highly elucidating apologetics through a historical delineation of philosophy, existentialism, and art from Aquinas' time (the beginning of divorce between Grace and Nature) up to nihilism and the absurd.

recommended reading for anyone interested in why the last several generations have been part of a psychology of despair and where a lot of christianity today has gone wrong in representing itself. this is not a watered-down tract like most christian works, nor is it a guidebook to conversion. it More...

Escape from Reason is an easy book to read, which I liked. It was written for the common man or woman. This is the first book that I have read by Schaeffer and I like it for what it tries to do.

Schaeffer spends a majority of the book tracking how societies world view has been changing and who were some of the primary influences/people that caused this. He starts with Aquinas and proceeds from there. He covers, art, music, poetry and more.

The important part of this book is near the end when he ti More...

Schaeffer writes that man's desire for autonomous freedom began with Aquinas's theology which argued that though man fell in Eden, his intellect did not. This created a system in philosophy that argued that man's reason was autonomous--meaning free and independent of any constraint. This opened the door to later philosophers to build philosophic arguments independent of God. But the problem is that man's desire for autonomy cannot be reconciled to the constraining forces in this world. Through r More...

People tend to love this book or hate it. There are fans of every philosophy, and many fans not only cheer for their team, they boo the other teams. Instead of being for or against, I hope the reader sees this as a tour through some powerful ideas that have been important to Western cultural development. Any understanding we gain from this book improves our perspective. If nothing else, perspective is what this book is all about.

I read this while taking a college course in Psychology, but it wa More...

Francis Schaeffer's 1968 analysis of the twentieth century world view. Schaeffer traces developments in art and philosophy from Aquinas and the Rennaissance through to modern times.

Looking at reader's reviews on Amazon, the greatest number rate if a 5, and a significant minority rate it a 1. It's that kind of book. While I tend to agree with the overall thesis, I'm dubious about Schaeffer's reading of some of the key thinkers he refers to (Aquinas and Kiekegaard, among others). I shall revisit t More...

Schaeffer's book gives an amazing analysis of modern society, and Christians need to approach it. Furthermore, Schaeffer shows how the work of the existentialist philosophers such as Sartre and Heidegger have influenced our society, and indeed the Christian church more than what most people realize. One of the conclusions that the reader will inevitably draw, after reading this book, is that, in order to be able to successfully present the gospel, we need to truly understand our culture, however More...

I love Schaeffer, the person, but I totally disagree with half of what he says. His review of the western intellectual history is quick and accessible, and his great insight in this book is to point to Aquinas' fault of placing reason "upstairs"--assuming that human reason is immune to the fall.

While, factually, Schaeffer, seems to present most thinkers accurately, he does not fully get modern philosophy. Yes, he gets the despair of modernity; however, his defense of Biblical Christianity as a r More...

This is a must read for anyone who wants to understand Western culture. Francis Schaeffer looks at the way ideas have been promoted through what he calls the line of descent. First Philosophers come up with an idea then Artists promote it, academia then latches on to it and finally pop culture latches on to it and the philosophy is promoted to the masses. Schaffer explains how this has happened with enlightenment humanism and existentialism. Schaeffer also offers a biblical critique of these vie More...

I bought this as my personal introduction to Francis Schaeffer just after the publication of his "Complete Works." I thought that as a small little paperback, it would be a good introduction to his work and an easy book for me to understand in my early readings in theology. The size was deceptive. It challenged my thinking as few books have ever done and has remained influential on my thinking, writing and teaching. Read it and see for yourself.

This book is a great, concise intro to worldview and philosophy. Boils down the philosophers to simple explanations that can be helpful for those who aren't interested in taking a long philosophy course but want to know a little bit. Schaeffer perhaps OVER simplifies at points - the one detriment of the book - but overall as a quick intro to philosophy and worldview this book is worth reading.

This book, which was very popular in the late 60’s and early 70’s, is in some ways more written for it’s time than some of Schaeffer’s other works. But, there are a lot of themes in this book that are still very relevant today. He addresses the idea of what people feel over what is actually real, and how people allow their feelings to define truth for themselves and how irrational this is (which is still very relevant today). I think the thoughts he develops on autonomy are great: showing how al More...

This is another great Schaeffer book for those interested in history and philosophy and how we came to think and believe what we do as a society. The links between how society views the world and how modern Christians view society is discussed and paralleled. This is a book that will make you think and make your brain work, but it is worth the exercise.

This is a good read, but is open to critique. He lays a lot of the blame on Aquinas for how messed up western philosophical thinking, modern art, and entertainment. While Aquinas probably should share some of the blame, I don't think it should be placed solely upon him. However, the writer of the forward forewarns you of this. There are also a lot of references to things in the 60's that someone who is unfamilar with the time would not understand. However, if you read this within proximity of so More...

Just re-read this book.. Recently I've read "Genesis Space and Time", "The God Who is There" and now "Escape From Reason". These books really flow together as a whole. I believe every Christian would benefit from reading Schaeffer. I don't believe our Christian diet should be wholly apologetical in nature; but we must root ourselves in the reality that the Bible is real history and real Truth rooted in space/time events. Modern man does not believe this and has left Christianity and Truth itself More...

Examines dual strands of western society: (1) mechanistic determinism in which all our decisions are a result only of physiology and environment (no real choices) and (2) an escape from the resulting existential despair into drugs, pornography, pleasures, the ultimate experience.

"Penetrating" is quite correct. Schaeffer's in-depth analysis of the development of modern thought is consistently insiteful and compassionate. His diagrams demonstrating the progression of the rationalist dichotomy were very helpful. This book has helped me to better understand myself and my culture, and I feel far more equipped to engage my culture for Christ. A must read.

This is an excellent book on the history of philosophy and it's movement from God. He simplifies the concepts and shows the impact on art, science, theology, etc. Short but packed with information. I would like to have a nice pictorial pulling all the info together.

I cannot say I agree with all of the things said here, but there were a lot of "aha!" moments, and I believe that a lot of what Schaeffer has to say here is extremely relavent to the Western cultural thought patterns of today.

Loved this book; it is full of information and has a brief overview of how we arrived at our post modern existentialism. It challenged me to want to learn more.

I read this book in 2 hours. the author seems to be going in circles, very repetitive and at times hard to understand.

This isn't my favorite Schaeffer book, but I do think he's got the better take on "presuppositionalism" these days.

A look at the prevailing consciounses of the 1960: materalism.

This book, is just great and it catchs your attention..

Really really good read about modern thinking.

A foundational book in my life. Very worthwhile.

Schaeffer is an uninformed genius.

Most of this content is available in a more compact form in "The God Who is There." However, this one fleshes out some of the more obscure points in that book. The final section, on challenging the church to a less emotional, more reasoned faith was excellent!

Excellent.

Dang good

Just a great little book, a sort of introduction to philosophy. I would say it was written for students and therefore panders to their supposed intellectuality, so if he can use a big word he does. Never mind all that, its brilliant. A should read.
I first read this in the 60's and have just re read it something I don't usually do with any book. However I am amazed that though it was written in the 60's how relevant it is to 2012.