Francis Schaeffer played a huge role in my development as a young Christian. My father introduced me to him and to his works, a fact for which I remain grateful. For various reasons, Schaeffer has lost some of his shine in my mind and I now see a number of problems with his approach and some of his arguments. Even so, I still have an affection for Schaeffer as well as an appreciation for his overall project and aims. I would say, basically, that Schaeffer’s work and approach helped me to come out of the Fundamentalist cultural ghetto and pointed me to an demonstrated an interesting and thoughtful Christian engagement with ideas that I would likely not have considered without his guidance.

I noticed this 1983 lecture on YouTube and have had it playing in the background today. It is an interesting look at Schaeffer, at early-80s Evangelicalism, and at early-80s Evangelical political thought. Read and listen to Schaeffer carefully. He is, in my opinion, very much still worth considering, but not uncritically or with blind acceptance.