Purpose and Audience
The book “How Should We Then Live?” by Francis Schaeffer targets the Christian audience and traces the western civilization through a Biblical lens. The purpose of this book is two-fold. First, it provides an alternative view of European history and western civilization. Schaeffer proclaims that the western culture and history has evolved either towards a biblical worldview or its adversative. Secondly, the book offers its readers comfort, while encouraging them to strengthen their faith and create ties with Christianity that is also at odds with the contemporary world. The author presumes the readers to sympathize with his core beliefs and assumptions.
Thesis and Bias
In his book, Schaeffer expresses his unease with modernity and relentless opposition to postmodernism. The book's thesis is that Christianity has the redemptive power to change humanity, while secular humanism has caused moral and aesthetic decay. Schaeffer disputes the shared belief that empiricism, humanism, the enlightenment, and rational inquiry signifies the advancement of civilization. In fact, he completely reverses the narrative, by turning the pro-humanistic bias that is intrinsic in the western society on its head. The book titled "How Should We Then Live?" signifies the struggles of the Christina community to get a social, spiritual, and psychological footing in the postmodern world.
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Schaeffer’s text has several biases that criticize humanism. Schaeffer exists in a world of moral principles, and greatly criticizes the trends of individualism and relativism, taking a rather cynical view of human progress. The author’s approach is also narrow-minded. He still believes that Europe and Western community are the core of the universe. He blatantly avoids the remainder of the planet in his rationale. Schaeffer is particularly disturbed by human sexuality, referring to its unabashedly blatant imagery and its exaggerated sexuality (Schaeffer 1976).
Theoretical Assumptions and Issues
The fundamental premise of Schaeffer’s book is that humanism causes moral decrepitude since a world cannot be human-centric and Christ-centric at the same time. Well within the boundaries of an evangelical logic, it is difficult to argue with the author whose hypothesis is based on a strong biblical truth. Schaeffer dedicates a large part of his book to analyzing Europe’s architecture and art, which he strongly believes is a reflection of the predominant norms, beliefs, and attitudes (Schaeffer 2005). The theory is that the combination of the state and church led to an ideal social order where absolute moral truths reinforced Christianity value and norms while endorsing opposing views. However, Renaissance also brought the first split in Christianity.
Historical and Current Issues/Implication
Schaeffer’s main goal of writing the book is to apply the past to present concerns, through the use of historical events to encourage a world new order. The implications of Schaeffer’s text are to show an alternative view of history and western civilization. The author acknowledges the religious breakdown by comparing the European religious history and how western civilization has driven the society away from biblical life. No historian can deny the decadence of ancient Rome, but Schaeffer's narrow-minded approach to history still insists that modernism has destroyed biblical traditions (Schaeffer 2005).
Self-Critique
I do not have much to say on this book. It has blown my mind in such new ways that all I have left are recapitulations. The author’s grasp of our intellectual knowledge is amazing. His communicates in a thorough and clear and is not redundant or overly-simplistic. His work is big enough to expose the reader with enough territory in order to equip them into the world and determine more issues better than before. Every Christian worth their salt would agree with Schaeffer. He astutely handles the truth in a revealing way that the Christina faith is made a sight in an exhilarating way.
References
Schaeffer, F. (1976). How shall we then live. Old Tappan, NJ: Revell , 151.
Schaeffer, F. A. (2005). How Should We Then Live?(L'abri 50th Anniversary Edition): The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture . Crossway.
