Dr. Francis Schaeffer's HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE?

THE CLASSIC FILM SERIES ON THE RISE & DECLINE OF WESTERN THOUGHT & CULTURE.Greg introduced me to this film series that he got from his Bible college's library. It has really been eye-opening! There are 12 episodes in this series and I've seen the first 4: (1) The Roman Age, (2) Middle Ages, (3) Renaissance, (4) Reformation.Francis' quote from the 1st episode has been impressed upon me, "The way we think affects the way we live." Rome had tried several different ways to build a functional and succesful culture and society, but every attempt failed because it was not founded on anything higher than man himself. At the same time, you had the early church, who were persecuted for refusing to worship Ceaser along with the only true God. Then in the Middle Ages, you had men in the church who started mixing philosophy with the Bible, until man saw no need to stick to just the Bible as the only authority, which then led to man running the church and establishing his own rules. The simplicity of the early church had now become complex. Then came the Renaissance where humanism was established. There was beautiful architecture, art, music, etc., but it was all centered around man and his accomplishments. Paganism was mixed with Christianity, and there was a incorrect view of many Biblical truths. But then came the Reformation (my favorite period so far). There was Martin Luther who brought the common man back to the finished work of Christ on the cross, grace, and the individual able to approach God through faith. Man saw the beauty of nature, seeing that it was a creation of God, and valued man as being fashioned in the likeness of God. The Reformation influenced the art and music of that time, giving glory to God through being centered around Him, not man, and focusing on the greatness of God through His creation.Anyway, I'm a little new to learning about church history. My history goes only as far back as the "Jesus Movement" and the start of Calvary Chapel. But I'm becoming inspired to learn more about other movements, reformations, revivals in all of church history, from the time of the early church in Acts, to now. This video series has opened up that door to me, and I'm excited to discover what else I'll learn.

Hi Yolanda,this series sounds exciting. I have been a church history enthusiast for only about a year and a half (maybe two). But once I got started I can't seem to get enough. I wish I could just download all the info into my head because I don't like waiting. It takes TIME to read all of this and learn all about it, plus we have our regular lives to live and duties to take care of:-) To me it is such an important subject, yet passed over in much of christianity. What's that saying about 'you don't know where you're going unless you know where you've been'. I really feel that is so true in this case. If we can see what has happened in the past reformations and how the Lord is slowly but surely bringing the church back to it's original New Testament state (Acts)- before Rome adopted it as their own religion and changed so much of it, then we know that there is more change and reforming to come. It is exciting to me to see how the Lord works in the lives of His people to bring about His will.Hope you enjoy the rest of the series!In Him, Chanin

I've read this book but I wasn't aware that a film series was done, the book is great reading, anyone know where I can get the videos?Also highly recommended by Schaeffer is his book Trilogy which is actually a compilation of three excellent books he wrote, The God Who is There/Escape From Reason/He is There and He is Not Silent.His books are real eye openers concerning the philosophies of modern man and how the Christian should address these modern views, excellent stuff!In Christ,Ron

InTheLight[laughs] I wasn't aware that there was a book. Actually, Greg made mention of it tonight after I had posted this topic. And actually, I came back here to ask if anyone could direct me to a good church history book. So I'll need to check out the ones you mentioned. Gospel Films, Inc. are the ones who put these videos out, but I did a search on their site and couldn't find this series. I did go on Christian Book Distributor's site and found Dr. Francis Shaeffer's HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE? video series. You may want to shop around to see if there's a cheaper deal, but at least you have a link here.P.S. It appears, for the same price, you can get the series on 3 DVD's.moreofHimThis has been a very exciting series to watch. I finished the 5th episode, The Revoluntionary Age and it talked a bit about where the Americans who wrote and signed our Declaration of Independence got their ideas from. A country in Europe had already set up its government on the absolutes of the Bible. And the countries who followed in also basing their revolutions and government on the Reformation Age and the absolutes of the Bible, bore lasting fruit. But countries like France, though inspired by the bloodless revolution of England, based their revolution on enlightment philosophers, and it soon turned into chaos and violence. Not only was it interesting to hear about the countries whose foundation was the absolute truths of the Bible, but the 2 faults America was responsible for, and in which the church failed to speak up in: (1) slavery based on race, and (2) explotation of women and children during the Industrial Revolution. There were several men and women, fueled by the values of the Bible, who spoke out against these things. I'm finding this all very interesting. Before I go, can you suggest any book titles to me that you've enjoyed concerning church history, or maybe specifically on a certain leader that was a part of church history?

...can you suggest any book titles to me that you've enjoyed concerning church history, or maybe specifically on a certain leader that was a part of church history? Yodi,Knowing the caliber of people here, I'm sure you will recieve some excellent suggestions for reading up on Church history. For my part I wanted to bring up an interesting DVD called The Face---Jesus in Art which, as the title suggests, in a documentary about Christian portraits of Jesus during the last 2000 years. The montage at the end of the DVD is worth the price alone!The reason I suggest this DVD is that, as it traces the chronological histroy of Christian Art, it provides a vivid insight into how different church ages viewed our savior. I believe Art history helps us to experience history in a more personal and direct way that names, places and dates cannot.I think Francis Schaeffer would have agreed!God bless you for your love of learning Yodi!MC

That sounds wonderful! Francis Shaeffer covers a bit of that when talking about the different ages. Thank you very much for the recommendation. I hope to be able to check it out some time!

Oh my goodness! Greg, how do you find this stuff?! You're awesome! This is about half the price I've found this series on another website. Wow! I'm excited! That was such a good series and one that I want to continue to share with others.:-)!!!

I heard of another way to define the church age this last weekend. He said that there are two types of Christianity. One is the true, which is Prophetic Christianity. The other is called Constantinian Christianity. The first is of God and the second began in the 3rd century under the Roman Empire where the state and church became one. I see this all around me and it seems almost too simplistic but yet very true.In ChristJeff

Thanks for the link Greg, I just sent the link to my wife with a not so subtle hint that it would make a good Christmas gift... 8-) The other is called Constantinian Christianity. This is just another way of desribing what Francis Schaeffer would call humanistic Christianity, where the church and traditions of men began to take the place of the authority of God's word.In Christ,Ron