I stumbled across Francis Schaeffer in a used bookstore, and because of the title I thought I'd give it a shot. I only found out later that Francis Schaeffer was one of the most influential Christian thinkers of the 20th century, that he had founded the L'Abri fellowship which sponsors retreats in multiple countries where people can go to study and ask the deep questions of life.

In this book, we see a sampling of the sort of thought that pervades Schaeffer's writings. He is a committed Christian, a deep thinker, and someone who looks at culture and history, seeing the trend toward secularization all around us. He talks about the absurdity of meaning without God, describing the 'leap of faith' that non-believers must make into the upper story when there is no logical path to it via their own worldview (he does not seem to apply the same meaning of 'leap of faith' that Kierkegaard had, as far as I can tell). Schaeffer offers his thoughts on how we can re-connect the lower story of our lives (the material world) with the upper story (faith, purpose, meaning and destiny). He does this in a way that is both intellectually rigorous and deeply meaningful.

One thing I especially love about Francis Schaeffer is how he always presented himself in such a kind and respectful manner. No matter the type of question he was being asked, he would assume it was being asked legitimately (rather than just to stir up controversy), and he would answer it calmly and kindly. This is the model we should all follow when discussing our worldview with a hostile secularized culture.

Schaeffer advocated a process of "taking the roof off" of the other person's worldview. He used the analogy of a roof which kept falling rocks from hitting those beneath, and said that the non-believer's worldview is like the covering which prevents him from dealing with the problems of life...death, suffering, meaninglessness, etc. He felt that the Christian's task was to show the non-believer that their worldview was inadequate (what he called "taking the roof off") and then being willing to let them experience the rocks falling while there was nothing to cover them (since their worldview has been shown not to provide adequate answers to the hard questions...the rocks...of life).

Only after the worldview of non-believers has been shown to be flawed, and only after they have experienced living life without a roof, can we have any success in showing them the true roof that does provide actual protection from the hard questions of life.

This was Schaeffer's philosophy, and he introduces it quite well in this book. Schaeffer is another one of those "must read" theologians. His writings are classics of Christian thought. For anyone interested in (or even willing to consider) theological and philosophy, Schaeffer's writings are indispensable.