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A Christian Manifesto | 
 enlarge | Author: Francis A. Schaeffer
Publisher: Crossway Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.99
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Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 94924
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 160
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.5
ISBN: 1581346921
Dewey Decimal Number: 261.7
EAN: 9781581346923
ASIN: 1581346921
Publication Date: March 8, 2005
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Product Description
In this explosive book, Francis Schaeffer shows how law, government, education, and media have all contributed to a shift from our country's Judeo-Christian foundation. He calls for a massive movement--in government, law, and all of life--to reestablish the Judeo-Christian foundation and turn the tide of moral decadence and loss of freedom.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
Classic Schaeffer with a Political twist... January 8, 2009
This book was definitely one of the more political ones of Schaeffer's. This came towards the end of his life when he was very upset, understandably, over Roe v. Wade and the abolition of anti-abortion laws by the U.S. Supreme Court. It was done well and one that had many great arguments of why we shouldn't really be surprised at what is happening because of the allowance of secular humanism becoming so rampant in our schools and among our society as a whole (in practice anyways).
Like most of Schaeffer, he does very well at showing historically why we are dealing with these issues as a whole. He shows how this country was set up, although not as a Christian one, one that obviously drew from a distinctively Christian mindset. From there, he shows the historical shift that began to take place when the humanist manifesto made it's debut in 1933 and from there the downfall was set in motion. From there, the 1st amendment started to be interpreted differently than the Founding Fathers had in mind and then the 60's started living out the humanist manifesto and we, as a nation, never looked back.
Schaeffer shows why it is necessary for countries to believe in a moral law giver and not in the humanist call that every man decide, in their context, what is right and wrong. Schaeffer actually shows masterfully why abortion is the greatest way that the humanist manifesto has shown itself in our culture. What else should we expect from people who believe that it is up to the person to decide what is right and wrong? Now one can murder their child, because they deem that it is right within their context and for their life. Although deplorable, should not surprise us.
From there Schaeffer gives a historical and biblical understanding of when it is okay to show civil disobedience to a government who goes against God's decrees. Although I don't agree with all his points and he even admittedly states that some will take what he writes beyond the bounds he means them to go, I can see the fruitfulness of this discussion and his reasons.
The one thing that I found to be disturbing within the context of abortion is that he gives four defenses that all Christians should take up for the child. The problem is that these four defenses are all against the government and none against the actual people murdering their children. He points to how to try and fight against a government who allows this murder to happen, but does not show anyway to rise up against the actual murderers of their children. He does this throughout the book on the whole though. He talks about government as a whole, instead of the individual. This is definitely a short coming in the book. Until people are transformed, we can try and change as many laws as we want, but we will come up well short of the overall goal: transforming people to live for the glory of God.
Overall, the book is definitely a political one more than an apologetics book. It is a book where I found myself in agreement and also disagreement, but overall found it useful. As usual Schaeffer wrote this and it sounds like he was living today and not close to 30 years ago. Most of what Schaeffer has forecasted is now happening and it is very close to come to a place to where the Christian voice will be silenced completely. Until then, we must preach, teach and transform the lives of people, not just government. Recommended.
 How Then Should Christians Rule the World? December 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Dr. Francis Schaeffer, the godfather of the recent Christian movement that is bent on breaking down the walls between church and state and expanding Christian theology into all realms of life, makes perhaps his strongest and most clearly stated case in this short monogram. Although in the interest of "truth in advertisement" I admit that I am a born again "non-theist," but am one with an open mind, and in that spirit I have kept up with, and reviewed several of Professor Schaeffer's books -- both here on Amazon.com, and elsewhere.
His thesis here rests on what he obviously considers the airtight logic of the following syllogism:
--Religious truth equals the truth of all reality.
--There is nothing concerning reality that is not spiritual; and true spirituality
covers all reality and thus all realms of everyday life, equally.
--Christianity is all spirituality.
--Therefore there is no reason not to expand Christianity
into all realms of life, and in particular, into the realms of government and law.
Professor Schaeffer, logic and (illogic) aside (and I have critiqued this thesis elsewhere), further blurs the distinction between theology and metaphysics by using his own rendition of (secular) humanism as a "straw-man" and thus sees it as being at best morally defective. But the worse sin of both humanism and that of his co-religionists (the Pietists in particular) is that they willfully allow themselves to be compartmentalized and pushed into a small corner of reality that deals only with non-worldly things and not with the main issues of everyday life, like morality, law and government.
The illogic of his arguments and his syllogism aside, what is surprising is that Professor Schaeffer feels the need for a philosophical pretext to do what seems not to require one? One could argue, without the philosophical superstructure as pretext that if religions in general, but Christianity in particular, worked the way they were supposed to, or the way they are advertised, then expansion into other realms of life would not be necessary at all, but would be one of their most notable collateral benefits.
But even more trivially, and arguing from the other direction: since so far in the U.S. only a handful of non-Christians have ever been elected to positions of power in our nation, we could and should argue that Christianity already covers every conceivable realm of the American political spectrum, and thus whatever fruits of Christianity are to be received are now reflected in the governments we have elected. And, exaggerating only slightly, from this position we could argue that everything that has been done so far has been done in the name of Christianity. The best evidence that this is true is of course that every solemn occasion within government is consecrated with Christian hymns and prayers.
Thus, given the current arrangement, one could reasonably ask, why is it that Dr. Schaeffer sees a need to expand Christianity into realms where it not only already exists, but seems to have a religious and moral monopoly?
There are at least two possible answers. One is that maybe Christianity has not been effective (i.e. an important moral force for good) in the realms where it already operates, so far. Another is that maybe Dr. Schaeffer is no longer talking just about religion per se, but is seeking to expand Christianity (using philosophy as a thinly disguised pretext) into the realm of power and ideology - and doing so through the back door? After all, his dismissive references to spirituality as being inert is not so much about spirituality, or morality, as it is about power as seen through the lens of ideology.
At best, Dr. Schaeffer should be clearer about what it is he is seeking as a religious end product and about how to evaluate the existing effects of religion on government and policy. At worse, it seems that he is engaged in a transparent attempt to tear down the walls that have existed between theology and politics in this country since its inception, and doing so in a questionable attempt to grab power via the subterfuge of "Christianity disguised as political ideology. Even if that were a worthy goal, and I do not think it is, it would have to rest on the proven efficacy of religion in already existing realms. And so far, Dr. Schaeffer seems unwilling to judge Christianity on the merits of the case that can be made for it based on its historical experiences and practices.
Hmmm, I wonder why not?
Three Stars
Classic Shaeffer November 10, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I love Francis Schaeffer. For my money, there is no one better to express deep thoughts about the Christian worldview, fully and briefly. Reading Schaeffer is like savoring a good meal. I plan to read a lot more of him.
First of all, cool cover. Maybe the best ever.
More than this A Christian Manifesto looks at the theological basis for government and examines the Christian's responsibility toward government that is failing its responsibility to uphold justice. The first fifty pages or so are classic Schaeffer. Biblical philosophy is brought to bear on the origin of government; justice exists outside of law, and so governments are liable to rule on the basis of what is right. Law, on the contrary, does not determine what is right, it only upholds it. Loved it.
Still, where I was excited and challenged by the opening chapters, I lost interest in the last two-thirds. There Schaeffer argues that Christians have the duty to resist unjust or immoral governments. I just didn't buy into public protest as civil disobedience in the US. Too little is said to establish what exactly demands resistance and how far to go. Abortion was the case-in-point, and the book didn't reach much beyond that. Really, I was hoping that the book would shape my thinking of how Christians should participate in politics, but was left wanting.
At the same time, "Christian Manifesto" is worth the read because Schaeffer still provides a great deal of food for thought in just around 140 pages. Though the book is full of legal citations from the early 1980's, Schaeffer was ahead of his time in anticipating the post-modern worldview that we know so well today. His ideas are always challenging, and even where you disagree you will find your worldview sharpened.
 Wake up and Think! August 23, 2006
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Great work from a great mind. Thoroughly readable and challenging. This is part of my law school curriculum but it was a personal choice to read long before. Recommended for everyone.
Schaeffer's prophetic voice demands our attention and respect today! June 26, 2006
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
An incredible book that I first read back in eighth grade, A Christian Manifesto is Schaeffer's examination of the conflict between the Christian worldview versus the humanistic worldview as it plays out in law and government. It is that shift in worldview which Schaeffer identifies as the fundamental issue in our culture today - and the fact that far too many Christians are fighting this war on various battlefronts, missing the totality of the conflict in which they are ultimately engaged! The battle, according to Schaeffer, is a conflict over Truth, whether there is a comprehensive and absolute Truth about all reality or not.
Schaeffer does an excellent job of reviewing human history and demonstrating clearly and convincingly that Christians have in almost every generation and every culture been at the heart of this continuous battle for truth. Setting the stage from the Protestant Reformation, Schaeffer then turns to the uniqueness of the legal and governmental status found in the United States - a government established on the principle that God supersedes law and that law supersedes man. But, warns Schaeffer, that uniqueness has been slowly eroded away by the humanist worldview and its invasion of the public policy arena with the fallacy that the state is supreme in the absence of the existence of God.
Schaeffer encourages Christians to be an active presence in the political process - and warns that when the state violates the liberties granted by God, civil disobedience is not only an option, but a commandment as well - to submit to an authority in clear violation of Biblical principles is not an option for a follower of Christ - "citizens have a moral obligation to resist unjust and tyrannical government," he writes.
Looking at the United States in the early 1980s, Schaeffer sees a window of opportunity for Christians to make their presence felt in the process, but warns that this window is slowly closing. Schaeffer uses the issue of abortion as his example of an issue where Christians must be a part of the solution, and gives various strategies that can be employed to make a difference in the culture on this particular travesty of humanistic reasoning.
A Christian Manifesto is a great read, especially for a Christian who wants to engage their culture for Christ in the public policy arena. Schaeffer's reasoning is solid, challenging and relevant even today!
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