Remembering Francis Schaeffer 25 Years Later

Francis Schaeffer died 25 years ago today, on May 15, 1984, but his legacy lives on (despite a sad portrayal of him by his son Frank that has been disowned by others close to the elder Schaeffer). There are aspects of his belief with which I differ, but his willingness to engage 20th century culture made a deep and lasting impact upon many, myself included. For those who wish to learn more about the man, I commend in particular Colin Duriez's recent biography, Francis Schaeffer: An Authentic Life.

Os Guiness gave an interview recently in which he commented on Schaeffer's legacy from his close-up, personal point of view. From a much more distant perspective, yet personal to me, I would simply say that of all the subjects upon which Schaeffer expounded, nothing touched me more deeply than his views on art.

In the Kuyperian tradition of one who declared "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, 'Mine!'" (speech given on October 20, 1880, quoted in James D. Bratt, ed., Abraham Kuyper: A Centennial Reader, p. 488), Schaeffer too affirmed that art is not be relegated to a Christian ghetto, but that "[t]he Lordship of Christ over the whole of life means that there are no Platonic areas in Christianity, no dichotomy or hierarchy between the body and the soul. God made the body as well as the soul, and redemption is for the whole man" (Art and the Bible, p. 1). Thus, as we are created in the image of our Creator with creative capacity, man can and should glorify God in the arts, and that is beauty -- true beauty, rightly apprehended -- is reflective of who God is, and how he works (Gen. 1.26-27, 31). "If God made the birds, they are worth painting. If God made the sky, the sky is worth painting. If God made the ocean, indeed it's worth writing poetry about. It is worth man's while to create works upon the basis of the great works God has already created" (ibid, p. 60). Art need not consist of religious iconography to glorify God, and indeed, the second commandment, as well as the seventh, do indeed regulate the proper expression of that which is God-honoring art. In fact, there is a whole universe of inspiration which is at the artist's disposal, and as "he shines in all that's fair" (a line from a hymn by Maltbie Babcock, "This is My Father's World," as well as the title of Richard Mouw's book subtitled "Culture and Common Grace"), he who creates glorifies God in heeding the apostolic injunction: "[W]hatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things" (Phil. 4.8).

The corpus of Schaeffer's works cover many important subjects ranging from abortion to ecology to apologetics to philosophy and so much more. But, in my personal opinion, Schaeffer's genius is especially to be found in his articulation of the Lordship of Christ over all of life, with particular emphasis upon the creative arts. And for this, I am in his debt.