Itellectual and challenging

books:

	• The Church at the End of the Twentieth Century Francis A. Schaeffer Crossway Books, 1985 - 176 pages average customer review:based on 2 reviews view larger image
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Gimme Shelter

As many readers know, Francis and his wife Edith ran a community in the Swiss/ French Alps called L'Abri, which means "The Shelter." The title of this book makes it seem out of date and passe at the beginning of the twenty first century, but in my opinion it's not only Schaeffer's best book (vying with strong contenders like True Spirituality for that title) but also his most prophetic.

This book already includes as an appendix the full text of "The Mark of the Christian" and a second appendix, "Adultery and Apostasy: The Bride and Bridegroom Theme", which alone is worth the price of the book, but this edition includes a second book, The Church Before the Watching World.

Schaeffer views himself as an heir and defender of the Reformation tradition, which could mean many things. What it does mean in his best known works, especially How Should We Then Live? is that he comes off as anti-Catholic--unfairly so almost DaVinci code so. This is exasperated in the video series accompanying the book which was filmed by his son, Franky Schaeffer, who himself later became Eastern Orthodox. But that caveat is no reason to stay away from his books, especially this one, for Schaeffer is the most engaging thinker from this tradition (except maybe John Stott) to come down the pike in a long time.

On the other hand, he's dismissed out of hand by other critics. Numerous readers have pointed out the bits he gets wrong, like blaming St. Thomas Aquinas for introducing the split between nature and grace in Escape from Reason, when a much more obvious candidate would be Descartes. But again, this is no reason to miss a unique and literate thinker whose clear and casual style will leave many readers challenged and enchanted.

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Itellectual and challenging

When in college I had the privilege of having Dr. Schaeffer visit our campus. I have not read all of what is in this book, but have read several others including some contained in this volume. Dr. Schaeffer writes at an intellectual level that can be challenging to digest. He is a deep thinker and an astute student of philosophy. He is also a wise observer of what has happened and is happening in the history of man and man's relationship to God. If you are ready for some challenging study, his books are good reads.

Today the pressures and battles Schaeffer predicted have engulfed the evangelical church. They come from the moral decay of the surrounding world. They come from the conflict between Christian principles and political ideologies. They come from the growing compromise morally and theologically within the church and among evangelicals in particular. Dr. Schaeffer's insights, republished here, have crucial significance in helping Christians to understand and confront these battles.

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