longer between grace and nature, but
between the rational and the non-ra-
tional. Schaeffer concludes that there
is today an enormous philosophical
chasm between the Church and mo-
dern man and that the Church ought
to recognize exactly that in order to
better understand the modern man
himself, though he alerts for signs
of the modern duality creeping into
the unifying theology of the body of
Christ.
Don’t let the size of the book fool
you; Escape From Reason is nothing
short of thought-provoking, and it
proves to be one of those few works
that, in the words of Sir Francis
Bacon, are meant “to be chewed and
digested.” Such a detailed study of the
development of Western epistemology
throughout history is to be cherished
by every reader who wants to obtain
a solid grasp on the foundations of
modern philosophy.
Get it now!
www.biblion.pt
26 ISSUE #8
SCHAEFFER’S PREDICTIONS
HOLD TRUE?
Perhaps the book’s greatest stroke of
Schaeffer’s genius is not what the author
states about the past, but what he pre-
dicts to be the future. In Escape From Rea-
son, Schaeffer warns us about the “philo-
sophy of definitions” – what he claims to
be an anti-philosophic approach to philo-
sophical questions by means of linguistic
analysis. Nothing could be more evident
today, as the existentialist view and Derri-
da’s deconstruction of language work to-
gether to shape the meaning of language
according to the demands of today. In es-
sence, certain words and terms are being
given new definitions that squash the
old, long-standing notions surrounding
those words. For example, “marriage” no
longer stands for “a lifelong commitment
between a man and a woman”; instead, it
can be defined as a “socially or ritually re-
cognized union between spouses that es-
tablishes rights and obligations between
those spouses” (Wikipedia), where gender
and term of union are no longer defined.
Cultural and moral relativism is now the
dominant position in philosophy and
anthropological studies, and it is deter-
mined to do away with the absolutes of
bygone eras – including the absolutes of
the Christian faith, without which there
would be no “adequate basis for law,” (p.
90) according to Schaeffer. Therefore it is
paramount that believers embrace and
protect the values of the Scriptures in a
secular age that prizes subjectivity over
all else.