areas where we feel accommodation (i.e. compromise) is a particular danger today.”