I'm back again in this episode with another recommendation. This time it is the fascinating podcast Luther in Real Time from Ligonier Ministries. Luther in Real Time follows, as Ligonier says, the dramatic story of the reformation. Each episode is released 500 years to the day following the events described. It's an excellent dramatic retelling of Luther's story complete with voice actors and narration. Episodes is about 10 minutes long so they're easy to take in and I find it just fascinating. I'll link to the podcast feed in the show notes. Be sure to check it out.
In this episode we're going to look at the life of influential 20th century apologist and evangelical leader, Francis Schaeffer. I'm pretty late to learning about Schaeffer, first being introduced to him through his excellent video series How Should We Then Live near the end of 2020. Through that series and reading about his life I've come to appreciate Schaeffer and his impact on Christianity in the modern age.
Schaeffer was a pretty cool guy with his awesome goatee and knickerbockers who happened to do an amazing job communicating the gospel and inspiring a generation. He's sometimes called a modern prophet and while I'm not sure about that he did have a knack for understanding the forces at play in the world and helping explain them through a Biblical worldview.
With that brief introduction out of the way let's take a look at Francis Schaeffer's life. Francis August Schaeffer was born on January 30, 1912 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, USA. His parents were Franz Schaeffer III and Bessie. His family tells the story that when Francis was born the doctor was so drunk that he never registered Francis' birth and so he had no birth certificate until he was much older and needed one to obtain a passport.
His upbringing was decidedly working class American. His family was only nominally Christian and though they attended services at the local Presbyterian church they were not true believers.
That changed for Francis in his Junior year. He was asked by his Sunday School teacher to help a young Russian immigrant learn to speak English. To that end Francis went to the local bookstore to buy a Russian/English dictionary but the bookseller accidentally sent him home with a book on Greek philosophy.
Rather than returning the book he read it and was intrigued by the questions the ancient philosophers had raised but dissatisfied with their answers. So he decided to pick up and read the Bible and what he found there changed him. He later said "In my reading of philosophy I saw that there were innumerable problems that nobody was giving answers for. But in the Bible I began to find answers, not individual answers that shot down problems one at a time, but a series of answers that bound all the problems together. The Bible, it struck me, dealt with man's problems in a sweeping, all-encompassing thrust." A few months later Schaeffer attended a tent revival meeting of evangelist Anthony Zeoli and was converted.
After graduating from Germantown High School where he was a member of the engineering club Schaeffer entered Drexel Institute, now Drexel University, to satisfy his parent's desire for him to become an engineer. Schaeffer was restless, however, and soon left Drexel for Hampden-Sydney College, a Presbyterian school in Virginia. Schaeffer graduated from the school in 1935. That same year he married Edith Seville, the daughter of missionaries to China, and went on to Westminster Theological Seminary.
Edith's family had left China when she was five years old and her father had taken up a pastorship in New York City. The family then moved to Germantown when she was in high school and it was there that she met Francis. The two were attending a Presbyterian youth conference where a liberal speaker was presenting. Both stood to refute the speaker and a relationship soon blossomed. They dated and wrote letters while Francis was away at Hampden-Sydney and they married as soon as he graduated.
Westminster Theological Seminary had been founded by John Gresham Machen, who we will feature at some point, Lord willing, as a conservative seminary in reaction to the liberal takeover at Princeton Seminary. Once Machen died some of the faculty and students left Westminster and setup another seminary, Faith Theological Seminary, in Maryland to distance themselves from the PCUSA denomination. Schaeffer went with them and was one of the first graduates and the first ordained minister of the Bible Presbyterian Church.
After completing his seminary degree Schaeffer served in three different churches - two in Pennsylvania and one in Missouri. In Missouri Francis and Edith started the Children for Christ ministry, which was a home church program for teaching and evangelization of children that grew to have international reach. They served at these churches through the Great Depression and World War II.
After World War II concluded the Bible Presbyterians devised a plan to witness to Europe. Their idea was to plant churches before the failing liberal European churches had a chance to rebuild and thus restore an orthodox understanding of the gospel. They choose Francis Schaeffer to be a missionary to Western Europe. What Schaeffer discovered was that the differences that the conservative and more liberal churches had in the United States were insignificant in Europe compared to the advancement of existentialism.
The Schaeffers continued their Children for Christ mission in Champery. Switzerland. Unfortunately, the local Catholic Church was not fond of the influence that the Schaeffers were having and asked them to leave. The Schaeffers complied and settled in the hamlet of Huemoz (Waymo), Switzerland. They broke ties with the Bible Presbyterians and started the ministry L'Abri, French for The Shelter, in 1955.
L'Abri was one of the defining works of Schaeffer's life. The Schaeffers began hosting visitors - mostly young people - each weekend. They developed a regular schedule of discussion about art, religion, history, philosophy, and culture. It became a popular destination for students and by 1957 L'Abri was hosting about 25 students each weekend. These students were schooled in modern philosophies and Schaeffer was keen to observe the impact that living by them had on his visitors.
The students would ask questions and Schaeffer would answer. A 45 second question might take 45 minutes to answer. And Schaeffer always used the truths of the Bible to teach these young minds. Schaeffer wanted L'Abri to demonstrate several things. First, he wanted to show that there can be and should be a total dependence on God. He exists and so does the supernatural. And prayer is the way to commune with God.
Second, Schaeffer wanted to show that Christianity is a sensible faith. It holds true answers to the hardest questions of life. The young people that came to L'Abri were often hurt and broken and Schaeffer wanted them to know that God is there and His Word was written for them to get to know God and His character. And to show them how to live.
To that end Schaeffer wanted these young people to know that Christianity isn't about taking things away from humanity. It's not a list of things that "thou shall not" but it shows men how to live to their fullest. Men who are whole can live in unity and community with each other - not perfect unity on earth, of course - and this can help accomplish true healing for our inner selves. And he encouraged engagement with the wider cultural world, rather than separation. Christians are to show the Light to the world not to hide from it.
L'Abri wasn't Schaeffer's only ministry. He also wrote several books, including early works The God Who is There, Escape From Reason, and He is There and He is not Silent. His books were readable and approachable by the common man. Schaeffer believed that philosophy and theology were subjects that the common man should be concerned with and so that's who his audience was. He's been compared to C.S. Lewis for his concern for the average Christian.
This led to certain academics dismissing him as a serious thinker. But he saw the value in all men, not just the elites. He wrote, “Christianity is not just involved with "salvation", but with the total man in the total world. The Christian message begins with the existence of God forever, and then with creation. It does not begin with salvation. We must be thankful for salvation, but the Christian message is more than that. Man has a value because he is made in the image of God.”
Schaeffer was an ardent proponent of the inerrancy of scripture. He was also a strong voice calling modern Christians to take seriously the truths of Christianity - the creation account, the exclusivity of Jesus as the only way to God, the authority of scripture, the equality of mankind, the value of human life, and the existence of truth.
In the 1960's Schaeffer returned to the United States and began speaking at universities and churches across the country. He became an increasingly important figure in the American evangelical world. He also was a favorite of the political religious right mixing with Congressman Jack Kemp and even President Ford.
The 1970s saw Schaeffer move into a new medium, film. He, along with his song Franky, made a 10 part documentary series called How Should We Then Live? It's a fantastic voyage through history to modern times and discusses the role of Christianity and other philosophies through the centuries and the dangers of the modern and future secular world. They toured the film series through 18 cities across the US and it was viewed by tens of thousands of people.
Schaeffer followed up this film by collaborating with pediatric surgeon C. Everett Koop on the film Whatever Happened to the Human Race? The film focused on the decline of society and the culture of death that we'd accepted with the legalization of abortion. Abortion would naturally lead to infanticide and then to euthanasia. And the only way to avoid this is to return to a Christian society. Unfortunately that didn't happen and western society has embraced death fully. Incidentally, this project raised the profile of Koop enough so that he became Surgeon General of the United States under Ronald Reagan.
Schaeffer knew that without the understanding that mankind is God-made and God-fashioned that life would have no value. He said “People today are trying to hang on to the dignity of man, but they do not know how to, because they have lost the truth that man is made in the image of God. . . . We are watching our culture put into effect the fact that when you tell men long enough that they are machines, it soon begins to show in their actions. You see it in our whole culture -- in the theater of cruelty, in the violence in the streets, in the death of man in art and life.”
In 1978 Schaeffer was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer. He underwent chemotherapy treatment and, initially, it seemed that he was in remission. Schaeffer continued to focus on abortion as the crisis of modern times. He wrote A Christian Manifesto which identified abortion as the hinge issue for America. It inspired evangelical leaders to take a public stand against abortion.
By 1984 the cancer was back. Schaeffer used his last strength to complete a 13 city lecture tour in support of A Christian Manifesto. Once the tour concluded he returned to his home in Rochester, Minnesota, where he died a month later on May 15, 1984. He left behind a legacy that influenced an entire generation of Christian thinkers and leaders. I really personally appreciate the influence he had on the people that have influenced my Christian walk.
This wraps up another episode of Giants of the Faith. I hope you've enjoyed it and I hope that you, as I did when researching this episode, learned something new. If you have any comments or corrections please send them along to podcast@giantsofthefaith.com. I'd be very happy to hear what you think of the show. Until next time, God bless.
RESOURCES
Walking Together: https://www.walkingtogetherministries.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ImJustMakingAPoint.pdf
Covenant Seminary: https://www.covenantseminary.edu/francis-schaeffer-the-man-and-his-message/
The Gospel Coalition: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/know-your-evangelicals-francis-schaeffer/
Churchleadership.org: http://www.churchleadership.org/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=42392&
Christian History Institute: https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/modern-community-movement
Westminster Theological Seminary: https://faculty.wts.edu/posts/10-things-you-should-know-about-francis-schaeffer/
Christianity 9 to 5: http://www.christianity9to5.org/francis-schaeffer/
Credo Magazine: https://credomag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Francis-Schaeffer-at-100.pdf
Intro Music: Country Strumstick Mountain Hop, by Andy Slater
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Luther in Real Time Podcast: https://lutherinrealtime.ligonier.org/rss