Book Review: Francis Schaeffer by William Edgar

Much of the Christian Church in America embraced the rising tide of Western anti-intellectualism in the 20th century. For some, Jesus was reduced to a mere moral man; For other, he was the buddy who never left your side. In both cases, Jesus looked like a mere projection of human desires, which made Nietzsche's absurd comment, "God is dead," look a lot more plausible.

But as theological liberals beclowned themselves trying to imitate cultural trends and as fundamentalists disgraced themselves in running from the academy and creating a utopian Christian counter-culture, there remained a line of intellectual dissent within the Church.

The sturdier but more marginalized strand of this line extended through J. Gresham Machen and Westminster Theological Seminary. Although Machen was more exegete than theologian, his biblical fidelity and ability to critically analyze cultural trends made him an opposing force. He persuasively argued against liberal compromise and fundamentalist capitulation. Instead, he proposed the "consecration" of culture--exposing the fallacies of non-biblical worldviews and vindicating the true faith.

His work was largely continued through Cornelius Van Til at WTS, who was more a philosopher than a theologian. Unlike evangelical scholars, like Carl Henry, who sought to use classical or evidentialist apologetic methods to appeal to others' reason for acknowledging the truth of Christianity, Van Til proposed a drastically different method: presuppositionalism.

Van Til argued that there is a sharp "antithesis" between the mind that is being transformed by God and the mind that is still at enmity with God (Rom. 8). There is no common point of appeal. Instead, the work of Christian apologetics is to expose the faith assumptions and inconsistencies of every other worldview and appeal to the Scriptures for the only possible coherent understanding of the world.

Briefly one of Machen and Van Til's pupils, Francis Schaeffer became the great popularizer of this line of thinking. Melding presuppositionalism with some of the other methods employed by Henry and others, Schaeffer and his wife founded retreat centers throughout Europe and America where disillusioned young intellectuals could come, enjoy the hospitality of others, and engage is vigorous debates about the merits of Christians against all other worldviews.

Schaeffer's influence came not only with an intellectual standing that rivaled Machen and Van Til, but with a pious evangelical zeal that permeated his gentle debates with prayer and compassion. This powerhouse combination--persuasion, prayer, and piety--were used in the gracious providence of God to convert a young Harvard scholar, William (Bill) Edgar, in Switzerland in the 1960s.

Edgar, now a professor at WTS, subsequently penned an affectionate portrait of Schaeffer, focusing on his piety, int he past couple of years. Knowing then the significance of Schaeffer and where he fits within the larger progression of Christian thought, I would highly commend this short biography to you. Perhaps you have benefited from Schaeffer's teaching or writing in your lifetime, or maybe you're intrigued by apparent weight of Schaeffer's prayefulness and piety--in any case, this book will prove spiritually satisfying.

I will mention to brief critiques--one of Schaeffer and one of Edgar's book. First, Schaeffer became too muddled in political affairs toward the end of his life. Even though he was largely a dissident hippie by nature, he became associated with the rise of the Religious Right. As a result, he tended to conflate Christianity and culture. He was alarmed by the effect that the culture was having on Christianity and the lack of effect that Christianity was having on culture. The answer to this problem is not renewed efforts at transforming culture, but renewed efforts at solidifying the biblical doctrines of the Church. Machen noted that ideas will eventually move tanks. The more the Church focuses on her prerogative of feeding the sheep, the more the sheep will have the energy to move.

Second, while Edgar opens a window upon Schaeffer's inspirational piety, he relies to much on Schaeffer's book, True Spirituality, in writing his account. He basically spends two chapters outlining Schaeffer's thought in that book, which resulted in the reader being removed from Schaeffer's life. While the chapters are still helpful, they could have merely used the book to provide touch points with which to launch into more illuminated examples from Schaeffer's life.

Just a warning: If you read Machen or Schaeffer, you may feel compelled to engage the culture anew with the weight of God's truth and in a spirit of prayer. In an age still dominated by compromise and capitulation, there could be worse things than feeling compelled to consecrate the culture to the glory of God. In fact, if our chief purpose is "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever," then the task of taking every thought captive for Christ should be a joyous one.