This article was carried from a book report I wrote on "How Should We Then Live" by Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer. In this article, I will cover the various aspects of how the Church has influenced and been influenced by Western Culture, including heretical views, the rise of humanism and existentialism, and many other topics, based on Francis Schaeffer's explanations in his book.
"How Should We Then Live" by Francis A. Schaeffer was initially written in 1976 and later republished in 2021. In this book, Francis Schaeffer goes to great lengths to cover the philosophical, scientific, and religious aspects of culture and how it was formed to become what it is today.
Francis Schaeffer begins by looking at the factors contributing to cultural aspects. He notes that the root of these cultural concepts comes from each individual human's thinking. When a dominant worldview gains widespread acceptance, it forms the cultural ideas that become the standard of each period.
Schaeffer's first era that he discusses is the period of Ancient Rome. We start here because Rome has left its footprint on every modern civilization of today. Because of this, it is crucial to analyze the influences on the laws and political ideas they held. Rome was well known for its great military strength and ability to conquer and take control of those in its path. Taking from the Greeks, Rome had many gods. These gods were amplified yet finite reflections of men. Because of this, they had no power and acted as a weak wheel on Rome. This weakness was especially evident when they made the poor decision to build their society upon these gods. Because of their finitude, the Romans had no solid or absolute base for their intellectual thinking or way of life. This weakness outflowed into their individual, political, and societal decisions. During the days of Julius Caesar, Rome formed an authoritarian government around Caesar himself, which served to help improve the chaotic uproar from within the civilization. Augustus Caesar, who followed, began to make himself a god, which proved just as inefficient as before and again made Rome unstable. The Christians under Roman jurisdiction were heavily persecuted within Rome, not because they worshipped Jesus Christ, but rather because they refused to worship Caesar himself, which was an act of treason in the eyes of the Roman officials. The Christians were further disliked because they recognized a supreme authority with absolute control over their decisions and choices. This view was contrary to the typical Roman belief, which believed there was a pantheon of gods who did not necessarily have ultimate authority over human decisions. Another contributing factor to Rome's steady decline was its increased prominence of sexual immorality, which riddled its culture. The steady depravity was evident in the declining quality of their creative expression over time. Because of the unsteady figurative base that Rome had built itself upon, accompanied by external aggression, it eventually fell and was devastated.
Next, Francis Shaeffer tackles the era of the Middle Ages. Art and Christian thinking in the Middle Ages shared a similar link between their quality and truth. While both started with the foundations of truth and perseverance for integrity, they both took a dim turn prioritizing unimportant aspects in their relative subject, which deteriorated their quality in the process. The art and architecture lost its humanity and became more alien. Art of human people now instead used symbols to portray once-relatable human figures, and architecture became more otherworldly than before as it slowly moved from a Romanesque style to possessing more Gothic characteristics. As a reflection of the frequent state of Christianity, the church suffered from distortion in which the human touch of impurity malformed the true meanings of Scripture. The church's authority took superiority over God's Word, and thus, heretical beliefs arose, such as the idea that our own merit is needed to gain the reward of salvation, rather than Christ's work alone being sufficient atonement for our sins, as well as Mary the mother of Jesus holding a greater focus than Christ Himself. Despite this, most Christians showed increased generosity to their fellow citizens, looking out for one another, much to the disparagement of the authoritarian state. However, this generosity was dichotomous due to the extreme inflation of the command from the Roman Catholic church. The church, having seen as a higher authority than the Bible, claimed Christians must give up all material possessions to be other-oriented. This order was an unbelievable burden placed on the backs of the early Christians, leaving the decision to either reject the command altogether or submit to the pharisaic and inflated instruction, thus proving the dichotomy. This situation sparked significant discussion. For example, following suit to the extreme rejection, Saint Francis of Assisi, a Catholic friar, saw this extreme focus on wealth and dismantled it completely, instructing his followers to avoid receiving money entirely. Along with the religious decline during this time, the commonality of learning declined in the West, with education only being given to monks and other people in scholarly positions. However, this situation was not entirely harmful, as the monks spent most of their time copying and recopying Scripture, preserving it faithfully for the Christians to come.
The late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance shared some overlap in their thinking and developments. Most notable was the rise of humanism, a concept that placed man at the center of his own world. Thomas Aquinas contributed to popularizing this idea by presenting a belief that sanctified human thinking. He stated that while man's nature was damaged during the fall, his intellect remained pure and untouched by sin. Philosophy was quick to latch onto this idea and became autonomous from the Bible because of this. Here, Francis Schaeffer introduces the concept of "particulars," objects that do not exist in the heavenly realm. Along with this came the tension between "nature-and-grace," which is the separation between particulars and heavenly things. Scriptural distortion continued and flourished deeper into the end of the Middle Ages. Along with this, so did many heretical ideas. Humanism dominated spirituality, and the church suffered because of it. The heretical concept of the church holding absolute authority over the Bible continued and strengthened, as did the authority of human intellect, thanks to Thomas Aquinas. However, amid these humanistic areas of thought, a series of counter-reactions were present. These reactions paved the way for the future Biblical Reformation during the Renaissance.
Western culture had some notable changes as we fully move into the Renaissance era. First, music made a great leap forward in its ability to be printed, thanks to the printing press. Also notable concerning music was the advancement of the orchestra, which increased the popularity of orchestral composition amongst the musicians of the time. Unfortunately, the rise of symbolism in art during the Middle Ages has now spread to all aspects of culture partially due to the outflowing effects of humanistic spiritual thinking, which were also continually rising. Art pieces began to contain meanings that pushed forth humanism, which is evident in some of the artwork by Michelangelo. The inevitable feat of humanist thought would eventually lead to pessimistic thinking. While most philosophers and artists would not find this out for another couple of centuries, Leonardo DaVinci anticipated this while on his deathbed. He found that at the root of humanistic thinking, a world without standards or reason would eventually lead to pessimism. This humanistic thinking also led to increased emphasis on particulars during this time, which sacrificed meaning while instead focusing on objects.
During the time of the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Enlightenment arose. They were both two opposite movements that had a direct effect on religion, philosophy, science, and art as well. Outside of its distinct spiritual refinement, the Reformation was most prominently known for its political reform in the Western world. We will first discuss the religious aspects of the Reformation, as that was where the most change was brought. The Reformation popularized the idea that people have entirely fallen into sin, which is an opposing way of thinking compared to Thomas Aquinas's still-present concept. John Wycliffe and John Huss were prominent among those who stressed the Bible's absolute supreme authority. Huss also emphasized that Christ is our only source of merit, much to the contrast of the Roman Catholic church and the humanist beliefs during the time. The church's unbiblical and heretical flaws were further pointed out by Martin Luther in 1517. At its core, the Reformationists returned to the early church's original, correct Christian thinking with ideas such as "Sola Gratia" and "Sola Scriptura." The Reformationist religious thinking bled over into areas of political reform as well. Since the Reformation posed absolute biblical truth as a cultural standard, it allowed people to take political action without chaotic breakdown. Though biblical standards were necessary for correct thinking, non-Christians incorrectly applied them, as evidenced by the governmental legislature during this time. The non-believing governmental figures took aspects of the Reformation and attempted to apply them to the country's legislature while not being Christians themselves. This misuse led to self-conflicting views and concepts they could not fully grasp because they were not of the Faith. Thus, the governmental statutes drew twisted interpretations of Scripture, resulting in inhumane situations such as slavery and misuse of wealth. These unfortunate facts and standards formed standards worldwide during this era. In hindsight, much frustration is held against the church, as they should have spoken up against these things. The tragic reality and footprint placed on society by these things are still prominent today. In the artistic culture during the Reformation, most famous artists leaned toward and developed a correct and biblical view of nature. They believed that God created all of nature and that we fall under it. This mindset increased the quality of their art because they were creating for the Creator.
Shortly after the Reformation, the Enlightenment occurred. As stated, this was the opposite of the Reformation, holding dichotomous views compared to the conservative return to the early church values. The Enlightenment was popularized as "the age of reason" by Voltaire, a French philosopher who lived during this time. He was often called the "father of the Enlightenment" because he further promoted and revolutionized humanism during the French Revolution, which greatly destroyed France. The Enlightenment further accentuated the already present humanist values of the Renaissance. This concept led to even further destruction, as putting man at the center of all reason and standards proved detrimental. The Enlightenment thinkers' values collapsed inward, and a massacre broke out in 1792.
Next, we will look at the rise of modern science. Before this scientific advancement, science was based on authority and logic rather than experimentation, testing, and observation. While cultural changes and progress during the Renaissance contributed to the scientific revolution, Christianity was the most significant contributor. The Christian and biblical base were what made modern science possible. The standard of Scripture provided an epistemological base for reason, otherwise known as a means by which scientists could be sure of what they know. The scientists could look at God's Word and the work of God and conclude using both correlating subjects. The effectiveness of this base and its attribution to modern science is evident when compared to the Eastern cultures, which did not have a biblical foundation. While all three pursued scientific inquiry, the Muslims, the Greeks, and the Chinese eventually ceased pursuing answers because they had no incentive to continue. Another crucial scientific discovery during this time was the realization of an open universe. An open universe is one wherein mankind and God are not directly affected by the ongoing cosmic machine, further incentivizing observation.
Leading up to this, we looked at the development of philosophy, science, and religion. Now, we will look at modern man. We will start by looking at the connections between philosophy and science. It is crucial to note that particulars can only have meaning with absolute standards. This absence of standards was the case during this time. We have no standards to discern or make sense of our world without absolute truth. We would not have any meaning to our existence or an epistemology by which to conclude. We would be left with conflicting subjective opinions. As scientists abandoned the original Christian base upon which their reasoning was built, they replaced it with humanistic reasoning based on "positivism." This decision only further accentuated the absence of truth. It was evident that the non-Christian philosophers in the past all believed in their own subjective reason. Slowly, this crept into science, and its cultural roots continued to grow. As a society, science has become the new religion by which most people live. We have been conditioned to the marred scientific conclusions as our absolute truth, which is a tragedy. Because modern-day scientists place their standards on a pessimistic human form of reasoning brought upon and built on their conclusions, this flaw will prove insufficient and tainted by sin because of mankind who created it. This way of thinking stirs the question: if mankind becomes a product of his own conditioning, suppressed from biblical truth with a replacement in the form of humanistic standards, what outcome and importance will mankind hold? The answer is that it cannot hold any. The only solution for this issue is to return to the biblical standard of truth, the only source of true wisdom and correct thinking.
Next, we look at modern theological and philosophical thinking. Schaeffer notes that there is an increased prominence in nonreason in our modern day and age. Man has attempted to deny the use of standards completely, instead arguing that man must build their personal standards from their intellect. What ultimately occurred was a complete denial of reason altogether because in using one's intellectual standards, one would eventually find oneself in a pessimistic mindset. In practice, however, many philosophers who asserted this view, called existentialism, would go against their own reasoning, drawing objective connections between right and wrong, thus proving their point invalid. Along with this belief was a connected idea that answers can be deduced without reason. Though this view was not directly pressed upon people, through the influence of the actions of scientists and philosophers, it slowly became held by many people. Another idea that arose during this time was the use of recreational drugs to benefit further the existentialist concept of discovering your standards from your intellect. This view of existentialism, as stated before, would result in a pessimistic mindset, so philosophers instead argued that they should deny reason altogether to avoid despair. However, in this contrasting search for optimism, man would instead find themselves meaningless because life cannot be lived without judgment and reason. These dichotomous choices are known as "existential methodology." Attempts were made to bring this existential methodology into theological thinking, now known as religious liberalism. This theological mindset, which attempted to merge the views of the Enlightenment and Christianity, ended up denying the supernatural altogether, removing the existence of a personal and absolute God. This malformed view of the Bible leaves Scripture with no meaning or area of application in the Christian life or history itself.
Now, we will move on to the effect that modern artistic mediums have had on today's world, as well as how today's world has affected artistic mediums. First, we will focus on how these effects have spread. Schaeffer states that these are by geographical means through conquests, culturally by the disciplines of government to the people, and socially, mainly through the intellectuals of culture. A specific cultural means of spreading was through the educational system. The children were slowly taught the values of pessimistic existentialism, creating a notable generation gap. The irony of the situation was that the teachers, while teaching this new form of thinking, still relied on previous means of thinking to form their conclusions. A fragmented view of reality was rampant in philosophy in the early modern world, with an inability to unite facts and life. This philosophical predicament greatly affected the area of art, leaving newer pieces to become sterile, lacking any reasoning and depth behind the artwork. There were attempts to solve this issue by painting more of reality, but it still left a lack of resolution from the humanistic worldviews of the artist. Then, just as it was with humanistic existentialism, a dichotomous contrast emerged, with some artists commonly painting as close to reality as possible. At the same time, others created even more sterile and abstract works, taking away any possibility of reasoning from the viewer. This thinking was shared between art and music of this time, as was its means of communication to the receiver, with composers using techniques like "non-resolution" and complete "fragmentation," as seen in works from Claude Debussy, to convey this fragmented philosophical worldview to the listener. However, the more these worldviews were prominently conveyed in these art forms, the less like artwork they became.
Finally, Francis Schaeffer covers the aspects of our society and the manipulation that may arise in it. The more the Christian base by which society was run decreased, the more two distinct values arose: "personal peace" and "affluence." Personal peace was the tendency for man to separate himself from the problems and interactions of the world, a form of self-isolation for his contentment. Affluence is the accumulation of objects in someone's life as a means by which others judge them. Affluence could be financial affluence, material possessions, or a combination. These concepts became popularized by the media and thus made their way into society. During this time, the constant rise of recreational drugs as a means to discover intellectual reason was evident. This event was mentioned in the analysis of theological and philosophical thinking, but in the mid-20th century, it became more prominent than ever. The elimination of the Christian base from our cultural values begins to become visually noticeable, as there is a rise in concepts like abortion, sexuality, and governmental control, just as was seen with Rome. Schaeffer also raises the possibility of concepts such as the euthanization of the elderly, which may arise should these foundations stay the way they are. Along with that dim possibility is the even greater possibility of complete manipulative and authoritarian control over Western culture. This manipulative control might arise in scientific areas such as biological and psychological sciences and the media through news. In a world where all views are relative to oneself, and how we think is fed to us continually, our society would naturally succumb to any control that may occur. Some of the significant pressures that could contribute to the rapid approach of this form of control include economic breakdown, terrorism, a radical worldwide redistribution of wealth and power, and misuse of food and resources, yielding a deficiency. The only two ways to avoid these things are by either imposing order on society or returning to the Christian base from which we left, not only with a submission to that base but with a correct understanding and application of it as well.
The first of the three things that I most learned from this book was the emphasized importance of having a correct and solid biblical foundation. Throughout the entire book, Schaeffer repeatedly makes points and displays evidence of what occurs when we do not have a solid biblical foundation or waiver our beliefs in favor of the pursuit of our own contentment. Seeing the evidence of what occurred throughout our culture when this occurred makes me even more secure and fixed on having a correct understanding of Scripture.
The second thing that I most learned throughout this book was the fantastic ways the Christian church has affected our culture. While the Catholic church had most of the church-state authority, the fundamental beliefs of the Christian Faith laid the foundation for many practices, foundations, and laws of our society and culture. Seeing how Christianity was applied within art and music and inspired creative work, knowing that it brings glory to the Creator, was indeed a testament to man's desire to glorify God.
The final most important thing I learned from this book was the importance of studying and understanding why we believe what we believe. The way the scientists and philosophers replaced Scriptural truth with their thinking and the effects it had on questions such as "how?" and "why?" create an incentive for the reader to better understand how our worldview affects these questions in our lives.
I immensely enjoyed reading Francis Schaeffer's book. Never before have I had such a comprehensive understanding of the progression and decline of Western culture and thinking and the scientific, philosophical, and religious aspects that mold our society's thinking and form a better understanding of how our future can be directed. Schaeffer provides a very detailed and deep explanation of the aspects of church history and the eras of cultural progress, unlike any standard textbook ever could.