We met Frank Schaeffer at the Wild Goose Festival 2012 last week-end and we found him to be a wonderful and charming man. He says he’s a “jerk” in some of his talks, but we’re not buying it. His talks were entertaining, informative, touching, and funny. He was also very approachable as he walked around the Wild Goose camp. Frank Schaeffer was born in Switzerland in 1952 to American missionary parents. Frank grew up in Switzerland's L'Abri, an idealistic community founded by his parents, the American evangelicals Francis and Edith Schaeffer. By the time he was 19, his parents had achieved global fame as best-selling authors and speakers, l'Abri had become a mecca for spiritual seekers worldwide — from Barbara Bush to Timothy Leary — and Frank had joined his father on the evangelical circuit. By the age of 23, he had directed two multi-part religious documentaries and had helped instigate the marriage between the American evangelical community and the anti-abortion movement. But as he spoke before thousands in arenas around America, published his own evangelical bestseller, and worked with such figures as Pat Robertson, Jack Kemp, Jerry Falwell, and Dr. James Dodson, Schaeffer felt alienated, precipitating his own crisis of faith and eventually resulting in his departure. What caused this feeling of alienation that led to Schaeffer's departure and a reexamining of his faith? The following three books tell a good deal of the story. We highly recommend them: ![]() In 2007 Schaeffer published his autobiography, Crazy for God: How I Grew Up As One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back, in which he goes into much more detail regarding what it was like to grow up in the Schaeffer family and around L'Abri, in Switzerland. Purchase on Amazon ![]() In 2010 he completed the second book of what Schaeffer calls his "God trilogy." Patience with God: Faith for People Who Don't Like Religion (or Atheism), describes his spirituality as it exists since abandoning conservative evangelicalism. The first half contains critiques of both the New Atheists and of Christian fundamentalism. Purchase on Amazon ![]() In 2011 he published the third memoir called Sex, Mom, and God, in which he discusses growing up with his parents and their role in the rise of the American religious right and argues that the root of the "insanity and corruption" of this force in U.S. politics, and specifically of the religious right's position on abortion, is a fear of female sexuality. Purchase on Amazon Comments are closed.
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![]() About TCL BlogWe’re not about Dogma here. We’re just Christians who think the political and Christian right-wing have their priorities wrong. Featured Bloggers![]() Charles Toy is the founding member of The Christian Left. We're sure you will enjoy his passion as well as his wit. Guest bloggers featured often.
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