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The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer: A Christian Worldview #4
A Christian View of the Church
Book by Schaeffer, Francis A.
431 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1985
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About the author
Francis A. Schaeffer
95 books808 followersFrancis August Schaeffer was an American Evangelical Christian theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor. He is most famous for his writings and his establishment of the L'Abri community in Switzerland. Opposed to theological modernism, Schaeffer promoted a more historic Protestant faith and a presuppositional approach to Christian apologetics which he believed would answer the questions of the age.
Wife: Edith Schaeffer
children: Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
Wife: Edith Schaeffer
children: Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 30, 2025
- The Church at the End of the Twentieth Century -
Written around 40 years ago to summarize the state of the church, Schaeffer seeks to show how we got to where we are now, and what needs to take place for us to progress instead of regress. The first chapter alone is worth the price of the book and I can’t help but think that Carl Trueman prepared his outline from this chapter when he wrote “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self.”
- The Church Before the Watching World -
Schaeffer looks at how the church is viewed from outside her four walls, from the world itself. In many ways, we do not concern ourselves with how the world views us simply because we are commanded in Scripture to that end. At the same time, we are commanded to watch our public image so that men will glorify god and not bring shame to our Lord. But the world has been watching what we stand up for and to, and to what or whom we are submitting. Schaeffer brings up the defrocking of John Murray as the most important event of the 20th century because in the 1930's it marked the public return to liberal theology that was festering underground for so long. Now the world waits, almost 100 years later to see what we have done (or haven't done) with our time and watching to see if we return to the faith of our forefathers or simply continue sinking in the liberal sludge for decades.
- The Mark of the Christian -
Schaeffer provides an exposition on Christ's words concerning what marks a Christian out as a true Christian. That answer is of course that we would have love for one another, but what does that actually look like? Schaeffer answers this question in a short and an easy-to-follow manner.
- Death in the City -
This was a very good book, but the most impactful portion was the very last chapter where Schaeffer explains his analogy of the two chairs. It goes something like this.
Suppose God made the universe to be one single room with walls and a roof, curtains pulled and doors locked. There is absolutely nothing outside the room, and you can explore the entire universe by just looking around the room. Suppose there are two chairs in the room and there are two men (the only men in the universe) sitting in these chairs. One is an entirely consistent materialist and the other man is a Christian.
The materialist gets up and says that he is going to explore their universe. He analyzes the room, uses the scientific process to examine the universe, pulling in ideas from chemistry, biology, physics, and so forth. He comes back after more than 30 years of doing this and has a stack of books he has written on all his findings, places them before the Christian and says “here is all the information about our universe.”
The Christian studies all the books for many years with great care and eventually says to the materialist, “You’ve done a tremendous work and have explained much about our universe that I would have never known otherwise. However, it is entirely incomplete.” The materialist is aghast and asks what it is that he has missed. The Christian replies that he has a Bible that talks about the origin of the universe, where men came from, but you have not given the origin of the universe or us. And there must be more to the universe that what you studied, there is an unseen portion too that is deeply connected to the seen portion. You have studied the seen but have entirely neglected the unseen.”
The materialist replies that the Christian is crazy to talk about things he cannot see. Schaeffer asks to think a little further about this and imagine a large clock on one of the walls in the room that suddenly stops. The materialist says that since there are just two men in the room, one of them has to clamber up the wall and start it. But the Christian says he can talk to the one who made the universe and ask him to start the clock. The materialists says at this point sees the Christian as insane for asking someone they can’t see to start a material clock.
Now imagine the walls of the room falls down and the universe is as it is at full size, but now there are many men - still represented by the two men of the room. No matter how deeply we study particles of matter and energy and learn about the vastness of our universe, it is no more complicated than the room that Schaeffer describes - it is only larger. Looking at the universe, we are seeing it as either the materialist or the Christian, each with their presuppositions.
The Christian can sit in the materialist chair at any existential moment, abandoning his Christian presuppositions. But the materialist cannot sit in the Christian’s chair without a work of God to help him believe in the things he cannot see.
Schaeffer expands these points much further and it is only a blip in the whole book, but it was very well written. This one is worth your time.
- The Great Evangelical Disaster -
Schaeffer describes the recent downfall of evangelicalism and gives his synopsis on the cause and the cure. The major cause that Schaeffer accounts to evangelicals is the sin of accommodation. Accommodating to the beliefs of culture and the denial of Christian truths. Rarely does it start out as a stark change from long held beliefs, but rather a slow, gradual, incremental changes has led to the point where we find ourselves today. To combat liberalism, we must return to the truths that we have held and believed - nothing less.
Written around 40 years ago to summarize the state of the church, Schaeffer seeks to show how we got to where we are now, and what needs to take place for us to progress instead of regress. The first chapter alone is worth the price of the book and I can’t help but think that Carl Trueman prepared his outline from this chapter when he wrote “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self.”
- The Church Before the Watching World -
Schaeffer looks at how the church is viewed from outside her four walls, from the world itself. In many ways, we do not concern ourselves with how the world views us simply because we are commanded in Scripture to that end. At the same time, we are commanded to watch our public image so that men will glorify god and not bring shame to our Lord. But the world has been watching what we stand up for and to, and to what or whom we are submitting. Schaeffer brings up the defrocking of John Murray as the most important event of the 20th century because in the 1930's it marked the public return to liberal theology that was festering underground for so long. Now the world waits, almost 100 years later to see what we have done (or haven't done) with our time and watching to see if we return to the faith of our forefathers or simply continue sinking in the liberal sludge for decades.
- The Mark of the Christian -
Schaeffer provides an exposition on Christ's words concerning what marks a Christian out as a true Christian. That answer is of course that we would have love for one another, but what does that actually look like? Schaeffer answers this question in a short and an easy-to-follow manner.
- Death in the City -
This was a very good book, but the most impactful portion was the very last chapter where Schaeffer explains his analogy of the two chairs. It goes something like this.
Suppose God made the universe to be one single room with walls and a roof, curtains pulled and doors locked. There is absolutely nothing outside the room, and you can explore the entire universe by just looking around the room. Suppose there are two chairs in the room and there are two men (the only men in the universe) sitting in these chairs. One is an entirely consistent materialist and the other man is a Christian.
The materialist gets up and says that he is going to explore their universe. He analyzes the room, uses the scientific process to examine the universe, pulling in ideas from chemistry, biology, physics, and so forth. He comes back after more than 30 years of doing this and has a stack of books he has written on all his findings, places them before the Christian and says “here is all the information about our universe.”
The Christian studies all the books for many years with great care and eventually says to the materialist, “You’ve done a tremendous work and have explained much about our universe that I would have never known otherwise. However, it is entirely incomplete.” The materialist is aghast and asks what it is that he has missed. The Christian replies that he has a Bible that talks about the origin of the universe, where men came from, but you have not given the origin of the universe or us. And there must be more to the universe that what you studied, there is an unseen portion too that is deeply connected to the seen portion. You have studied the seen but have entirely neglected the unseen.”
The materialist replies that the Christian is crazy to talk about things he cannot see. Schaeffer asks to think a little further about this and imagine a large clock on one of the walls in the room that suddenly stops. The materialist says that since there are just two men in the room, one of them has to clamber up the wall and start it. But the Christian says he can talk to the one who made the universe and ask him to start the clock. The materialists says at this point sees the Christian as insane for asking someone they can’t see to start a material clock.
Now imagine the walls of the room falls down and the universe is as it is at full size, but now there are many men - still represented by the two men of the room. No matter how deeply we study particles of matter and energy and learn about the vastness of our universe, it is no more complicated than the room that Schaeffer describes - it is only larger. Looking at the universe, we are seeing it as either the materialist or the Christian, each with their presuppositions.
The Christian can sit in the materialist chair at any existential moment, abandoning his Christian presuppositions. But the materialist cannot sit in the Christian’s chair without a work of God to help him believe in the things he cannot see.
Schaeffer expands these points much further and it is only a blip in the whole book, but it was very well written. This one is worth your time.
- The Great Evangelical Disaster -
Schaeffer describes the recent downfall of evangelicalism and gives his synopsis on the cause and the cure. The major cause that Schaeffer accounts to evangelicals is the sin of accommodation. Accommodating to the beliefs of culture and the denial of Christian truths. Rarely does it start out as a stark change from long held beliefs, but rather a slow, gradual, incremental changes has led to the point where we find ourselves today. To combat liberalism, we must return to the truths that we have held and believed - nothing less.
September 18, 2025
Interesting thoughts from Schaeffer, some repeat material from other books and volumes.
Something that stood out to me was the value of community and how compassion and orthodoxy need to go and in hand. I also like the emphasis on being a Bible-believing Christian.
Something that stood out to me was the value of community and how compassion and orthodoxy need to go and in hand. I also like the emphasis on being a Bible-believing Christian.
November 13, 2013
"Throughout all my work there is a common unifying theme, which I would define as 'The Lordship of Christ in the Totality of Life.'" And so it speaks of this unique philosopher-theologian whose writings cover everything from individual to community, life to death, politics to spiritual relationship. In this volume, Schaeffer identified the problem with the church in (post)modern times: accommodation. Book 1 paints the backdrop of a church surviving in a "post-Christian culture"; book 2 reminds us about the Christian testimony; book 3 highlights the marks of a Christian; book 4 warns of death and judgment; and book 5 homes in the point: a Christian should stand for the truth in a relativistic society.
January 1, 2018
Classic and solid--all about the fundamentals of the received faith. Liberals beware!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews