Biography
Francis August Schaeffer was born on January 30, 1912, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents were not committed Christians, and he grew up in a working-class home. As a young man he worked as a machinist and became interested in philosophy and the great questions of life. He considered himself an agnostic. At about the age of seventeen he began to read the Bible, mainly to see for himself what it said. He was struck by the answers it gave to the questions that had troubled him, and in 1930 he put his trust in Christ.
He studied at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia and then at Westminster Theological Seminary and Faith Theological Seminary. He married Edith Seville, who was the daughter of missionaries in China and who shared his burdens throughout his life. He was ordained as a Presbyterian minister and served several churches in Pennsylvania and Missouri. In those years he was busy with ministry and a growing family, and he also fought to defend the faith against the liberal currents in the church.
In 1948 he and Edith moved to Europe with their children as missionaries. They traveled and taught and were struck by the spiritual and cultural collapse that followed the war. Churches were empty, and many people had lost faith in any answer. Schaeffer began to ask himself whether the gospel could meet these people. He spent time in the Swiss Alps in the early 1950s, and he went through a period of deep inner struggle. He asked whether what he preached was really true, and whether he had a living relationship with God. He walked in the mountains and prayed and went back over the Scriptures. He came out of that season with a settled conviction that Christianity is true in every area of life, and that the Lord is present and has spoken.
In 1955 he and Edith opened their chalet in the village of Huémoz, Switzerland, to young people who had questions. They called it L'Abri, which means the shelter. Students, artists, seekers and doubters came from many countries. They stayed for days or weeks, joined the family at the table, listened to discussions and read. Schaeffer treated every honest question with respect and gave careful answers from Scripture. He did not try to win an argument. He wanted people to see that the Christian faith gave real answers to real questions. Edith ran the household with great skill and warmth, and her work was crucial to the ministry. The two lived by faith, and they declined to ask for money. They prayed for needs and trusted that God would provide.
He wrote books that carried this message to a wider audience. The God Who Is There and Escape from Reason were published in 1968. He wrote He Is There and He Is Not Silent in 1972, and How Should We Then Live? in 1976, which was also made into a film series. With Dr. C. Everett Koop he produced Whatever Happened to the Human Race? in 1979, which spoke against abortion and euthanasia. He spoke boldly about art, philosophy and culture and showed how modern thought had moved away from the truth. He was one of the first evangelical leaders to speak to the culture at large with seriousness.
He was a man of strong convictions, and he was also tender. He cared for people who were broken. He could also be demanding of himself and of his family, and the pressures of the work were heavy. Edith has written candidly about the strains the ministry put on the home. He did not hide his struggles. He said that Christians must be honest about their weaknesses and must not pretend to be strong.
In 1978 he was diagnosed with lymphoma. He continued to speak and write through his illness, and he faced it with courage and faith. He died on May 15, 1984, at the age of seventy-two, in Rochester, Minnesota. He left behind a ministry that still runs in several countries and a body of books that helped a generation of Christians think about their faith and the world.
His life reminds us that Christian faith does not hide from hard questions. The Lord is real, and a house open to honest seekers can become a place where God does His work.