1. SCHAEFFER’S CULTURAL APOLOGETIC:
Background and Orientation
Donald T Williams, PhD
Toccoa Falls College

2. SCHAEFFER’S CULTURAL APOLOGETIC:
Background and Orientation
Donald T Williams, PhD
Toccoa Falls College

3. SCHAEFFER’S CULTURAL APOLOGETIC
Background and Orientation

4. “True education means thinking by association across the disciplines, and not just being qualified in one field.”
F.A.S., The God Who is There

5. Schaeffer’s Life: Chronology
1912: Born
1930: Converted by reading Bible
1935
Grad. Hampden-Sidney College
Married Edith Seville
Entered Westminster Seminary
1938
Grad. Faith Seminary
Ordained in Bible Presbyterian Church
First Pastorate in Grove City, PA.

6. Fundamentalism: The 5 Fundamentals
The Inspiration/Inerrancy of Scripture
The Deity of Christ
The Historicity of NT Miracles
The Virgin Birth of Christ
The Literal, Bodily Resurrection
The Necessity of Blood Atonement
A Literal, Personal Second Coming

7. Fundamentalism: the Problem
Separation: To Stay or Leave?
Secondary Separationism
Rise of “Neo-Evangelicalism”
Schaeffer’s Choices
> Bible Presbyterian Church (hardliners)
> P.C.E.S.
> P.C.A.

8. Schaeffer’s Life: Chronology
1947: Traveled to Europe w. Ind. Board for Presbyterian Missions
1948: Moved to Lausanne, Switzerland as missionaries with Children for Christ
1951: Spiritual Crisis over lack of love in the Separatist Movement
: Furlough in U.S.

9. Schaeffer’s Life: Chronology
1955: Resigned from Mission; Began L’Abri in Huemoz, Switzerland
1968: Published The God Who is There
1974: Began work on How Should We Then Live
1984: Died of cancer in Rochester, MN., May 15

10. Schaeffer’s Thought: 4 Principles
Christianity is Truth.
Christian Truth touches all of life: “The lordship of Christ over the total culture.”
Christian life & witness must show the whole character of God: “holiness and love.”
The truth of Christianity must be demonstrated both intellectually and practically through a life of faith.

11. Schaeffer’s Thought: Upper/Lower Storey
Grace: God, Heaven, the Supernatural, Universals, Meaning, Faith (a rational trust)
Nature: Man, Earth, the Natural World, Particulars, Facts, Reason (obedient to Revelation)

12. Christianity Absolute Universal GOD Eternity Meaning (reality) Christ
Relative Particular MAN Time Facts

13. Secularism No Absolutes No GOD No Meaning (no reality) (reality)
Relativism MAN Facts/Data

14. Schaeffer’s Thought: Upper/Lower Storey
The non-rational/non-logical
Universals; Meaning
Irrational Mysticism: the “leap of faith”
The rational and logical
Particulars; Facts
Reason, Science, Man as a machine

15. Schaeffer’s Thought: “The Line of Despair”
Philosophy
Art_
Music
General Culture
Theology

16. Schaeffer’s Thought: Evaluation
Critique: Schaeffer as “Pseudo-Intellectual”
His disciples have sometimes contributed
Over-Simplifications
Thomas Aquinas
Renaissance vs. Secular Humanism

17. Schaeffer’s Thought: Evaluation
Response: Schaeffer as Popularizer
Forest vs. Trees
Asks the right Questions
General Analysis is Sound
Flow of History
Importance of Presuppositions
Nature of Christian Truth Claims

18. How Should We Then Watch?
Overlook hoky cinematic techniques
Look for applications of ideas covered here
Use as framework for integration of other courses, reading, etc.
Digest Before Regurgitating
Discuss as ongoing project

19. F.A.S., The Great Evangelical Disaster
“What we need in the light of the accommodation which surrounds us is a generation of radicals for truth and Christ.”
F.A.S., The Great Evangelical Disaster