I first purchased Francis Schaeffer’s The God Who Is There when I was in a freshman in college.   I had taken an Honors philosophy of the mind course and I was very interested in the Christian response to the philosophers and ideas I had been presented with.  At the time, Schaeffer was the only person I knew who was engaging ancient and modern philosophy from a Christian perspective (obviously, now I realize there are many, many other gifted men who came before and after him).  I started to read the book and got about 100 pages in before losing interest.  This happened 2 or 3 more times, before I put the book back on the shelf, for another day.

Well, that day came a few months ago.  I promised myself I would start and finish The God Who Is There, no matter how long it took.  And I am glad I did.

In my mind, there are two parts of the book.  In the first part, Schaeffer deals with the history of philosophy from Kierkeggaard down to the existentialists like Camus and Sartre (although Camus didn’t consider himself an existentialist).  He introduces us to the concept of the “line of despair”, which is basically the dividing line between those who embraced the idea of antithesis, and those who rejected it.  Our age is “under” the line, while the age before Kierkeggaard, Hegel, etc. was “above” the line, since people generally believed in antithesis and absolute truth (even if they did so for romantic reasons).  Schaeffer then explains how philosophy is manifested in art, music, literature, and theology.  It’s almost like a trickle-down effect: the philosophers lead the way, and their ideas affect these other areas over the course of time.  When you see an art exhibit or listen to modern music, you are hearing an artistic manifestation of what is going on philosophically at the time.

I wouldn’t describe this section as academic but it is at times a little technical for someone without experience with philosophy.  But Schaeffer is an excellent communicator and for the most part he makes these complex ideas very simple, pointing out where these ideas conflict with historic Christianity and also giving a human element to those who believe in them.

The “second half” of the book focuses more on application: the Christian’s response to the philosophical milieu of the modern culture.  Here, Schaeffer is masterful.  He doesn’t present answers to common questions the unbeliever might ask, but lays out more of a mindset that we need to adopt when evangelizing.  I could sum his approach up as this: we are all, believers and unbelievers, God’s children, created in His image.  We should therefore approach the evangelistic task not mechanically, as if relaying some secret formula will cause the unbeliever’s eyes to be open, but in love.  Love is the overarching theme of the “second half”: love for the unbeliever as one created in the image of God, and love for each other, because as Jesus said, they will know we are His disciples when we love one another.

The other, more intellectual points Schaeffer makes regard approach.  Again, instead of a formula, there is a broad principle to be followed:

Every man, therefore, irrespective of his system, is caught.  As he tries intellectually to extend his position in a logical way and then live within it, he is caught by the two things which, as it were, slap him across the face.  Without indicating that his psychology or philosophy is correct, Carl Gustav Jung has correctly observed that two things cut across every man’s will – the external world with it’s structure, and those things which well up from inside himself.  Non-Christian presuppositions simply do not fit into what God has made, including what man is.  This being so, every man is in a place of tension.  Man cannot make his own universe and then live in it.

We find the “point of tension”, that area in a man’s thinking where his ideas and life don’t match up, and we show the inconsistency in his worldview.

I would heartily recommend this book.  In my opinion, any thinking Christian, serious about engaging modern man where he is philosophically, should read this book.  Though it was written over 40 years ago, the ideas and approach are as relevant as ever.