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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

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

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

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

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.

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

Ratings: 4.17 From 11394 Users | 442 Reviews

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

Interesting Amazon review/discussion here (re: Schaeffer's understanding of Aquinas). Here's another view (and a comment) of Schaeffer/Aquinas.Some have criticized Schaeffer because of his co-option by the Religious Right. Schaeffer did appreciate Rushdoony's work, but disagreed with Rushdooney on eschatology and law. Wikipedia has more information on the book and film series.Videos available on YouTube:Episode 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0Hr0...Episode 2:

What an incredible synopsis of the rise and fall of Western thought and culture! The cycles we as humans have gone through to get to the point we are at now are shocking yet at the same time predictable. The responsibility of influencing our culture with God's divine revelation is overwhelming! Great time line in the back. Every Senior in High School should read this before going to college.

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

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

One of the most succinctly written, flawlessly argued, and persuasively brilliant works of nonfiction Ive ever read. Although marketed as somewhat of a super-condensed history of Western culture (and a very good one at that, considering I read this for a Western Cultural History class), the book is really more of a long essay. Schaeffers thesis weaves its way through decades of historical events, artistic movements, brilliant scientists and philosophers which all serve as evidence to make one

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

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.