L’Abri Rochester

Seeking the Welfare of the City: A Biblical View of Citizenship - Doug Groothuis - 2020 Conference Highlights: For a Time Such As This - Grasping Our Cultural Moment   Doug Groothuis is a Professor of Philosophy at Denver Seminary. He received a PhD and a BS from the University of Oregon, and an MA in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He has authored numerous books and articles...

This talk will provide an overview of the modern resurgence of Paganism, and its origins in the West's individual and corporate identity crisis. In particular, why it appears to provide solutions to a loss of self for teenagers, disconnection from the natural world, and a sense of disembodiment. We will explore this phenomenon in our lives and the lives of those close to us and what the future may...

Many men find themselves fighting a war on two fronts. The material changes of the modern era (with its industrial, technological and now digital revolutions) have combined with the world-view shift to secularism to alienate men from work, others and even themselves. More recently, masculinity itself has been decried as ‘toxic’ and consequently a source of great evil. Plenty of data and cultural c...

The Christian Bible includes four gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But what about the others? The idea of lost, suppressed, and secretive gospels has captured the public imagination, inspiring best-selling novels and breathless documentaries. The true story of these extra-canonical gospels may be less sensational than History Channel conspiracy theories, but it is no less interesting.   Clic...

'Some Things Seem Better Left Unsaid' - Controversial Speech and the Special Challenge of the Imprecatory Psalms - Mark Ryan - June 7th - Friday Night Lecture   Things ‘better left unsaid’ typically refers to unpleasant comments or opinions that risk angering others and creating undue trouble for the speaker. Some place the Psalms containing curses in this category. But is this correct? Should we...

A World Safe for Diversity: Freedom to be Faithful in a World of Exploding Diversity - Os Guinness - 2020 Conference Highlights: For a Time Such As This - Grasping Our Cultural Moment   Os Guinness is an author and social critic. Great-great-great grandson of Arthur Guinness, the Dublin brewer, he was born in China in World War Two where his parents were medical missionaries. A witness to the clim...

The West in Search of Meaning: Oral Book Reviews - Marvin Padgett - 2020 Conference Highlights: For a Time Such As This - Grasping Our Cultural Moment   Marvin Padgett is a book business professional who has served as the Editorial Director for Crossway Books in Wheaton, Illinois. He previously managed the bookstore at L'Abri in Huémoz, Switzerland in 1982. He has also served as a board member of...

Christians, Religious Liberty and Loving our Political Adversaries - Doug Groothuis - 2020 Conference Highlights: For a Time Such As This - Grasping Our Cultural Moment   Doug Groothuis is a Professor of Philosophy at Denver Seminary. He received a PhD and a BS from the University of Oregon, and an MA in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He has authored numerous books and articl...

Carpe Diem Redeemed - Os Guinness - 2020 Conference Highlights: For a Time Such As This - Grasping Our Cultural Moment   Os Guinness is an author and social critic. Great-great-great grandson of Arthur Guinness, the Dublin brewer, he was born in China in World War Two where his parents were medical missionaries. A witness to the climax of the Chinese revolution in 1949, he was expelled with many o...

Thy Kingdom Come: Is Social Justice the End Goal of Christianity? - Clarke Scheibe - 2020 Conference Highlights: For a Time Such As This - Grasping Our Cultural Moment   Clarke Scheibe is the director of L'Abri Fellowship in Victoria, B.C. His wife Julia and he have been a part of L'Abri in Canada for 15 years and they are grateful to have two young children. He received a BLA from the University...

Healing Political Polarization in America: Can Christians Help? - Dick Keyes - 2020 Conference Highlights: For a Time Such As This - Grasping Our Cultural Moment   Dick Keyes is the director-emeritus of L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts, where he has been working with his wife and family since 1979. They now continue to be engaged in the work but on more of a part-time basis. He hol...

'I Feel Therefore I Am' - Exploring the Affective Self - Jim Paul - 2020 Conference Highlights: For a Time Such As This - Grasping Our Cultural Moment   Jim Paul is the director of L’Abri Fellowship in Greatham, UK, where he has worked together with his wife Merran for the past 20 years. They have two adult sons. Before L’Abri he worked in London as a doctor, specialising in the care of terminally...

Humanism: The History of A seminal Idea - John Hodges - 2020 Conference Highlights: For a Time Such As This - Grasping Our Cultural Moment   John Hodges has worked for over 15 years as an orchestral conductor and taught arts and cultural apologetics for over 10 years at Crichton College. He founded and directs the Center for Western Studies, a tutorial program that teaches college-aged students a...

Last Call for Liberty: How America's Genius for Freedom has become its Greatest Threat - Os Guinness -2020 Conference Highlights: For a Time Such As This - Grasping Our Cultural Moment   Os Guinness is an author and social critic. Great-great-great grandson of Arthur Guinness, the Dublin brewer, he was born in China in World War Two where his parents were medical missionaries. A witness to the cli...

The Difficulty with the Love of God - Clarke Scheibe - March 29th - Friday Night Lecture   Click for slides.   People often struggle to understand the love of God because it is not being expressed in God's people. Difficulties arise because Christians are judgmental or because Christians make Love into an ideal, not as arising from the personal, holy Creator. Paul prays that Christians may underst...

Remember the Lord, your God: Reflections on Memory and Faith - Lili Reichow - March 22nd - Friday Night Lecture   Click for slides   How often we forget who God is, what He has done, and what He has promised to those who love Him. To be able to remember the Lord seems essential to a healthy Christian life. In this talk, we will reflect on how memory and faith intersect, as we seek to grow in the k...

Modernity's Social Imagination: the Birth of the Social Sciences - Josué Reichow - March 16th - Friday Night Lecture   Slides to Follow   In this lecture we explore how the social sciences came to exist both as a response to the changes of the modern world as well as a powerful force in creating it. We will also reflect on how the social sciences create a new social imaginary which has become pred...

Intellectual Rountable: A Survey and Critique of Today's Countercultural Thinking - Mike Sugimoto - 2022 Conference Highlights: Image and Identity   Mike Sugimoto is Professor of Asian Studies at Pepperdine University with a focus on cinema, sociology and philosophy.   The 2022 Rochester L'Abri Conference "Image and Identity in a Culture of Confusion" takes the general theme of 'Identity Formation...

The Secularization of Time - Guilherme de Carvalho - 2022 Conference Highlights: Image and Identity   Click for Slides   Guilherme de Carvalho is the Director of L'Abri Fellowship Brazil. He studied theology at Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie in São Paulo, Brazil (bachelor), Faculdade Teológica Batista de São Paulo (Th. M.), Universidade Metodista de São Paulo (MSc, Science of Religion). His...

Getting Social Justice Right: How Do We Truly Help Our Less-Privileged Neighbors? - Bob Osburn - 2022 Conference Highlights: Image and Identity   Click for Slides   Bob Osburn has a PhD in international education from the University of Minnesota (2005), where he also was an adjunct lecturer for seven years in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development. In 1978 he earned h...

What is Critical Race Theory - Doug Groothuis - 2022 Conference Highlights: Image and Identity   Click for Handout   Dr. Doug Groothuis holds a Ph. D. in Philosophy (University of Oregon, 1993) and is Professor of Philosophy at Denver Seminary where he heads the Christian Apologetics Master’s degree program. He is the author of nineteen books, beginning with the best-selling Unmasking the New Age ...

Of Athens and Jerusalem - John Hodges - 2022 Conference Highlights: Image and Identity   Click for Slides   John Hodges (currently the director of the Center for Western Studies) is a conductor and composer, holding degrees in Music from the University of Maryland, and Indiana University.  He served as Music Director for various symphony orchestras and church music programs in Memphis from 1983-20...

A Christian Response to Human Rights Ideology - Guilherme de Carvalho - 2022 Conference Highlights: Image and Identity   Click for Slides   Guilherme de Carvalho is the Director of L'Abri Fellowship Brazil. He studied theology at Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie in São Paulo, Brazil (bachelor), Faculdade Teológica Batista de São Paulo (Th. M.), Universidade Metodista de São Paulo (MSc, Science...

The Failure of Liberalism to Stop Totalitarianism - Clarke Scheibe - 2022 Conference Highlights: Image and Identity   Click for Slides   Clarke Scheibe grew up in Memphis, TN. He graduated in 1998 with a Bachelors of Liberal Arts (University of Mississippi), with a Creative Writing emphasis. He moved to Canada in 2000 and graduated with a MDiv (Regent College) in 2004. His interests are in theolog...

Critique of the Modern Self - Andy Patton - 2022 Conference Highlights: Image and Identity   Andy Patton worked at English L'Abri for several years before taking over as director of Operations at the Rabbit Room in Nashville.   The 2022 Rochester L'Abri Conference "Image and Identity in a Culture of Confusion" takes the general theme of 'Identity Formation'. Our current Cultural Confusion is manif...