Francis Schaeffer: An Authentic Life by Colin Duriez

In 1992 I took a YWAM course which lasted about 8 months. One weekend a month a friend and myself would drive to Harpenden and spend the weekend. The course was called ‘Think Again’ – a worldview course. It was there that I first read and encountered James Sire (The Universe Next Door) and Francis Schaeffer. I remember each weekend looking forward to watching another segment of Schaeffers film How Then Should We live which is a great analysis of the rise and decline of Western culture from a Christian perspective. He tackles each period of history The Roman Age ,The Middle Ages , The Renaissance, The Reformation, The Revolutionary Age , The Scientific Age , The Age of Non-reason , The Age of Fragmentation, The Age of Personal Peace & Affluence, Final Choices. 

Colin Duriez studied for a while at L’Abri with the Schaeffers and interviewed Schaeffer in the 80′s. This is book is not an indepth analysis of Schaeffer himself as a person, but rather a look at his work and ministry. The book is well written, and is a fascinating account of how the Schaeffers ended up starting L’Abri in Switzland.

A great read.

Francis Schaeffer – The Mark of the Christian

I am reading some Schaeffer stuff at the moment, not least the fine biography by Colin Duriez. Reading this morning  Schaeffer’s ‘The Mark Of The Christian’ Schaeffer writes:

The church is to be a loving church in a dying culture. How, then, is the dying culture going to consider us? Jesus says, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” In the midst of the world, in the midst of our present dying culture, Jesus is giving a right to the world. Upon his authority he gives the world the right to judge whether you and I are born-again Christians on the basis of our observable love towards all Christians.

That’s pretty frightening. Jesus turns to the world and says, “I’ve something to say to you. On the basis of my authority, I give you a right: you may judge whether or not an individual is a christian 0n the basis of the love he shows to all christians.” In other words, if people come up to us and cast in our teeth the judgment that we are not Christians because we have not shown love toward other Christians, we must understand that they are only exercising a prerogative which Jesus gave them.

And we must not get angry. If people say, “You don’t love other Christians” we must go home, get down on our knees and ask God whether or not they are right. And if they are, then they have a right to have said what they said.

Very interesting!!