FRANCIS SCHAEFFER
An authentic life
By Colin Duriez. IVP. 240 pages. £12.99
ISBN 978-1-84474-310-0
Francis and Edith Schaeffer, who together founded L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland in 1955, touched the lives of people across the world through books, films and personal contact. Nearly 25 years after Francis’s death this biography puts his work and ideas into context.
Francis Schaeffer’s work has often been pigeon-holed as a ministry to intellectuals, because he first became known here in the UK through his books published by IVP in the late 1960s. However, he had spent over 30 years in Christian work before any books were published. Colin Duriez explores Schaeffer’s working-class childhood in Pennsylvania, his awakening interest in philosophy and art in his teenage years, and his decision to read right through the Bible seeking answers to his questions. This was the start of Schaeffer’s Christian commitment and, at the age of 18, he wrote in his diary ‘all truth is from the Bible’. This conviction radically shaped his future life and thought.
