There is a renewed recognition in education, politics and business that character is crucial for the future of society and human flourishing. But what is character? Can it be educated into children? And what about us? This lecture will consider these questions with a look back to ancient wisdom and forward to the latest psychological research.
A lecture given by Tom Smiley (Clinical Psychologist) at English L'Abri on 2nd February, 2018. For more information, visit labri.org/england and for more L'Abri lectures, visit the L'Abri Ideas Library.
For further study:
Virtue Reborn (Tom Wright)
The Science of Virtue: Why Positive Psychology Matters for the Church (Mark McMinn)
The Psychology of Christian Character Formation (Joanna Collicutt)
Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification (Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman)

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From Genesis to Revelation, God uses many threads—themes, narratives, characters, and symbols—to weave a single story. This lecture introduces ‘Biblical theology,’ a way of reading the Bible that seeks to trace each thread as it develops throughout scripture to better understand God's work in Jesus, the one to whom all the threads lead.
A lecture given by Andy Patton (L'Abri Worker) at English L'Abri on 26th January, 2018. For more information, visit labri.org/england and for more L'Abri lectures, visit the L'Abri Ideas Library.
For further study:
Videos and resources from The Bible Project
Handbook on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (G.K. Beale)
Reading Backwards: Figural Christology and the Fourfold Gospel Witness (Richard Hays)

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Worldviews influence and shape our beliefs and the way we see the world, but what influences these  worldviews themselves? This lecture will explore how deeper engagement with low-level creeds—our  deeply held, often repeated, mantra-like confessions or beliefs—should be considered part of our  worldview discussions.
A lecture given by Tom Price (Senior Tutor at The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics) at English L'Abri on 1st December, 2017. For more information, visit labri.org/england and for more L'Abri lectures, visit the L'Abri Ideas Library.

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Many Christians live with a hard divide between the sacred and the secular, a type of imaginational segregation that isolates Christianity from the rest of human experience. As a pastor’s kid who always loved fairy tales and fantasy novels, Andrew shares how story, art, and music were the breadcrumbs that led him to faith in Christ and to a sacramental view of a world ‘charged with the grandeur of God’ (G.M. Hopkins).
A lecture given by Andrew Peterson at English L'Abri on 17 November, 2017. Andrew Peterson is a songwriter, author, and founder of The Rabbit Room, a community of songwriters, authors, and artists interested in storytelling, faith, and fellowship.
For more information, visit labri.org/england and for more L'Abri lectures, visit the L'Abri Ideas Library.

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After five centuries of history, the principles and beliefs of the Protestant Reformation and the Renaissance are still at work in our society. This lecture looks back to these movements to discern their similarities, tensions, and contribution to the birth of modernity.
A lecture given by Josué Reichow (L'Abri Worker) at English L'Abri on 10 November, 2017. For more information, visit labri.org/england and for more L'Abri lectures, visit the L'Abri Ideas Library.

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Drawing on research conducted in a small town in the American Midwest to explore some of the motivations and meanings attached to white evangelical support for Donald Trump, this lecture reflects on the puzzling relationships between religion, race, and politics that have unfolded in the United States over the last eighteen months.
A lecture given by Jessamin Birdsall (PhD candidate, Princeton University) at English L'Abri on 3 November, 2017. For more information, visit labri.org/england and for more L'Abri lectures, visit the L'Abri Ideas Library.
For further study:
"White Evangelicals for Trump" (Jessamin Birdsall)
Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s (David Bebbington)

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Many voices in our culture extol the value of authenticity. But what does it mean to be authentic? Does it mean being real, genuine, not fake—completely honest? Or is our current use of the word closer to the Latin root author, i.e. to be your own author, true to yourself no matter what? This lecture explores these definitions of authenticity as a way of approaching an even bigger question: Is God ‘I am’ or am I?
A lecture given by Edith Reitsema (L'Abri Worker) at English L'Abri on 27 October, 2017. For more information, visit labri.org/england and for more L'Abri lectures, visit the L'Abri Ideas Library.

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A look at how the theology of Martin Luther and John Calvin effected significant changes in the musical forms of the medieval church.
A lecture given by Judy Raines at English L'Abri on 21 October, 2017. For more information, visit labri.org/england and for more L'Abri lectures, visit the L'Abri Ideas Library.

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Many today feel uncertain about how to respond to a changing technological landscape. If neither technophobia nor technophoria are adequate responses, can we chart a middle way? This lecture outlines a few rules for what technology is, how it behaves, what we should do about it, and proposes a response that avoids the double dangers of fear and utopianism.
The second part of this series is now available.
A lecture given by Andy Patton (L'Abri Worker) at English L'Abri on 18 October, 2017. For more information, visit labri.org/england and for more L'Abri lectures, visit the L'Abri Ideas Library.
For further reading:
What Technology Wants (Kevin Kelly)
Understanding Media (Marshall McLuhan)
Technopoly (Neil Postman)
The Technological Society (Jacques Ellul)
The Singularity Is Near (Ray Kurzweil)

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In their recent book Modern Art and the Life of a Culture, Jonathan Anderson and William Dyrness offer a rereading of the history of modern art, including such important artists as Van Gogh, Kandinsky, Warhol, and others. In the book and this lecture, Anderson explores episodes in modern art history that are more shaped by religious contexts and theological concerns than they are usually given credit for, questioning the narrative Hans Rookmaaker offered in his influential book, Modern Art and the Death of a Culture (1970).
A lecture given by Jonathan Anderson (Assosciate Professor of Art, Biola University, USA) at English L'Abri on 13 October, 2017. For more information, visit labri.org/england and for more L'Abri lectures, visit the L'Abri Ideas Library.

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