Francis Schaeffer
“When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” Matthew 9:36
Studying the works of Francis Schaeffer (1912-84) for my PhD is proving to be an inspirational exercise. Whether it’s his rejection of the common secular/spiritual divide often found amongst Christians, his perceptive critique of the western church or his analysis of the history of western philosophy, I always learn something profound. But time and again the thing that sticks with me is the compassion he displays for people raised within a secular worldview. One of Schaeffer’s recurring observations was that in abandoning the reality of God, the western world has turned its back on the idea that objective truth exists. Since objective truth is required for objective meaning to exist, Schaeffer felt the despair of a generation pitifully trying to create meaning for themselves. To put this another way, Schaeffer appreciated the tragedy of life without God. Out of that understanding he ached for people, loved them and sought to engage them with the good news of Christianity.
At the African Bible University, I teach a basic history of western philosophy. To deepen my understanding of my subject, I’ve been working my way through the thought of the major philosophers writing this side of the enlightenment. One of the unfortunate things about many academic disciplines is that people looking on from the outside can be dazzled by the assumed cleverness of their leading thinkers to the point where they never try to understand what they’re saying, let alone question their authority. For me personally I picked up this sense very early at school. It went like this: ‘There are some really clever people around and what they know must be respected and deferred to’. The longer I live the less I think that we ought to respect and defer without questioning. I don’t doubt that there are some clever people around, but it’s the idea that the subjects of say psychology or philosophy have somehow fixed the human predicament that I really doubt.
As I’ve studied the major philosophers over recent months, my abiding sense is being left completely underwhelmed: ‘Is that really all they have to say?’ But it’s not just the content of what the world’s ‘great philosophers’ have given us that lacks serious punch, often it’s the hopelessness of what they have to say. Take what is commonly called postmodernism with its claim that all ‘reality’ is invented within a particular cultural context, coupled with the militant assertion that no one perspective must be permitted any privilege over another. Every opinion and option is equally valid. With the exception of the Serpent’s words to Eve in Genesis 3 (‘You shall be like God deciding good and evil’), arguably Freidrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) with his ‘will to power’ laid the foundation of postmodern thought. Building on Nietzsche’s thought, Michel Foucault (1926-1984) argued that every theory – even every argument – is a manipulative power game (except his of course!). Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) added his voice with the pronouncement that there is no meaning in any text, except that which we personally impute to it (excluding his own writings of course, which he expects us to take seriously!). The impact of these three men alone on the contemporary world is so great it’s hard to overestimate. But for me the sad thing is that there is so little hope in any of it; much that has been said in the last 100 years is really anti-theory ie a rejection of all previously accepted realities. Suspicion, doubt and anxiety stalk the modern world and there is no sign of things getting better. If you really want to experience the end result of today’s philosophies visit any elderly care home and feel the hopelessness of life lived in the context of the postmodern creed. Even before we get old, the drugs we use to suppress the pain are entertainment, the consumption of stuff and various other additions. But the human heart is left empty and unsatisfied. Ironically, Freidrich Nietzsche grasped this well. He understood that when Enlightenment Man was busy stabbing God in the heart, he was also stabbing Man in the heart. If you lose God, you lose Man, whose greatness and dignity come from being made in His image.
One common and helpful metaphor that is sometimes used to describe postmodern existence is being lost at sea. Human beings float on rafts of their own imaginations. But on this sea there’s no lighthouse and no lighthouse keeper in sight to obtain one’s bearing from. Since there is no direction to go in, we just float where the wind of our feelings takes us each day. Francis Schaeffer understood this hopelessness well; he looked out at a lost world and saw sheep without a shepherd and pointed to the Great Shepherd. We need to expose the logical conclusions of believing in the street philosophies of today but as we do we need to offer people hope as he did so well.
First published on Challenging Thinking on 2016-09-22. Reproduced here in the CWT essay archive without style or semantic changes.