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

I became an evangelical Christian in 1984, and one of the first heavy-hitter apologetic authors I discovered was Francis Schaeffer. His son, known at the time as "Franky," was also writing books, and as my first Christian mentor said to me, "Franky's a bit more radical than his father." I liked both authors, since at the time I was big on Christian conspiracies and rigid theology as promulgated by such fundamentalist luminaries as Jack Chick and Bill Gothard. I dove deep into the evangelical world, attending various churches, serving in many ministries, and even graduating from seminary with a Pastoral Studies MA degree in 2002. However, during the last year it all came crashing down, ironically after walking the 500-mile Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail in Spain. During my trek I had plenty of time to think about the last two decades, and in the end I came to a decision. Yes, as an evangelical I'd made a few good friends and had some positive experiences. But the bad far outweighed the good. I'd had enough of trying to jam theological square pegs into the round holes of rationality. Plus, I could take no more cult-of-personality pastors, egotistical theologians, holier-than-thou legalisms, guilt trips, and plain goofiness. So when reality intruded on my faith, I either had to acknowledge it or shut my eyes even tighter. I chose the former option and abandoned evangelicalism. As part of my journey I read the "new atheist" books by Hitchens, Dawkins, Stenger, and so forth. Although I found them challenging and relevant (along with abrasive and polemic), these authors have probably never bought into any religious belief. I wanted a story written by an intelligent, high-level Christian, someone who had originally dedicated their life to the evangelical church but ended up leaving for conscience's sake. With "Crazy for God" I found exactly what I was looking for. Here was fundamentalist firebrand Franky Schaeffer, now reborn as Frank, telling his fascinating story of living, as the cover blurb says, to "take it all (or almost all) of it back." I could barely put it down. Mr. Schaeffer pulls no punches when it comes to evangelicals, family, and even himself. The most sympathetic figure is his father Francis, who seemed trapped in a joyless fundamentalist world he didn't create or desire. As for the author, it appears that his biggest problems with Christianity were its failure to overcome the baser instincts of human nature, and the ever-present stifling legalism he endured: witness the pious evangelical leaders who used the Schaeffers to advance their ministries (and themselves), his three sisters, who put up false fronts of stability while burning out and breaking down under Mrs. Schaeffer's relentless perfectionism, and young Frank, who goofed off, partied hard, and fornicated with abandon in plain sight at L'Abri, the family ministry center in Switzerland. As one might expect in such a context, parts of this book are qui

He was once the fair-haired boy wonder of evangelicalism, there at the creation of the American Religious Right. He helped define the culture war, especially over abortion. He helped create the Presidency of Ronald Reagan, the Republican majority, the conservative Supreme Court and the New Evangelicals. Now, he's an apostate, a unborn-again seeker, a member of an Eastern Orthodox church, and a a self-acknowledged failure. Which means that, strangely, he's a finally a success. Frank Schaeffer, the son of evangelical theologians Francis and Edith Schaeffer has, in his memoir Crazy for God, provided a beautiful, touching, and painfully honest story of growing up in the evangelical sub-culture in the age before it emerged as the culture. His portrait of his famous (at least in some circles) parents, and their Swiss Christian community, L'Abri, will anger those evangelicals who regard the Schaeffers (especially Francis) as saints. But, if you're looking for a Daddy Dearest, you'll be mightly disappointed. There is no scandal here, other than the scandal of evangelical Christianity in America once it got itself fitted into Constantine's vestments. Frank paints his father as an art-loving historian, a free-thinker more at home in the Florentine Accademia than on the radio with Dr. Dobson. The elder Schaeffer apparently detested the power-hungry theo-politicians like Dobson, Falwell and Robertson, and was far more concerned with reaching young people in search of life's big questions than in reaching the halls of power. Still he allowed himself to be manipulated by the theo-politicians, to become the most sought after evangelical teacher of the 1980's. Francis Schaeffer is revered in evangelical circles, where his books and film series (produced by Frank) are still best-sellers two decades after his death. He created the intellectual underpinnings of the Religious Right (yes, Virginia, there is such a thing) and did more than any other theologian to gain evangelicalism its entry onto the political stage. Edith is considerably more God-crazy than her husband, but her son clearly adores her. Beautiful, stylish, and fiercely intelligent, she is the fire in L'Abri's stove, warming everything with her presence, all the while irritating the living hell out of her family with twenty minute sermons masquerading as prayers, and her passion to "save" every living being in earshot. Frank Schaeffer is honest about the dysfunction of his family, his sister's mental illness, his own sexual coming of age (sometimes uncomfortably so--the man apparently was a world-class wanker as a teen), the family fights over theology (which nearly wrecked L'Abri), and his parents' love affair with art, music and literature. He's also painfully honest about his failed career as a secular film maker, and genuinely regretful at giving up his early and promising career as an artist to chase the big evangelical donors who were underwriting the Schaeffer phenomenon. Where he's at his

Am so glad Frank has written this book which is honest, and even painful to read at times. His honesty will make some 'Christians' mad, since his experiences expose what goes on behind the scenes of some arenas in Christianity. But it was great reading how he was raised, how his parents upbringing effected them and the choices they made. Was sad to read how his Mom loved dancing as a young woman but gave it up because of religious dogma. Was nice to read how his father evolved in his own Christian walk to the point that when Frank was considering converting to the Catholic faith, his father wasn't adverse. Which when you consider some of his earlier Catholic whoredom views, was a huge evolution. What really makes the book a great read is the constant reminder of how when one read the Bible one sees how the men of the times, had made religion and politics almost one and the same and over time, both became corrupted. The author reminds us that we stared down this same path beginning in the 80's. Most of all, this is a book by a man who as he has matured, has stopped, become still and has looked at his life and the mistakes made, as well as the majority of good choices, and has realized that no matter how old we become. its never to late to change and own the words we speak, and actions we take. Fact is, he admits he often went along to get along, as many young adults do. Then he married at a very early age, became a father and the process of facing ones demons or faults slowly started to happen. One wonders how many people would do well to heed his example.

The reason this book means so much to me is that I grew up as a child of a missionary, too, and I believed fervently in all of the ideals of evangelicalism, read the Schaeffer books, and I voted Republican. So having Frank Schaeffer confirm what I know in my gut--that we need to take a good look at ourselves before we judge others--is deeply refreshing. There are beautiful elements in the book--the fact that the author obviously loves each person in his family and longs to write something redeeming about each one after he has revealed their Achille's heel, and there are rough elements in the book--broad brush accusations against both the left and the right that could use refining. But what this book does best is take you inside the heart and mind of someone who was formed by and helped formed the movement that about one third of America has been part of. Thank you, Frank!

Crazy for God is such a deeply personal book that my first response to it is also personal. Ever since 1962, the year I lived within range of the radio station of Bob Jones University, I have been fascinated by, if not enamored, of fundamentalist, allegedly Christian preachers. The Bakkers, Jimmy Swaggart, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson--I've watched them all on TV. For thirty years my home has been in the stomping ground of Carl McIntyre and within earshot of his radio "ministry." The Dallas church I grew up in was one block away from the First Baptist Church of W. A. Criswell. I've at least a glancing acquaintance with American revivalist traditions. My grandmother loved Billy Sunday, and I've heard Billy Graham make the altar call in a football stadium. More recently I've been sufficiently alarmed by the Dominionist/Reconstructionist theology of Rushdoony and North to read some of their work. And I've been further alarmed by the equation of US foreign policy priorities with unquestioning support of the state of Israel, on grounds that the End of the World is nigh, much to be desired, and foretold in Isaiah and Ezekiel as well as in the Revelation of St. John. I find real danger in the gospel preached by Texas preachers like John Hagee, who is up to his eyeballs in pro-Likud politics and who looks forward with delight to the prospect of Jerusalem awash in a sea of human blood when Christ returns to kill unbelievers and reward the faithful. Some time ago I was surprised when opposition to abortion became an issue for Southern Baptists as well as Roman Catholics, although on apparently different grounds. (Catholicism opposes abortion, as well as artificial contraception, on the basic of natural law; the evangelical equivalent seems to grow more out of a fear of sexuality and a mean-spirited desire to see non-marital sexuality punished whenever it shows itself.) But I had only the vaguest idea who Francis Schaeffer, a fountainhead of post WW II evangelical thought, was, and I never heard of his son, Frank, until I read Jane Smiley's review of Crazy for God in The Nation a few weeks ago. I ordered it immediately and read every page with surpassing delight. Few books have made such an immediate impression. I place it with Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Prison Letters, Hannah Arendt's The Human Condition, and Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death, although none of these made me laugh, as did Crazy for God. This is a read-aloud book, one that inspires this reader, at least, to nudge my partner in bed and say, "Hey, listen to this description of Pat Robertson and his snakes." Crazy for God is not just a good read, however. It is historically important for its description of the emergence of abortion as a banner that united very diverse strains and sects within the Anabaptist and Calvinist traditions of Protestantism into a political force that was able--tragically!--to influence presidential and congressional elections and to move the US Supreme Court closer