University of Virginia Library

Colloquium

'New Inferno' Burns Hot And Heavy

By BEAT STEINER

Western culture is dying.
Man is in the 20th century lives
in the "New Inferno."

This will be the theme of
the L'Abri Lectures in Modern
Religion and Culture to be given
at the University March 4-8.

CD/Larry Mann

Bacon's Head IV:

Images of Despair, Alienation

Three Europeans, H.R.
Rookmaaker of Amsterdam,
Ronald Macaulay of
Hampshire, England, and
Hurvey Woodson of Milan, will
present their perspectives on
the intellectual climate of our
age.

All three men are associated
with Francis Schaeffer, author,
lecturer and director of L'Abri
Fellowship. L'Abri, which is
French for 'shelter' is a
theological study center
located in the Swiss Alps.
Families living in seven chalets
in the village of Huemoz serve
as the hosts for students and
guests who come to L'Abri (by
the hundreds) to study and
reflect on "the big questions,"
as Mr. Schaeffer calls
them–who is man? what is the
meaning of life? where are we
going?

These lecturers have studied
with Schaeffer and have
applied his basic analysis of
culture in their fields–art,
philosophy, theology. They will
lecture here in their areas of
interest and expertise under
the general theme: "The New
Inferno."

What is "The New
Inferno"? Basically it is the
technocracy, and more
particularly, the philosophical
underpinnings of our culture
that has brought us since the
Enlightenment to our present
condition.

Rookmaaker, in his book
Modern Art and the Death of a
Culture writes, "Man today is
in revolt against the world in
which he lives, against its
dehumanizing tendencies,
against slavery under the bosses
of the new Galbraith elite,
under a computerized
bureaucracy, against alienation
and lostness of the mass man.
He searches frantically for a
new world."

The L'Abri Fellows deal
with those problems from both
an academic point of view and
a personal involvement with
individuals who have
experienced the "New
Inferno." Their question:
where is man? is there not an
exit? Their analysis deals with
the new mysticism and
romanticism, the drug cults
and the super religions.

The lectures will close with
Mr. Woodson's analysis of the
Dilemma of Modern Man from
an existential perspective. On
Thursday evening there will be
two showings of Cry Three
from Boston. This multi-media
production presents the same
theme of the lectures,
co-ordinating six slide
projectors and a sound track.
Including the music of Jethro
Tull, the Byrds, Spooky Tooth,
Paul Stookey and others, "Cry
Three" is an experience in
sight, sound, and spirit, dealing
with the outcry of man in
"The New Inferno."