Schaeffer, Francis - Timeline Biography
Time Period
01-30-1912 - 05-15-1984
Description
Francis Schaeffer was a famous evangelical minister, missionary and apologist. After working as a Presbyterian pastor in Pennsylvania and Missouri, he and his wife moved to Switzerland in 1948. While there, the Schaeffers founded L’Abri in 1955, a study center and community attracting thousands of students and religious seekers.
Schaeffer’s writings furthered his ministry and popularity. In his books The God Who Is There (1968) and Escape from Reason (1968), he decried the decline of moral absolutes and the spread of relativism. In How Should We Then Live? (1976), he suggested that relativism has political and moral consequences, permitting the acceptability of abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, and environmental exploitation. Only a return to biblical absolutes would reverse this trend, he declared. His twenty-four books have sold more than three million copies and have produced two film series.
His success made him one of the preeminent evangelical intellectuals of the 1960s and 1970s.
Schaeffer’s writings furthered his ministry and popularity. In his books The God Who Is There (1968) and Escape from Reason (1968), he decried the decline of moral absolutes and the spread of relativism. In How Should We Then Live? (1976), he suggested that relativism has political and moral consequences, permitting the acceptability of abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, and environmental exploitation. Only a return to biblical absolutes would reverse this trend, he declared. His twenty-four books have sold more than three million copies and have produced two film series.
His success made him one of the preeminent evangelical intellectuals of the 1960s and 1970s.
Interactive Timeline(s)
Browse Related Timeline Entries
Religious Groups
Presbyterian-Reformed Family: Other ARDA LinksPresbyterian-Reformed Family: Religious Family Tree
Related Dictionary Terms
Evangelical Protestantism, EvangelistPhotographs
Francis Schaeffer- courtesy of the Schaeffer Institute
Book/Journal Source(s)
Reid, Daniel, Robert Linder, Bruce Shelley, and Harry Stout, 1990. Dictionary of Christianity in America Downers Grove, IL.Web Page Contributor
Benjamin T. GurrentzAffliated with: Pennsylvania State University, Ph.D. in Sociology
