I have only recently read Barry Hankins’ article, “‘I’m Just Making a Point’:  Francis Schaeffer and the Irony of Faithful Christian Scholarship.”  If you are familiar with the late Francis Schaeffer or, if like me and countless others, you were influenced at some point in your life by his writings, you will likely find this article troubling and enthralling.

As I say, like many others, I was deeply influenced by Francis Schaeffer, particularly as a teenager and a college student.  Those who were impacted by Schaeffer oftentimes have a similar story:  he awakened within us the possibility of being intellectually satisfied Christians who could emerge from the fundamentalist ghetto and engage the culture without hating or hiding from it.  Especially those coming out of fundamentalism found reading Schaeffer to be a heady, exhilarating, and even dangerous experience.  Could one really actually like and appreciate Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Albert Camus, etc?  For those raised in certain branches of conservative Southern Protestantism in particular, this was gloriously liberating.

But, like many others, Schaeffer managed to sow the seeds that would oftentimes grow to cause his fans to question him.  For me, this happened when, under Schaeffer’s influence, I actually read Soren Kierkegaard.  In short, the experience caused me to question Schaeffer’s method and the very broad brush with which he painted (in the case of Kierkegaard, this was a very negative brush).  Furthermore, some of Schaeffer’s conclusion are too neat, too tidy, and lacking in the nuance that real life usually presents the observer.

At the end of the day, I retain a fondness for Schaeffer, a fondness that is somewhat buttressed by nostalgia, but now it is measured with a strong degree of hesitation and a recognition of his limitations and, at points, outright mistakes.  Schaeffer opened a door for me.  Having walked through it, I realize with a degree of sadness that I have, in part, parted company with him.

In part.

Hankins’ article is a fascinating look at Schaeffer’s falling out with Christian historians Mark Noll, George Marsden, and Ronald Wells over some of the issues I have referenced above.  I offer a pdf of the article here as a fascinating case study in competing approaches to Christianity and culture and the Christian understanding of history and philosophy.

“‘I’m Just Making a Point’: Francis Schaeffer and the Irony of Faithful Christian Scholarship”