Book: “Crazy for God”, Frank Schaeffer, Da Capo Press, 2007.
“Crazy for God” is Frank Schaeffer’s story of growing up Christian. He was raised by parents influential within an evangelical or fundamentalist understanding of God. Few definitions for these theological descriptions are given but not far into the book, one gets the picture. It is a family narrative lived out through each generation as a changing of the guard. This particular change is familiar to those of us who were raised in remotely similar circumstances.
Truth be told, it is every man’s story, a search for answers to the big questions. Ancient Jewish wisdom in the Talmud identifies our predicament, “Whosoever gives his mind to four things, it were better for him if he had not come into the world - what is above? what is beneath? what was beforetime? and what will be hereafter?”* These questions are a vexation, a blessing and the curse of our humanity. We try to avoid them or explain them away but they never go away.
Spiritual adventurer’s who have gone before us have struggled with these questions and then codified apparent answers into hundreds or thousands of differing religions. The evangelical fundamentalist Christian answer is one such religious expression. Finding fair skies within evangelicalism, Frank Schaeffer split his energies between his art endeavors and working for the cause of his parents. There came a time when the “pat” answers of his parents no longer seemed to be enough.
Thank you Mr. Schaeffer for sharing your honest story, your courage relative to the big questions is exemplary. Please allow me to share a few personal observations from your book that are particularly meaningful to this reader.
1. All people are fallible, sinners and saints, including our heroes.
2. Each successive generation must individually choose it’s own religious expression.
3. Your resistance to throwing the baby of faith in God, out with the bathwater is to be applauded.
Dr. Schaeffer’s generation has lived out it’s priorities. The next generation, Frank Schaeffer’s generation, has either reacted negatively, conformed to parental expectations or sought a bridge to a spirituality that hopefully retains the best priorities of the passing generation. This reader put’s your journey in the latter category.
Thank you Frank for sharing your journey with us.
G.Goslaw
Victorville, Ca
* Joachim Jeremias, “Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus”, Paperback Edition 1975, p.237.
