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

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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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Title	:	How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture
Author	:	Francis A. Schaeffer
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Anniversary 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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Ratings: 4.17 From 11394 Users | 442 Reviews

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Now a classic in certain circles, How Should we Then Live? is a crash review of western philosophy and culture told at breakneck speed to support the author's thesis that the intellectual, social and economic stability of the western world is in peril of its own making. Though the book was written in the mid 1970's, it seems remarkably prescient and current. In it, Schaeffer proposed that the western world is being damaged by our rejection of epistemological universals in favor of relativism --

AMAZING. Unfortunately there was some that was above my level of comprehension, but I can only imagine what I'll pick up the next time I read it. I got a ton of good out of it, though. Totally a must-read and a true Christian classic.

How Should we than live had a profund effect on my spirituality and understanding of the culture that I live in. Schaeffer was one of the most brilliant thinkers of his generation and it shines through in this profound work. Schaeffer traces the decline of culture and thought that has occured within Christianity. Of praticular interest to me was his emphasis on the decline of art in culture and how it evolved from a God honoring tradition to post-modernism confusion. He shows for example a

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

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.

Francis A. Schaeffer covers a lot of ground in "How Should We Then Live?", from the Roman Empire to modern times ... meaning 1976, when this book was written. (Schaeffer died in 1984.)Just from the breadth of his knowledge, you know he's a brilliant scholar, but he communicates in a simple, easy-to-understand way. To some extent, this book covers the same ground as Jacques Barzun's "From Dawn to Decadence," only Schaeffer's book is written from a Christian perspective and it's not tedious. It

Really enjoyed this. Full of insight and thought provoking topics.