Although Schaeffer was an apologist, he had no strict apologetic method. Instead, he was keen on allowing an unbeliever to state their convictions concerning the randomness of life. Then he would proceed to show these students that Scripture stated that every human being knew or had a sense of God and from Romans 1-2 would show them how their own life demonstrated these truths.
Schaeffer often utilized the “story” to convince his students that God’s creation was not only good, but also it was intentional and not by chance. Schaeffer applied the Christian worldview and message to all of life, including the arts, wealth and justice. He believed the message of the Bible covered every human experience, always vigilant against any philosophy that reduced humans to just biological machines.
However, Schaeffer was adamant that he was first an evangelist and not a philosopher. He was a prolific writer and made films, a ten-part series, along with his son Franky, titled after his own book, “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” in 1974, and an 18-part series titled “How Should We Then Live?”
Shaeffer was known for having coined the term “true truth.” As odd as this seems, he meant that this (truth) was tantamount, yet it should not be without love. His famous quote “The local church or Christian group should be right, but it should also be beautiful,”1 Schaeffer strongly fought for truth, but was cautious always to include love in applying truth in life. Truth must not be cold but must be applied with care.
He often spoke of pairing orthodoxy with orthopraxy. Shaeffer opposed relativism in all its façades. Shaeffer was also a bit of a historian, as he often spoke of the rise and decline of Western civilization. He believed that post-enlightenment theory was a danger to the human experience, reducing humanity to just machines moved by random forces. But what most influenced me about Schaeffer was his dedication to Scripture and his application of it to daily life.
In a small book he wrote, “Death in the City,”2 Schaeffer wrote about the fall of Jerusalem and Judah through the eyes of the Hebrew Prophet Jeremiah. In his book, he noted how through tragedies, God re-created the spiritual life of his people. Although the circumstances were not ideal, the prophet encourages God’s people to live in the city (Babylon) and seek the good of this city even though the nation’s beloved city (Jerusalem) had been sacked. Schaeffer used this juxtaposition first to remind the reader that this is about more than just physical death. This is about the moral and spiritual death that blindly suffocates truth, meaning and beauty out of the city and the wider culture. (“Death in the City - amazon.com”) Shaeffer was warning that as it happened to Judah, it could also happen to our culture.
Works by Francis Schaefer
Schaeffer list of books are: "The God Who is There" (1968); "Escape from Reason" (1968); "Death in the City" (1969); "The Church at the End of the Twentieth Century" (1970); "The Mark of a Christian" (1970); "Pollution and the Death of Man" (1970); "The Church Before the Watching World" (1971); "True Spirituality" (1971); "Back to Freedom and Dignity" (1972); "Basic Bible Studies" (1972); "Genesis in Space and Time" (1972); "He is There and He is Not Silent" (1972); "The New Super-Spirituality" (1972); "Art and the Bible" (1973); "Everybody Can Know" (1973); "No Little People" (1974); "Two Contents, Two Realities" (1974); "Joshua and the Biblical Flow of History" (1975); "No Final Conflict" (1975); "How Should We Then Live?" (1976); "Whatever Happened to the Human Race?" (With C. Everett Koop) (1979); "A Christian Manifesto" (1981); "The Great Evangelical Disaster" (1983).
If you are interested in reading more Theology Thursday blogs or explore ministry and theology degrees at Grand Canyon University, fill out the form on this page. You can also visit GCU’s College of Theology to learn more.
1 Got Questions. (n.d.) Who was Francis Schaeffer? Retrieved July 21, 2023.
2 Schaeffer, F. A. (2002). Death in the City. Intervarsity Press, Ill. 1969.
Approved by faculty for the College of Theology on July 27, 2023.
