Os Guinness, who was a leader of L'Abri and the best man at Frank Schaeffer's wedding, drops the bomb on Schaeffer fils's book, "Crazy for God." Excerpt:
Frank Schaeffer unquestionably adored his father, just as his father passionately adored him. Having lived in their home for more than three years, I have countless memories of this, including the sight of the two of them wrestling on the floor of the living room of their chalet, and ending with a fierce hug. Yet no critic or enemy of Francis Schaeffer has done more damage to his life's work than his son Frank—a result that one might not be able to infer from many reviews of the memoir, including that which appeared in the previous issue of Books & Culture.The problem is not so much that Frank exposes and trumpets his parents' flaws and frailties, or that he skewers them with his characteristic mockery. It is more than that. For all his softening, the portrait he paints amounts to a death-dealing charge of hypocrisy and insincerity at the very heart of their life and work. In Frank's own words, his parents were "crazy for God." Their call to the ministry "actually drove them crazy," so that "religion was actually the source of their tragedy." His dad was under "the crushing belief that God had 'called' him to save the world." Because of this, his parents were "happiest when farthest away from their missionary work." Back at their calling, they were "professional proselytizers," their teaching was "indoctrination," and it was unclear whether people came to faith or were "brainwashed" and "under the spell" of his parents. Frank's own arguments in their support, he now says, were a kind of "circus trick."
Commenting on the time when Francis Schaeffer went through his watershed crisis of doubt in 1951, which he claimed was pivotal to his faith and work, Frank says it was never resolved with any integrity: "Somehow he convinced himself to still believe." His father's "stunted" theological convictions "he held on to more as emotional baggage … than for any intellectual reason." Really? "Left to himself, Dad never talked about theology or God … . God and the Bible were work." And he was different when away from L'Abri altogether: "Dad never said grace over meals. It was as if Dad and I had a secret agreement that away from L'Abri, we were secular people."And so it goes. With such a son, who needs enemies?
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you say And so it goes. With such a son, who needs enemies?
A son who tells the truth. They call it tough love.
Franky may be bitter but hes honest unlike the hypocrisy of the religious Right.
I just lost my other post, so here it is more briefly.
First of all, in my opinion, I loved the book.
Second of all, Frank is as hard and honest about himself as he is with his parents.
Third, although his sisters may not have chose this public forum to reveal the imperfections of of the family, they do not seem to disagree with Frank. Her pefectionism, making the family a constant "example", too much Christianese, or super spiritualizing - are dangers for religious families - and theirs may have been one.
Fourth, he seems to be more generous with his father than his mother. Why a mother would discuss her self life with their father with the children is beyond me.
Fifth - he is the opitome of a PK, times about 100.
Sixth, yes, we are one of those Schaeffer fans. We probably own every book Francis, Edith, Susan, and Frank has written. Now I know they are human, not demi Gods.
to me, this book is a searing warning in many regards, and the book was entertaining as well as that warning. Susan, by the way, talks about those same warnings in her book on education. That book shaped my parenting and education of my children more than any I had read.
I vote w/Os on this one, though sadly. I know it gave him no pleasure to speak the truth here, but I appreciate that he did it.
Sadly he has taken it a step further and actually blamed his deceased father for the shooting death of Dr. George Tiller in his recent interview with Rachel Maddow. How sad
Franky is a spoiled, jealous brat. He isn't half the man his father was, and he knows it.
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