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Original Title:	How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture
ISBN:	0891072926 (ISBN13: 9780891072928)
Edition Language:	English

How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture

Francis A. Schaeffer

Paperback | Pages: 288 pages

Rating: 4.17 | 11394 Users | 442 Reviews

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Title	:	How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture
Author	:	Francis A. Schaeffer
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Special Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 288 pages
Published	:	April 1st 1983 by Crossway Books (first published 1975)
Categories	:	Philosophy. Christian. Religion. Theology. History. Nonfiction. Christianity. Cultural

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How Should We Then Live is a discussion of how philosophy, art, and music have changed throughout history, and what these changes say about the human race and where we are headed. This book reads like an art history class. Schaeffer takes you through history chronologically, through the dark ages, the renaissance, reformation, the enlightenment, all the way into modern time. Over this time period, art goes from being realistic and detailed to being highly abstract. Music becomes more dissident, fragmented. Popular philosophy becomes heavy on relativism and abandons the notion of universal truth. All of these things are a reflection of our worldview: we have become a people who are fractured, isolated, and lost, not interested in seeing things for how they really are, unable to believe in anything concretely, and with nothing solid to stand on. And when people, countries, or empires don't have anything solid to stand on, the smallest crises can cause them to collapse. Here are a few quotes: "But even people who believe they are machines cannot live like machines, and thus they must "leap upstairs" against their reason and try to find something which gives meaning to life, even though to do so they have to deny their reason." "...the Greeks found that society - the polis - was not a strong enough final authority to build upon, and it is still not strong enough today. If there are no absolutes, and if we do not like either the chaos of hedonism or the absoluteness of the 51-percent vote, only one other alternative is left: one man or an elite, giving authoritative arbitrary absolutes." "I believe the majority of the silent majority, young and old, will sustain the loss of liberties without raising their voices as long as their own life-styles are not threatened." "Edward Gibbon said that the following five attributes marked Rome at its end: first, a mounting love of show and luxury; second, a widening gap between the very rich and the very poor; third, an obsession with sex; fourth, freakishness in the arts, masquerading as originality, and enthusiasms pretending to be creativity; fifth, an increased desire to live off the state. It all sounds so familiar. We have come a long road since our first chapter, and we are back in Rome." It's definitely worth a read.

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Ratings: 4.17 From 11394 Users | 442 Reviews

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This was the free audiobook of the month on ChristianAudio.com last month. I read Colson and Pearcey's How Now Shall We Live in college, which is a much longer updated version of this book with more applications. I recommend that as a follow-up text. Books on church history, histories of Europe in the Middle Ages would be helpful as prerequisites, as well as overviews of philosophy, before reading Schaeffer's work.This book is a fairly brief summary of the development of Western culture through

I'm still working through some of this book, but I have absolutely loved what Schaeffer has to say, especially in regards to the dangers of a society that is primarily concerned with personal peace and affluence. He asserts that such a society will eventually allow an authoritative type of government to rise into existence out of a fear of losing "comfort". This certainly does not happen quickly, but is something that develops over time.Interesting, but our culture today bears the marks of

Tries to cover too much ground in too little space, and so ends up thin on much of his argumentation and historical analysis. Some of his odder characterizations of various philosophers (of Thomas Aquinas and Francis Bacon, for example) would require whole books to themselves for Schaeffer to defend himself against charges of serious misreading. That issue makes me suspicious of his readings of people such as Heidegger, with whom I am less familiar, and detracts from the credibility of the whole

I should have read this book years ago. Francis Schaffer has managed to eloquently diagnose the state of western culture in a way my Christain heart knew but failed to bring together into a coherent way. Schaffer has written a timeless critique of modern man though it be 30+ years old, has full application to today. In many ways his predictions made then, have come true. This is a must read for Christians wanting to explain and tackle world views around them, their history and where they lead.

If you are agnostic, atheistic, Christian, or existential in your beliefs you need to read this book. It does not matter that it's(this book's)author is Christian because he very fairly gives thought to each world-view and the ideas behind them. In a culture where truth is relativistic and sometime life makes absolutely no sense, it is important to search all possibilities. Any intellectual and open-minded person will give this book a try. Even if you do indeed disagree. We tell each other to be

Religious or not, one must admit that Dr. Schaeffer is as scholarly a theologian as one might find. This book is worth reading as much (perhaps more) for its survey of Western Culture as for its Christian ethic.

Insightful, intellectual, and impactful. I'll definitely be looking up more of Schaeffer's books in the future.I love finding books like this that analyze the philosophy behind current and past cultures. It makes me realize I'm not alone when I see the motivations behind people's actions, and link it to a larger worldview. It's so awesome reading books like this for fun.Schaeffer paints with broad strokes, so I can understand how some would think he generalizes too much. But this book is so