Three key themes dominated Schaeffer’s relentless assault upon social decline and spiritual impoverishment. First, he insisted that Biblical occurrences, like the resurrection of Christ, were real events in space and time. In this sense, he was an apologist for the Christian faith and saw these Biblical truths as the only legitimate foundation for our ethics. Second, he pulled Christian pietists out of a purely devotional faith by demonstrating the massive impact the faith has had on the development of civilization. For Schaeffer, the Christian faith was not some exercise in supernatural therapy for people bewildered by the adversities of life. Instead, he drew out the connections between Christianity, social events, art, history, music, government, and the many other endeavors of human beings in the world. His faith led Christians out of their tiny reading room and into an enormous library of human experience and learning. Third, and finally, Schaeffer made a powerful stand against the shallow materialism increasingly manifest in western society. He criticized the addiction of many Americans to their own “personal peace and affluence” while being insulated against the travails of the poor. And he crusaded fiercely against the devaluation of human life, particularly in the realm of bioethics. In this regard, he helped forge a bond between Catholics and Protestants as he urged them to engage in co-belligerency against a culture in love with death.
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HT: Nancy Pearcey