Francis Schaeffer Turns 100: A Credo Retrospective

Here’s notice of a really important issue of Credo magazine.  It’s on the life and legacy of Francis Schaeffer, one of my top ten theological and spiritual influences.  Schaeffer’s form of cultural engagement invigorated me many years back and continues to do so.

I’m deeply thankful for him and for this issue of Credo, which will allow you to think deeply about him.  I look forward to talking philosophy and theology with Schaeffer in the new heavens and new earth, and to thanking him for being a faithful voice in the public square.  Here’s the magazine’s blurb:

The year 2012 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984). It is difficult to think of an evangelical figure in the 20th century who so seriously engaged the philosophies and ideologies of the secular world and set them over against the Christian worldview than Francis Schaeffer.

But Schaeffer was no ordinary evangelical. The man wore knickers and knee high socks when he lectured, sporting not only long hair but a goat’s-chin beard! Most importantly, Schaeffer did not fear man, but feared God. Not only did he engage secular worldviews, but he confronted his fellow evangelicals, even rebuking them for doctrinal concession and compromise.

As many have observed, it is not an overstatement to say that the Schaeffers transformed, reshaped, and in many ways reformed American evangelicalism. Those writing in this new issue of Credo Magazine are proof, each writer bearing testimony to how Francis Schaeffer has made a monumental impact on how we understand and articulate the Christian faith and life in the world of ideas. Contributors include Bruce Little, William Edgar, Bryan Follis, Stephen Wellum, and many others.