Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984) was an American evangelical theologian and philosopher, a major voice for Christian apologetics in the latter half of the 20th century. In 1955, he founded L’Abri (the shelter) in Switzerland, a Christian apologetics center and spiritual community. From there, he published books, articles, audio seminars, and video presentations that examined intellectual history and art from a Christian perspective, offered Christian social criticism of ideas and trends within secular culture, and defended the intellectual integrity of the Christian faith.
Dr. Edward Skidelsky studied philosophy and theology at Oxford University. After graduating, he worked for a Moscow NGP for two years. He then served in a London “think tank” for another two years before returning to Oxford to earn his doctorate degree. Today, Professor Skidelsky lectures on sociology, anthropology, and philosophy, at Exeter University in England. His book, Ernst Cassirer: The Last Philosopher of Culture, is published by …show more content…
The materialistic universe of the modern world cannot support moral values, human freedom, or optimism. In a phrase Schaeffer employed regularly, he emphasized the starkness of modern thinking as “the uniformity of cause and effect in a closed system.” In other words, all that man has regarded as meaningful historically—love, self-sacrifice, knowledge, friendship, liberty, beauty, etc.—reduce to mere causal interplays of matter, energy, and chance. Man’s materialistic universe, consequently, is a mere dead machine, and man, himself, is merely a dead cog running pointlessly within it. In a world without a transcendent God, man can live only in
Dr. Edward Skidelsky studied philosophy and theology at Oxford University. After graduating, he worked for a Moscow NGP for two years. He then served in a London “think tank” for another two years before returning to Oxford to earn his doctorate degree. Today, Professor Skidelsky lectures on sociology, anthropology, and philosophy, at Exeter University in England. His book, Ernst Cassirer: The Last Philosopher of Culture, is published by …show more content…
The materialistic universe of the modern world cannot support moral values, human freedom, or optimism. In a phrase Schaeffer employed regularly, he emphasized the starkness of modern thinking as “the uniformity of cause and effect in a closed system.” In other words, all that man has regarded as meaningful historically—love, self-sacrifice, knowledge, friendship, liberty, beauty, etc.—reduce to mere causal interplays of matter, energy, and chance. Man’s materialistic universe, consequently, is a mere dead machine, and man, himself, is merely a dead cog running pointlessly within it. In a world without a transcendent God, man can live only in