Bits of this essay bubbled to the surface of my mind during painful wrangling with postmodern and poststructuralist thought in the first years of my doctoral studies. Schaeffer was a formative scholar for my undergraduate friends and me. One day I'll go back and reread. ( )

An important book, although Schaeffer makes some historical generalizations that are questionable. The last chapter on Statist idolatry is powerful, and seems even more relevant now as America expands its militarized approach to governing its citizenry. ( )

Mr. Schaeffer takes his readers on a quick tour through history and the development of religious thought and the church and society. He points out the moments in history when certain types of thoughts prevailed and took the society in which they prevailed on a different path to that which they had been traveling. He uses examples from people's lives and works, music, art, philosophy and culture. All this to show the repeating trends of cultures and how the relativism which is so prevalent today has been in vogue before and led to hopelessness. He points out the dangers of living for personal peace (the desire to keep one's own life peaceful, no matter the costs down the road to others) and affluence (a life made up of things and more things). One of the dangers is that people will easily give themselves over to an authoritarian government if they think it will provide those two things. He says conditions which make this likely are: economic breakdown, war or serious threat of war, the chaos of violence or terrorism, the radical redistribution of the wealth of the world, food shortage or other natural resource shortages. All these conditions sound terribly familiar to me today as I watch the news and see how many of our individual rights we are handing over to the government for their promise of "safety" and "welfare". It is scary to me. ( )

Although originally produced in 1977, most of the material is still of interest and relevant today. There are 10 episodes, so you can take it in "bite-sized" chunks of 30 minutes each. Also on the DVD is a Study Guide, and 2 interviews with Francis and Edith Schaeffer. ( )

My 1996 review: "This is one of the best books I've read. Schaeffer traces the rise and decline of Western thought and culture from Rome through the 1970s. I especially enjoyed how he shows the reflection of philosophical though in the arts."As an aside, I agree with my brother, who pointed out Schaeffer's tendency to appropriate intellectual ideas and insights without giving credit with footnotes. However, realize that Schaeffer wrote not for academic audiences, but for anyone, and was motivated from a deep heart-level concern to reach people with the good news about Jesus and how that should transform our lives and our culture. ( )