NEWS: THE FRANCIS SCHAEFFER CENTENNIAL

100 years ago, one of the most significant leaders of the Christian church in the 20th century was born on Jan 30th, 1912 to a middle-class family of German descent in Germantown Pennsylvania. His name was Francis August Schaeffer.

People know of Schaeffer from his various areas of influence. Some encountered him personally at L’Abri, some know him from his early works, some know him from his films, still others know him from his public stance, later in his life, on the ethics of life, euthanasia and abortion. Others may have discovered Schaeffer through the tape ministry of L’Abri, or perhaps heard his radio broadcast across Europe. Some may have seen him personally during one of his many book or film tours, and some may know of his significant role at the first Lausanne Congress in 1974.

Depending on the sphere in which you discovered Schaeffer you may have picked up on something of what he was saying. Yet for many their exposure to Schaeffer has been incomplete, and some have even gotten the wrong ideas about him. However, beyond all of this, there is a generation today that has never heard of him, where once Schaeffer was a household name among Christians, you could say the name "Francis Schaeffer" in public, but today even some Christians might not know who you are talking about. Yet all the while, it is likely that many of the views and concepts of their worldview and those pastors who they are listening to have been impacted in some way by Francis Schaeffer.

So at the beginning of 2012, we are celebrating the Francis Schaeffer Centennial, by honoring him on his birthday weekend, with a celebration on January. 28th, 2012 (his birthday is January 30th) and reintroducing his thought and works through various ways throughout the coming year, staring with several videos and the Life & Works of Francis & Edith Schaeffer lectures. We are inviting you to join us by sharing the video above with everyone you know.

If you are in Kansas City, visit our Schaeffer Centennial page for details on the Francis Schaeffer Centennial event. If you plan to attend here in KC please let us know on our Facebook Event!

ARTICLE: TRUTH WITH TEARS - REFLECTING ON SCHAEFFER AND SEPARATISM

One of the toughest things about Truth is the difficulty of being right. As important as it is to maintain the truth, it can be lost without a visible display of love. Being right can often be license for all sorts of injustice and abuses and can easily turn into it's own types of wrongs. This is something which Schaeffer dealt with deeply in his heart. During our recent interview with Dr. Calhoun, we had no idea that the event where he witnessed Schaeffer shedding tears was at the Lausanne Congress, 1974. Providentially, Dan had just been studying the event and discovered the video footage from which several of the pictures used in the interview were taken. In the interview we get a story from Dr. Calhoun that gives us a glimpse beyond the event and into the heart of the real man Francis Schaeffer. Here's a clip from the interview:

The significance of Schaeffer weeping is that it depicts both the character of Dr. Schaeffer and what moved him, but also the deep hurt that he felt over divisions in the church during the early splits over modernism (Religious Liberalism). If you are not up on the history, it started with the split from Princeton seminary by J. Gresham Machen in the 1920s and continued with various additional church and missions related splits from the mainline Presbyterian denomination. The splits did not stop there, later resulting in numerous other splits within the camps over Christian holiness, and other things. All of which deeply moved Schaeffer to the point of spiritual duress. For more on all of the splits I recommend reading Frame's paper called Machen's Warrior Children.

Now one can argue that a lot of these splits were necessary, especially the split from the mainline church. Yet it is also easy to see that considerable damage had been done to Christians by other Christians in some of these cases, in the cause of being right, which is itself wrong, and this is cause for lament. Right motives with wrong actions will always and forever be wrong.

The results of these deep feelings would eventually produce a crisis in Schaeffer, and out of that crisis came the work True Spirituality, which is at the foundation of all of Schaeffer's works and L'Abri. He further elaborated on this topic in a more succinct way in his work The Mark Of A Christian. So reflecting on Schaeffer's tears during this event should be at the heart of our studies. Understanding this event helps us to understand Schaeffer in the deepest of ways. Until we as a church understand the difference between saying "Truth & Love" and actually shedding tears over it, the problems will not be resolved. This was Schaeffer's heart and what disappointed him as time went on. The church has still not understood this balance, and until it does there will still be a need for teaching Schaeffer's works.

RESOURCE: THE WORKS OF FRANCIS & EDITH SCHAEFFER SPREADSHEET

Have you read them all? Many are still discovering the Works of Francis and Edith Schaeffer. The best way to get a broad understanding of Schaeffer's thought is to read both Francis and Edith's books together. To help with that end, Francis Schaeffer Studies provides a spreadsheet that contains a list of each book by date, along with our historical findings about the book origins and contents (entries subject to change).


Our desire is to make Schaeffer's thought more accessible for general inquiry, and this is just one of the ways we are doing that. We hope that this spreadsheet will aid you in your studies, and we thank you for your interest in the work of Francis Schaeffer Studies. Watch for other resources as they become available! 


Download the Works of Francis & Edith Schaeffer Spreadsheet!

ANNOUNCEMENT: THE SCHAEFFER LEGACY PROJECT - OUR FIRST INTERVIEW: DR. DAVID CALHOUN OF COVENANT THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

At Francis Schaeffer Studies.org our desire is to share the works of Francis and Edith Schaeffer with the next generation as well as make their thought more accessible for general inquiry. Furthermore, we realize that the legacy of the Schaeffers goes on through people in the work of L'Abri and various other ministries throughout the world. Many of the people who knew the Schaeffers personally have significant memories to share and we would like to help preserve and share them in some small way, when we are privileged to do so. We are hoping this video will be the first of many more.

In this video we invited Dr. David Calhoun, Professor of History Emeritus at Covenant Theological Seminary to speak with us and share about his experience with Dr. Schaeffer. Francis Schaeffer had a great impact on Dr. Calhoun's life in a very formative way and this interview gives us a glimpse into how people perceived Schaeffer in his early years and in the early life of L'Abri. Yet also tells us something of Schaeffer as a man and the ways in which he mentored so many. We hope that you will find this interview helpful in understanding why God used Dr. Schaeffer as an influential force in shaping so many lives.

BOOK ARTICLE: The Origins of Francis Schaeffer's "How Should We Then Live"

The initial film idea for How Should We Then Live video series that was released in 1976, is often said to have came from Francis Schaeffer's son Franky, who prodded his father to do a film. Very often, much is made of this by Franky, to suggest that he is the one who pushed his reluctant father into film. Yet recently, Rick Pearcy sent me a message that seems to indicate that Franky, although involved, was passing a suggestion along. "During a dinner with Franky, his wife, and another L'Abri student back in 1972-73, in the basement of Chalet les Melezes, I suggested to Franky that, given his dad's work in art, cultural analysis, and the history of ideas, FAS [Francis August Schaeffer] might put together a film series to answer Kenneth Clark's Civilisation. I saw it as a natural progression, a next step, in Schaeffer's work." says Pearcy. In an interview with Colin Duriez, Francis Schaeffer does indicate that Franky played a role in asking him, and he was definitely swayed by the opportunity to work on a project with his son. Yet he was not the sole influence. So although Schaeffer was at first reticent, there were additional factors that motivated Dr. Schaeffer's decision. The core early inspiration for a good portion of the historic content came much earlier from Schaeffer's tour of post-war Europe after WW II in 1947, where he was tasked with assessing the state of the children and churches for the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions. Schaeffer had been chosen for this task due to the growing influence and impact of his and Edith's ministry Children For Christ. This tour would eventually result in the Schaeffer's being called to be missionaries to Europe to "Strengthen that which remains." He toured 31 cities (many more than once), in 13 countries in just 90 days and had seen first hand the destruction the humanist mindset could produce.

Yet further motivation resulted from the various documentaries that were being produced by historians that were giving revisionist, speculative analysis of western civilization. Schaeffer seems to have been already thinking along the same lines as Pearcy on the matter. In the aforementioned interview with Colin Duriez, Schaeffer recalls seeing Kenneth Clark's "Civilisation," released in 1969, on television and mentioning to Edith, "If I ever get a chance to hit that, I want to hit it," and so he did!  

The first episode of Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation,  called "The Skin of our Teeth," which tells you something of the nature of the historical commentary, opens with a shot of Michelangelo’s David, a shot similar to what we later see in How Should We Then Live. Herein, Clark says civilization got through the destruction of civilization the first time by the invading barbarians by the skin of it's teeth. He goes on to applaud man for being an “intelligent, creative and orderly, compassionate, animal.” One has to stop an laugh here, as I've personally never seen a raccoon out in the forest making art. Yet here, Clark wants to lessen man to a mere animal that somehow creates and is intelligent, orderly and compassionate. These of course are attributes of mankind created by God, with dignity and value more than a mere animal.

His next statement is, “What is civilization? I don’t know, but I think I can recognize it when I see it, and I’m looking at it right now.” Here the video pans to a view of the Notre Dame Cathedral behind him, which of course blatantly contradicts everything he just said. It's easy to see that he is making a romantic appeal to an example of civilization that he himself does not believe in. We can immediately see from the beginning of the documentary why Schaeffer became hungry to take on the task of rebuttal. Here is that first episode:

Jacob Bronowski’s Ascent of Man, released in 1974, took things a bit further. Probably the most blatantly obvious example of this is is the segment where Bronowski says, “It has been said that science will dehumanize people and turn them into numbers. That’s false, tragically false. Look for yourself, this is the concentration camp and crematorium at Auschwitz. This is where people were turned into numbers. Into this pond were flushed the ashes of some four million people, and that was not done by gas, it was done by arrogance, it was done by dogma, it was done by ignorance. When people believe they have absolute knowledge, with no test in reality, this is how they behave. This is what men do when they aspire to the knowledge of gods.” How surprising this is, coming from a Polish-Jew. Anyone who is honest, must acknowledge that the origin of the horrific tragedy in Auschwitz is not the result of those who believed in God, like the four million victims who were slain there, but rather those who adopted and followed Darwinism to it's natural end. Here is the segment where Bronowski seeks to rewrite history and make the victims the perpetrators.

As Schaeffer points out, "...these ideas helped produce an even more far-reaching yet logical conclusion: the Nazi movement in Germany. Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945), leader of the Gestapo, stated that the law of nature must take its course in the survival of the fittest. The result was the gas chambers. Hitler stated numerous times that Christianity and its notion of charity should be “replaced by the ethic of strength over weakness.” Surely many factors were involved in the rise of National Socialism in Germany. For example, the Christian consensus had largely been lost by the undermining from a rationalistic philosophy and a romantic pantheism on the secular side, and a liberal theology (which was an adoption of rationalism in theological terminology) in the universities and many of the churches. Thus biblical Christianity was no longer giving the consensus for German society. After World War I came political and economic chaos and a flood of moral permissiveness in Germany. Thus, many factors created the situation. But in that setting the theory of the survival of the fittest sanctioned what occurred. " 

It is our hope that by seeing the larger picture of the reasons behind How Should We Then Live our eyes will be opened to what Schaeffer was really speaking to. In many ways these accusations are perhaps far more sinister that what we might have realized.

For a wonderful explanation on How Should We Then Live, see Ronald Macaulay's video from the 2008 Francis Schaeffer Conference in 2008, sponsored by the L. Rush Bush Center for Faith and Culture.

Ranald Macaulay - Schaeffer in the 21st Century from Southeastern Seminary on Vimeo.

NEW VIDEO: Francis Schaeffer at International Congress of World Evangelism, Lausanne, Switzerland, July 1974

During our research on Life & Works of Francis Schaeffer, we discovered this video segment of Francis Schaeffer at first International Congress of World Evangelism at Lausanne, Switzerland, July 1974. Where Schaeffer spoke with other great evangelical leaders of the time such as Billy Graham, John Stott, & Malcolm Rutledge. We edited out this segment and from the post-conference file produced by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association called Let the Earth Hear His Voice (entire video here). Watch the Schaeffer segment below!

This short segment includes several wonderful quotes, one of which is as follows:

"There is no use of Evangelicalism seeming to get larger and larger, if at the same time appreciable parts of Evangelicalism are getting soft at that which is the central core, namely the Scriptures." ~ Francis Schaeffer

NEWS: THE LIFE & WORKS OF FRANCIS SCHAEFFER CLASS RESOURCES

There are multiple new resources available for the study of the Life & Works of Francis and Edith Schaeffer. Take note of these two previous post, and also the latest information that follows.


ABOUT THE CLASS
FOLLOWING THE CLASS ON FACEBOOK

Important Class Materials:


Life & Works Timeline Spreadsheet
Works Overview & History Spreadsheet

New resources for the Study of Francis Schaeffer
Facebook Works of Francis Schaeffer Cover Photo Album

New resources for the Study of Edith Schaeffer
New Facebook Fan Page
Facebook Works of Edith Schaeffer Cover Photo Album

Reference Edith's Works on FrancisSchaefferStudies.org

We hope these resources will aid you in your reading of the works of Francis & Edith Schaeffer!

ARTICLE: BECOMING A TRUTH SUBSTANTIALIST

Christians, how much healing and restoration is possible in this life? Read Dan's devotion: "Becoming A TRUTH Substantialist" - http://aseculartruth.blogspot.com/2011/09/becoming-substantialist.html

NEWS: FOLLOW THE LIFE & WORKS OF FRANCIS SCHAEFFER CLASS ON FACEBOOK

We added a new tab to our page on Facebook! If you are on Facebook, you can follow the Life & Works Of Francis Schaeffer Class as it progresses right inside your normal social media. Here's what you'll find!

• Access to Related Articles
• Detailed Class Notes
• Class Resources
• Downloadable Audio (when available)
• Video (when available)
• The latest news and information

Plus, inside Facebook you can easily engage in discussions with others about the content and interact directly with us personally.

If you are not already a friend with us on Facebook, you can friend us here. We'd love to get to know you and hear your thoughts on Schaeffer.

Or if you just want to check out the page first, select the link below to see the new tab!

The Life & Works Of Francis Schaeffer

NEWS: THE LIFE & WORKS OF FRANCIS SCHAEFFER CLASS FILMING BEGINS

"Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us." Phil. 3:17

We are very excited about the Life and Works of Francis Schaeffer class, which will start filming this Sunday! We will be covering the life and works of Francis and Edith Schaeffer. We are including Edith's works to be true to how Schaeffer saw his works himself. He saw his works and Edith’s works as part of a greater whole. As Schaeffer says in the preface to his complete works, “All of the books are to be read and understood together (along with my wife Edith’s books). They together are a unit.” (Note: Due to time, we will only be giving brief overviews of Edith's works to give context as they relate an enhance to Dr. Schaeffer's works.)


CLASS LOCATION
The class will be at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Overland Park, KS on Sunday Morning (Adult Sunday School Hour). See http://redeemer-pca.org/ if you would like to attend.

CLASS INTENT
The class is intended to not only give an overview of their life and history, but to give background information on each of their books and specifically in the case of Francis Schaeffer, the context into which they were written.

RESEARCH BEHIND THE CLASS
The class was formulated by taking the time line provided by Lane T. Denis in the Letters of Francis Schaeffer and then enhancing and overlaying it with the dates of the works of Francis and Edith. Then we further augmented the time line with details from Jeram Barr's very wonderful and granular lectures on the life of Schaeffer (Francis A. Schaeffer: The Early Years & The Later Years) and specifics from Colin Duriez's book, Francis Schaeffer an Authentic Life, which is an honest an excellent, treatment.


In addition to this, we created a "works overview" time line, where we further researched Schaeffer's comments on each book, when available, as well as the historical background behind them to gain an understanding of the context of which they were written. Other sources included Edith's four historical books: L'Abri, The Tapestry, and her two volumes of the L'Abri letters (With Love, Edith 1948-1960 , Dear Family 1961-1968 ) .

DISCLAIMER

We realize that this class will not be exhaustive, yet we hope that it will be helpful to the Francis Schaeffer and L'Abri community as well as to those who are seeking an introduction and understanding of Schaeffer. We also will do our best to make ongoing corrections to any historical errors or misrepresentations that might happen.

We feel the value of this project is that people will be able to quickly, at-a-glance, get a "big picture" understanding of what Schaeffer was all about. Our goal in all of our work here at Francis Schaeffer Studies is about providing a service in furthering the Schaeffer legacy. We each here at Francis Schaeffer Studies are but the "man on the street" trying to introduce ideas "into the public square." We believe this is what Schaeffer intended to be done with his works.

USAGE OF VIDEOS
Our plan is to use the videos to both enhance francisschaefferstudies.org as well as provide a concise series of videos that give people and introduction and context to Dr. Schaeffer's works. All of these videos and class materials will be made freely available via the web. Watch for information, notes, discussion, audio downloads, and video as they become available! We will do the best we can to pull things together quickly. Obviously video editing takes some time. Follow this blog and our Facebook page for the latest news.

Pray for us as we start the filming on this very important work!


Dan Guinn

Founder of FSS.

ARTICLE: ERRONEOUS CHARGES OF DOMINIONISM & THEOCRACY

Of late there have been charges floating around about Michele Bachmann, Nancy Pearcy, and Francis Schaeffer charging the lot with Dominionism. The term as I understand it, advocates the principle of a theocratic state, whereby the government would be explicitly ruled by God, via Biblical Law in a modern context [Note here that the accusation is actually using the wrong terminology, as the school of thought is generally known as Recondstructionism or Theonomy]. The purpose of this brief article is not to debate over the validity of that subject, but to speak to Schaeffer's views. As you know, our study here is not focused on Michelle Bachman or Nancy Pearcy, but on Francis Schaeffer and his works. So to quickly clarify, was Francis Schaeffer a theonomist or not?


It is quite clear that Schaeffer believed in the rule of law, under God, as all of our founding fathers did. He further believed in a concept of a "Christian consensus." He did not believe that the Christian consensus, was a group of true believers, but it was a prevailing Christian worldview that was present as a product of the Protestant Reformation in America at the time of the founding of the United States. Yet Schaeffer clearly stopped short of holding the view of a theocracy for several important reasons.


Firstly, Schaeffer believed that the founding fathers of the United States never envisioned a theocratic state.

• "We must make definite that we are in no way talking about any kind of theocracy. Let me say that with great emphasis. Witherspoon, Jefferson, the American Founders had no idea of a theocracy. That is plain by the First Amendment, and we must continually emphasize the fact that we are not talking about some kind, or any kind of theocracy." ~ Francis Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto

Secondy, Schaeffer saw that because of the depravity of sinful man (mankind), that mankind would not continue to govern rightly or perfectly and would eventually abuse authority, even under a theocratic state (although he did not believe we should simply ignore politics either). He believed that the natural end of a theocracy would be just a different type of authoritarianism.

• "The non-Christian, in the twentieth century especially, has no legal and moral base. Everything floats in space: a 51 percent vote of some type of right-wing or left-wing authoritarianism must decide what is acceptable, or some form of hedonism must be adopted, because as Plato understood so well, an absolute is necessary for real morality. Plato never found such and absolute, but he understood the problem and so did the Neoplatonimen of the Renaissance."  ~ Francis Schaeffer, Death In The City

Thirdly, Schaeffer felt that Christianity was only capable of a substantial healing in the area of government, as true government could only be obtained in the return of Christ. Contrary to popular belief, he did not advocate the uniting of church and state (and neither do most Reconstructionist for that matter).

• "There is no New Testament basis for a linking of church and state until Christ, the King returns. The whole 'Constantine mentality' from the fourth century up to our day was a mistake. Constantine, as the Roman Emperor, in 313 ended the persecution of Christians. Unfortunately, the support he gave to the church led by 381 to the enforcing of Christianity, by Theodosius I, as the official state religion. Making Christianity the official state religion opened the way for confusion up until our own day. There have been times of very good government when this interrelationship between of church and state has been present. But through the centuries it has caused great confusion between loyalty to the state and loyalty to Christ, between patriotism and being a Christian. We must not confuse the Kingdom of God with our country. To say it another way: 'We should not wrap Christianity in our national flag.'" ~ Francis Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto.

So what did Francis Schaeffer think the role of the Christian in government should be?

• "None of this, however, changes the fact that the United States was founded upon a Christian consensus, nor that we today should bring Judeo-Christian principles into play in regard to government. But that is very different from a theocracy in name or in fact." ~ Francis Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto.

All of these quotes clearly show what Schaeffer's view was on the subject and it is disheartening to hear that he is now being mislabeled in the current political climate. He no doubt would view these debates as quite ugly in my opinion.


Ultimately, Schaeffer's real view on government would first include organically influenced government, as it seems apparent that Schaeffer's belief was that the role of Christianity in politics is to naturally influence government by being transforming first in the person, then in one's relationships, then in the church, then in the total culture, including government and the whole of life. This is outlined in his book True Spirituality, interestingly enough. Since mankind was created in the image of God and this is where mankind obtains dignity, the natural influence of this dignity was brought about by respect and care for others and holding fast to the truth. In this light, the only way naturally to bring about lasting change in government is by changing the human heart. That change alters our worldview and also how that we vote and the influence we have on government. So there is to be action on our part in government, but it is never the final solution to man's problems, as ultimate transformation in government will come upon Christ's return.

Simply put, Schaeffer's organic approach is just simply Christianity doing what it does when it is practiced at it's best, being humanitarian and transforming the world with truth from the inside out. Schaeffer believed that real transformation could only be accomplished by showing the true love of Christ, and standing on His transformational Truth.


Articles of interest:
Dangerous Influences: The New Yorker, Michele Bachmann, and Me (Nancy Pearcy)
Francis Schaeffer, Dominionism, and Christians in the Public Square (Jerram Barrs)
Michele Bachmann and Dominionism Paranoia (Douglas Groothuis)
The Rutherford Institute: Setting the Record Straight: Michele Bachmann, Francis Schaeffer (John W. Whitehead)

Additional Articles:
Schaeffer, Pearcey, The New Yorker, and American Grace (and other good books on faith and the public
WORLDmag.com | Secular leaps of faith
Bachmann and dominionism - sacbee.com

ARTICLE: CONSIDERING MEDITATION

What is meditation? Does it have a place in the practice of True Spirituality? Dan explores this topic in depth, examining the abuses and scriptures perspective. Visit the Asecular Truth Blog and read his article entitled, "Meditation on Truth."

~  http://aseculartruth.blogspot.com/2011/08/meditation-on-truth.html

NEWS: MORE FRANCIS SCHAEFFER VIDEO CHANNELS!

Francis Schaeffer Studies now is on multiple video platforms!

You can now find us on Youtube, Godtube, and Vimeo. Choose your favorite channel and tune in! Watch for new videos here at they become available.

schaefferstudies on Godtube

schaefferstudies on Vimeo

schaefferstudies on Youtube


 

ARTICLE: Living With Reality ~ By Dan Guinn

People sometimes ask me why I am so into Dr. Schaeffer. There are many reasons which I outline in a previous post called Why Schaeffer?. However the story of Francis Schaeffer's struggle, seeking for reality and the formation of L'Abri is a story that moves me to contemplate my own spirituality. It shows that Schaeffer was not flawless, he was human like the rest of us. It shows reality.

In the years after World War II, Francis Schaeffer, toured war torn Europe personally and witnessed the devastation on churches, society, and particularly children, all of which were the products of the Atheistic worldview. After over ten years of ministry in the states as a pastor of three churches, he and his wife Edith felt led to uproot from their pastorate in St. Louis, Missouri to take on a new role as missionaries. They would settle in Switzerland, and begin further establishing the children’s ministry in Europe they had started in the states. The ministry was called Children for Christ and was already an international ministry. Likewise, Schaeffer would further continue his lectures on the devastating affects of Modernism (now known as Religious Liberalism). Yet something was wrong. After all this time of service, Schaeffer said he was beginning to lose “reality.” There had been schisms and denominational conflicts related to both strict and moderate objections to Liberalism. These battles had taken their toll on Francis in addition to all of the pressures of life he was feeling during this time. He began to ask himself, “Where is the reality?” What he meant by this, was where is the truth of the gospel? How does it apply to everyday life? Where is the love of Christ? This story is recounted over and over by those who teach about Schaeffer, as it was a turning point for him. He stripped his viewpoint down to bare Agnosticism (“The view that we do not know if there is a God.”), and began to search for the basic answers to the questions of life. In a Swiss Chalet, he paced for many weeks. His final result was, “It’s true Edith! It’s all true!” Schaeffer realized that it was not only true, it brought meaning, it brought reality. He discovered that scripture gave sufficient answers for the questions of life. It answers where mankind came from. It answers mankind’s dilemma, and it answers where mankind is going, and if further brings transforming truth. Out of this experience, Schaeffer began to call the Christian system of belief by the couplet, “True-Truth.”

Now Schaeffer also realized the need for some changes. He realized that in many ways he had been living in contradiction to his own faith. He did not always live as if what he believed was absolutely true and really reality. He was comfortable, and did not always trust God. He realized that often he defended the purity of the Church in doctrine without showing the love of Christ. He realized that he had hurt people at times, and that the things he learned in feuds made a very harsh and rigid belief system with no compassion for people. He remembered that God was a personal God and had made us also personal in His image, and thus deserving of respect. In his fervor, Schaeffer had lost the reality of his faith, and the reality of a personal God. Yet he had also seen others cave in for the sake of institutional unity, and forsake Biblical teachings. He had seen others forsake truth for mere togetherness, and realized that this was no unity at all. He realized that this was equally wrong. Thus, Schaeffer sought to do something that was not being taught. He sought to balance truth and love.


Next there was one more thing. Schaeffer realized that the harsh divide between people of differing views needed a forum for discovery. A place where people could be personal and receive honest answers to honest questions. He called this place “L’Abri,” which is French for “The Shelter.” Fran, as he was called by his friends, along with his wife Edith and family would form a new establishment in their own home, where people could come to get answers. This methodology, would mold into a concept that is now sort of a buzz word at L’Abri. It was the word, “organic.” The term organic really just means "natural," but it carries a lot of significance. It means unforced, unoffending, gracious, compassionate, and welcoming. Yet it also means those things that are natural in creation. That the world was created and there is a supernatural reality. It means that people are created in the image of God and have meaning, value and purpose. It also means that the human nature and the world has been corrupted by the fall and that sin exist. Yet it means that all people need rescue, restoration and hope. It means that all people need the real Christ.


So I hope as you read this you are asking yourself what I do each time I think of the story.

How are you Living With Reality?

NEWS: Francis Schaeffer Studies Video Promotions

When we first launched Francis Schaeffer Studies we released a short teaser video to help with promotions of the web site. We are now releasing a second video with the introduction message from Dan Guinn. We invite you to use these two videos to promote http://francischaefferstudies.org on Twitter, Youtube, Facebook & Google Plus, your web site or wherever you share videos with others. Thanks in advance for spreading the word!

Also find promotional images here:
http://francisschaefferstudies.org/promote.php

 Introduction video to Francis Schaeffer Studies from Dan Guinn:



Copy this video url to your favorite social media platform:
http://youtu.be/DSy5VuWz-yY

Teaser Video:



Copy this video url to your favorite social media platform:
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Find promotional images here:
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Announcing The Asecular Truth Video Project

A special announcement from Dan: Francis Schaeffer Studies begins it's video production stage! 


Francis Schaeffer Studies.org will begin releasing a series of videos over the coming months and years breaking down the works of Francis Schaeffer. Our goal is to introduce Dr. Schaeffer to the next generation as well as make his thought and teachings of more accessible for general inquiry.

Our general feeling is that in our fast paced world many people find it difficult to take time to study at length. There are also the cultural problems such as alliteracy (people that can read and write, but don't want to), and the general illiteracy of theological and philosophical terms in our day. Thirdly, very often religion and spirituality have become privatized. Further still, many people are afraid of conflict and avoid valuable needed discussion. So how do we open the door to deeper thinking? Well miraculously people seem to be more free of the aforementioned inhibitions when online. While communication is more fragmented, and sometimes lacks the context of real person-to-person interaction, many find it gives them freedom in expression through the degree on anonymity that exist.

Ultimately, what we are seeking to offer a means to explore the works of Schaeffer online so that people can see the greater context of the worldview that they hold. This is what Schaeffer was good at during his lifetime and what his printed words, audio sermons, and videos are still doing. Whether Christian or non-Christian, the implications are very direct. If we can give people even simple morsels of sound thought, we believe it will take root and draw people into further exploration. In the end long to see the impact of truth on the human heart, the truth that only Jesus Christ can bring.

ARTICLE: Asecular Truth Blog: Depression & the Heart's Response To Truth

New blog entry by Dan on the Asecular Truth Blog - Depression & the Heart's Response To Truth 

Are you struggling with depression? According to studies, over 10% of Americans are, that's 27 million people! How many more are struggling throughout the world? Find spiritual answers from scripture to address this important problem.

Read Depression & the Heart's Response To Truth

ARTICLE: How Do You Know Schaeffer?

One of the truly astonishing things about the ministry of Francis and Edith Schaeffer is that it touched so many lives, so many disciplines, and so many subjects. While this is definitely a good thing, it can also be problematic when reintroducing people to Schaeffer’s work. Some may know Schaeffer from his view of culture, some from his take on philosophy, still others the matters of faith and spirituality he taught, the list goes on... art, music, psychology, sociology, politics, and who can forget the specific political issues like abortion? It seems there are many entry points to Schaeffer. Yet depending on your entry point and what works you have read, you may be missing the complete perspective. This happens especially with people who dismiss him. They often have consumed a limited slice of the big pie that is Schaeffer’s thought and judged him on that one perspective and moved on.

Thus I find that there are also a lot of red herrings swimming around about Schaeffer as well. Some think he was only about the abortion debate and say that he became too politically consumed. Some think he was too harsh on Aquinas or Kierkegaard in his perspectives on philosophy (I could say much on both of these issues, but I will leave that to another article). Others judge him because he was Presbyterian and Reformed. We could go on here as well. Yet the funny thing is, while these are good matters for debate, when you start to actually read Schaeffer you see that there was something much deeper at work. He was consistently gracious, even to those whose viewpoints he opposed. He lamented over the errors in thought, and hurt even more for the people. He was insistent on being both firm on truth, and yet enduring on love. His letters confirm this over and over. He was not a proud man, by all accounts, and abhorred putting on a show. He was mindful that he had a voice and he was careful in how he used it.

Yet the biggest misconceptions I believe from the findings of my studies on his works is that Schaeffer was ever focused entirely on just one issue. Schaeffer was never just about one piece of the pie. He was about following God wherever He led, and sometimes the logical train of thought would naturally lead him to different areas in his ministry and his work. Sometimes he was directly addressing the issues of his moment, and he felt deeply convicted to do so. Yet his writings were always timely and I believe providential.

While I say he never focused on just one issue, he did have one consistent theme that ruled over all and this is important. His theme was the Lordship of Christ over all things. Every piece of the pie of Schaeffer’s thought was always consumed with applying this principle. Whether it was on one end of the thought spectrum or not, it simply did not matter. If you have read all of his works you know this. You hear it from True Spirituality, the basis of all of his works (although published later) to The Mark of a Christian which champions his powerful concept of the balance of True Truth and the proper demonstration of Christian love, all the way to The Great Evangelical Disaster his final work. Despite his consistency, and all of his attempts, he still seems to get pigeon holed into the issues. It was never what he intended. Even in his later work, where he steps out and does the truly unthinkable... meshing religion with politics, it was never about just some issue. It was always about one single solitary thing. Is Jesus Lord here or not? So I ask you, How do you know Schaeffer? Maybe it's time to take another look.

http://francisschaefferstudies.org/

NEWS: The Life & Works of Francis Schaeffer Videos Coming This Fall.

Jason and Dan have began work on our class "The Life & Works of Francis Schaeffer," watch for videos this fall on francisschaefferstudies.org.

NEWS: Photos from CMTA Event

Photo Gallery from Dan's recent speaking engagements at the
Christian Ministry Training Event

on our Facebook wall [CLICK HERE] .

NEWS: CMTA Convention

Dan will be speaking at the CMTA Convention on April 29th & 30th in the technology track on topics relating to the subject of Internet Ministry. Dan blends an interesting combination of humor, tech-savvy, and (Schaeffer Influenced) tech-philosophy to his talks. Read more about Dan here on the FSS site.

His two workshops are as follows:

I Clicked on the Internet
A humorous guide to understanding the internet and ministry. This workshop will help the novice understand the basics of interacting with the internet and sharing the Gospel online in meaningful ways.

The Top 5 Things You Need to Go Global
This workshop will provide website resources for web evangelism. Free web tools will be shared to be instantly ready for web evangelism.

Watch for related material as it becomes available and a special free give away for site visitors!

Visit cmtaconvention.org for information on attending!

NEWS: GLOSSARY WORK BEGINS

FSS has begun work on it's glossary feature. The first stage of this sub-project is to catalog every person that Schaeffer mentions in his works and list them by chapter.

The larger goal is to make it possible to search globally to see every time a person is mentioned. So if you want to find out what Schaeffer's take on Kierkegaard is for example, you will know where to read.

Check out the glossary tab on the True Spirituality page to see the new feature.

L'Abri Conference in Rochester, MN - Facebook Gallery

We're back from the Conference in Rochester, MN. We learned a lot and talked with a lot of people about Francis Schaeffer Studies. As you will see from the pictures we had some fun, met some amazing people, and had some good food and fellowship with some of our friends along the way. Check out the gallery in Facebook!
Photo Gallery from the L'Abri Conference in Rochester, MN February 11-12.

NEWS: NEW L'ABRI IDEAS LIBRARY FEATURE

Some of you may be familiar with the L'Abri Ideas Library, if not, you should definitely check it out. The library is a collection of the of the audio resources from L'Abri over the past 50 years. There are more resources being added regularly. These recordings have been an important part of the L'Abri work over the years, and are just as significant now.

In support of that project, we have provided new reference links to the lectures that have influenced many of Schaeffer's books (some of which were possibly further refined by Schaeffer, we are not fully versed on the history of all of these recordings). One of the best examples of how we are integrating the library is our True Spirituality page. On this page you will find the seventeen different lectures on True Spirituality from the Dr. Schaeffer Collection at the L'Abri Ideas Library just under the book description. We may move things around a little later as these technically belong in the "External Resources" section of each book study page, but we thought it would be good to put them in a place where everyone can easily get to them.
Just look for the following logo:

We are excited about promoting the L'Abri Ideas Library and hope that these additions will greatly benefit your studies!

NEWS: EXTERNAL RESOURCES UPGRADES ON FRANCIS SCHAEFFER STUDIES.ORG

If you have been following the ongoing progress on the Book Studies pages you know we have added a new multi-tab view that allows you to switch between book information, study information, glossary information and external resources.  On the resources section of each book page you will now see a new feature that allows you to "like" an external resource. When you "like" a resource, the next time the page or section is loaded the resources will be sorted by the resource with the highest likes. This is a helpful way to contribute and no login is required!

This is one of many interactive features we hope to provide in the near future. Keep checking back as we continue to make the works of Schaeffer more accessible and make you more a part of the study. To try it out visit the Christian Manifesto Page for starters: http://francisschaefferstudies.org/schaeffer_books.php?book_title=A-Christian-Manifesto

NEWS: FRANCIS SCHAEFFER STUDIES.ORG MORE UPDATES!

News: Updates to Why Schaeffer Page: Schaeffer Symposium
http://francisschaefferstudies.org/why_schaeffer.php

News: More info. on our staff (blogs and more)
http://francisschaefferstudies.org/staff.php

News: New External Study Resources to A Christian Manifesto, Art And The Bible, Back To Freedom And Dignity http://bit.ly/hloMP6


News: Over 4,000 page views by nearly 500 visitors in our first two weeks! Thanks for visiting!

Article: What Difference Can One Man Make?

This is perhaps the question that we all must ask ourselves. Francis Schaeffer continued to think big regarding the work of L'Abri and yet always lived simply and desired the lesser place. He did not thrust himself into the lime light, but rather spoke the truth and let others promote his thinking. His first tapes where recorded by others, his first books were transcribed from his lectures and sent to him, much to his surprise.

When L'Abri started, Schaeffer kept telling his family and those involved with the work, "We have this challenge, if the Lord calls us to it, of being a very small work always. But if He were to make it significant, and a bigger work, to be prepared to accept that, in the same spirit, of just doing God's will, as he leads it."

He had something to say, and was happy to have the opportunity to say it. Yet, he constantly strove to honor God in the totality of life, in an natural and "organic" way and taught others to do the same. Confessing to be flawed like us all, and professing to be sustained by a God who is there and not silent.  This is why we teach Schaeffer. He taught an honest and authentic Christian life for 20th century and beyond.

Check out our Why Schaeffer? page for more resources.

THANKS TO SCHAEFFER STUDY CENTER

A shout out to Rob Shearer at http://www.schaefferstudycenter.org who has agreed to link to us! Schaeffer Stduy Center is basically a Schaeffer High School, with an emphasis on humanities and the arts. Too Bad I'm too old, I'd enroll like yesterday!

NEWS: NEW PAGE ENHANCEMENTS

PAGE CHANGES

We finally got the changes applied to the study page: http://francisschaefferstudies.org/studies.php

We found more Schaeffer books, that are not in his works! These are generally works that he published with others. We are finding this information very helpful to clear up some of the questions we had.

In one case in particular we had to do some digging. There is a book called Corruption Vs. True Spirituality which Schaeffer wrote with Vishal Mangalwadi. Some questioned whether it was a foreign publication of True Spirituality. After consulting with Richard Krejcir (Schaeffer's nephew) we find out that Schaeffer was good friends with Vishal and Richard told us that Schaeffer said Vishal was the smartest man he had ever met! They worked together to add another seventy pages or so to True Spirituality under this title. Looks like we got some reading to do! Get more links on the Corruption Vs. True Spirituality book page.

BOOK/STUDY PAGES

Since we are doing primarily book studies we decided we wanted to have a very extensive book reference as well as be able to easily accommodate the study, glossary, and external resources. Here is an example of what it looks like:

Let us know what you think!

NEWS: Big changes to the book study page!

You'll notice changes to book study page on our site-We are implementing the largest (we think) Francis Schaeffer database on the Internet! We'll have more specifics on this as we complete the first database phase!

NEWS: HONORED BY REEPICHEEP!

 ~ HONORABLE MENTION BY THE HUMBLE SWORDSMAN REEPICHEEP

- A great blog and always an interesting read!
Check it out.

http://reepicheep-ajf.blogspot.com/2011/01/check-new-francis-schaeffer-site.html

(See also a mention here: http://thegraze.org/sunday-school/)



This was Dan's response to the above post:
(slight edits for clarification have been made for clarification)

Thanks for posting this Tony. I always love hearing how Schaeffer has influenced other people's life. We are definitely a recipient of that important influence in Tony's life, and I can say that I have benefited much from it myself, sitting under solid Biblical teaching.

When L'Abri started Schaeffer kept telling his family and those involved with the work, "We have this challenge, if the Lord calls us to it, of being a very small work always. But if He were to make it significant, and a bigger work, to be prepared to accept that, in the same spirit, of just doing God's will as he leads it." This sort of quote is what makes me passionate about Schaeffer, as it was never about him and it was always about Christ. I deeply want to see the team at franscischaefferstudies.org follow this example. What we are doing could be big, and there is this sense of that, but it could remain just another web site. Our goal is really to just do what naturally leads from a truly changed heart. To use all of our gifts, with all of our might to display your love for God and others. Making a web site is really the least we could do!

Phil, gave me a verse the other day that hits home and we will be using often: The Apostle Pauls says, "Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us." Phil 3:17. As Phil told me, "This is really all that we are doing," and I could not agree more! 

I really enjoyed Woody's comment. It's important to note that Schaeffer was so in tune with the gift that God gave him that he was "prophet-like," He definitely had his thumb on the pulse of the culture of his day and where it was headed. His works still speak into where we are today and this is why it is so important.

Jack (JZAAK) McGregor at L'Abri MN, shared with Jason, that he is excited to see some people of the next generation taking interest in the philosophical/theological content of Schaeffer, because their experience has been that there are many who are merely embracing the romantic notions of L'Abri. This is where Schaeffer's predictions from his work The New Super-Spirituality come to light. We must realize that much of the current church are constantly focused on romantic ideas of faith. In this mode of thinking Jesus becomes only a feel-good, lovey-buddy god. While it seems innocent, it is actually a symptom of what happens when Christianity has lost it's theological truth-content. So we again find, in this mode of thinking that we have no answers (or limited) for a watching world, and moreover only limited answers for ourselves as Christians. This is not the Christianity of the Bible (Note, I am not saying that any of these people are not Christians, they are our brothers and sisters, I am just saying there is much more to our faith than just a romantic view of religion). So you can see, this is what we are up against. FSS is really about impacting that mode of thinking, with all our might we need to uphold those who are rightly teaching the need to understand our faith and world and provide Biblical answers as well as teach them again to a Church that is often ignorant of it's need and hungry for it.

Thanks everyone! Your prayers are appreciated. We are hopeful to provide more and more ways for interactivity with the site, so keep checking back.
Dan Guinn
franscischaefferstudies.org 

 

NEWS: NEW PROMO VIDEO TEASER RELEASED!

We invite you to share the teaser new teaser video:

YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/v/z8gSzmQ6KAY&feature

Use the video share options available on the player above. 

You can also find various promotional items on http://francisschaefferstudies .org/promote.php

NEWS: FRANCIS SCHAEFFER STUDIES.ORG ON GOODREADS.COM!

We've added yet another way to connect with us. Check out http://www.goodreads.com/francisschaefferstudies or see the widget on our social media page at http://francisschaefferstudies.org/social

NEWS: FRANCIS SCHAEFFER STUDIES.ORG LAUNCHES ON 1-1-11

It's still a work in progress, but we are formally announcing and promoting the site at this time! Check out http://francisschaefferstudies.org/ and start following the site on your favorite social media at http://francisschaefferstudies.org/social.