The God Who Is There by Francis A. Schaeffer

This leads to man’s problem being understood in moral terms and not in metaphysical terms. In historic Christianity, God is a personal God who has communicated with His personal creation (i.e. This is where historic Christianity departs from many other religious groups. He argues that first, we must be able to know things about God. Once Schaeffer has “destroyed man,” he then turns toward the answer for man’s dilemma. If there is nothing beyond us, or nothing understandable about that which is beyond, why not live entirely for yourself? He summarizes both positions rightly by saying, “if all of life is meaningless, and ultimately absurd, why bother to march straight forward, why stand in the queue as though life as a whole makes sense?” (89). Schaeffer argues that neither of these positions are viable. A man must choose between having no life because there is nothing to live for (downstairs) or that he is simply a “shade” and must reject all rationality (55). Both worldviews leave man in a terribly desperate situation. Man is either unable to ground his belief in anything because there are no absolutes (upstairs) or man’s life is little more than robotic (downstairs). As is Schaeffer’s custom, he presents many tables depicting what he calls an “upstairs” and “downstairs.” Schaeffer depicts the despair as: The problem with this philosophical shift, according to Schaeffer, is that it leads to despair (55). In each chapter, Schaeffer discusses how the various artists, musicians, politicians, and theologians are impacted by this change in worldview. He argues that the philosophic change from antithesis to synthesis led to the separation of “faith” and “rationality.” Schaeffer argues that this influences all the other disciplines because it fundamentally changes how one views truth. Schaeffer then addresses each of the disciplines in order of their influence (as laid out before). The descent began in philosophy and made its way through art, music, general culture, and finally into theology.

Gone are the days of “right” and its opposite “wrong.” There was not an immediate descent below the line by all of humanity. By this, he means that mankind no longer thinks in terms of absolutes and antitheses.

Schaeffer begins by explaining that humanity has descended below a “line of despair” (15). Schaeffer gets right to his point addressing the change in “ the concept of the way we come to knowledge and truth” which he sees as “ the most crucial problem.facing Christianity today” (13). I know that I am a little late to the game, but I just recently finished reading The God Who is There by Francis A.

The God Who Is There by Francis A. Schaeffer