How Should We Then Live Flashcards
What are presuppositions?
the basic way an individual looks at life
What are presuppositions based upon?
what one considers to be truth of what exists
Where are presuppositions caught?
family & surrounding society
Rome was great in many ways but where was it lacking?
it had no real answers to the basic problems humanity faces
What makes the difference in a people’s strength as they are exposed to the pressure of life?
worldview
Define syncretism.
mixing of religions
Name 2 reasons Christians were killed in Rome.
1) they worshipped Jesus ONLY
2) they had moral absolutes to judge the state
How were the ways of apathy shown in the Late Roman Empire
a lack of creativity in the arts
Why did Rome fall?
it had no sufficient inward base
What does Schaeffer mean by: “what they are in their thought world determines how they act”?
everything (values, actions, decisions) is based off of thought process
What was the result of the humanistic element in the thinking of man during the Middle Ages?
church (Pope) had more authority than the Bible
What characterized the thinking of the Renaissance? How did this thinking change the behavior of man?
humanism; man now thought he was the center
What 3 lines of history does Schaeffer trace?
religion, philosophy, science
What 2 lines of thought have had the most influence on us today?
humanistic elements of the Renaissance & the Bible based thinking of the Reformation
What ancient philosopher did Thomas Aquinas “re-enthrone”? What was the effect of this rebirth of Greek philosophy?
Aristotle; man at center of everything
What is the “nature vs. grace” problem?
people tend to focus on one or the other- usually nature
The Renaissance had both good and bad results. What were they?
good- value of man restored
bad- humanistic thinking
What is the dilemma of humanism? What is the natural conclusion of humanism?
no universal, no answers to the questions; pessimism- “As a man thinketh, so is he”
Why is it important to study the Renaissance and the Reformation together?
they dealt with the same basic problems but had opposite answers & results
What was the primary authority for the Reformers?
Bible
Why did the Reformers not have a “nature vs. grace” problem?
they thought Biblically and knew that both were important
When did Martin Luther nail the 95 theses on the Wittenburg door?
October 31, 1517
Where was the “high Renaissance”?
southern part of Europe
Where was the Reformation?
north part of Europe
What does Sola Scriptura mean?
Scripture only
What was the Reformation at its core?
the removing of humanistic elements that had entered the church
What 5 words does Schaeffer use to sum up the Enlightenment?
reason, nature, happiness, progress & liberty
What are other characteristics of Enlightenment thinking?
secular & human-based
What is the “religion” of the Enlightenment? Describe it.
deism, God created the world but has no contact with it- watchmaker theory
Should the rise of modern science be attributed to modernism? What is the foundation of modern science?
no; Bible
What is the “shift” Schaeffer discusses? In what disciplines did it take place?
modern science to modern modern science (open system to closed system); philosophy, science, theology
What is the significance of the Robert’s painting “Justice Lifts the Nations”?
Justice is not blindfolded, the sword is pointing to the Bible to show that it’s the standard that makes the scale of Justice equal, painting expressed sociological base
What was the fundamental difference between the English Revolution and the French Revolution?
England had the Reformation base and France did not
What are the dates & names associated with the rise of modern science?
Copernicus (1475-1543)
Vesalius (1514-1564)
What is the significance of Plato concerning the nature/grace problem?
if there are no absolutes, individual things have no meaning
What is rationalism?
rejects any knowledge apart from man; especially knowledge from God
Schaeffer discusses 4 men whose views were crucial in the development of modern man. Who were they?
Jean-Jacques Rosseau, Immanuel Kant, Georg Wilhelm Hegel, Soren Kierkegaard
If reason was the hero of the Enlightenment , what was the hero of Romanticism?
emotion
Who is the most well-known existentialist? What did he believe?
Jean-Paul Sartre; in reason everything is absurd but man can authenticate himself with an act of will
What is angst?
defines modern man’s stance against the world- anxiety
What specific aspect of the “generation gap” does Schaeffer discuss?
the children began to discover that the parents had no base for their values
How is the fragmentation of modern man reflected in works of John Cage and Jackson Pollock?
Cage- flipped a coin to decide what to play
Pollock- paint cans tied to make it random- no order, all chance
What 2 impoverished values reigned after the weakening of the Christian-dominated consensus after the 1960?
personal peace and affluence
Who claimed that drugs would be the sacraments of the new religion? What did he mean by this?
Timothy Leary, drugs would find meaning inside one’s head
Why is Marxism attractive? Wherein lies its weakness?
its constant talk of dignity & rights; it is separated from God
What 5 attributes does Gibbon say marked Rome at the end of its power?
1) a love for show & luxury
2) a widening gap between the rich & poor
3) obsession with sex
4) freakishness in the arts
5) increased desire to live off the state
About what specific applications of genetic engineering does Schaeffer warn us?
invetro & cloning
As he discusses possible scenarios for the future, Schaeffer brings up the possibility of the increase in authoritarian governments. Which countries does he say will be less likely to bow to this form of government?
countries with a Reformation base
If society continues to decay morally & there is a time of economic recession & war in the future, what does Schaeffer say are the 2 basic alternative responses that will play out?
1) imposed order
2) return to Biblical base
Describe Schaeffer’s beliefs before he came to Christ.
self-proclaimed agnostic, decided the church didn’t give him the answers he sought
How was Schaeffer converted?
after reading the Bible for 6 months he decided God was real; gave his life to Christ at age 18
List some things Schaeffer did post-conversion.
- had a passion to proclaim the gospel
- offered a rational defense to atheists
- became a pastor in Pennsylvania/Missouri
- grieved at the compromise of the church
- moved to Switzerland & made a children’s ministry in 1948
- opened his home for college students
- published 1st 2 books
When did Schaeffer move to Switzerland to establish a children’s ministry?
1948
How did people respond to Schaeffer?
thousands came to visit him because he cared, President Regan knew & thought well of him
How did the Roe v. Wade (legalization abortion) affect Schaeffer?
it awakened the “bear” in him
What were the titles of Schaeffer’s 1st 2 books?
“Escape From Reason” & “The God Who Is”
reveals how other philosophies can’t adequately answer questions of life
When did Schaeffer die?
1984
Why did Schaeffer write “How Should We Then Live”?
he saw a crumbling culture & sought to trace its origins to the root
When did Schaeffer write this book?
1960s & early 1970s
What is an apologist?
reveals the inadequacy of other faiths & defends Christianity
Explain Grace/Nature
Grace- unseen/Heavenly things
Nature- all things in physical realm
In the Universals vs. Particulars problem, what did Plato emphasize? Aristotle?
Plato- Universals
Aristotle- Particulars
What are the social and political implications of being a Christian in the Middle Ages?
governing authority is the church; to not be a Christian (fake or not) is to be informally shunned. To be a Biblical Christian who rejects the church is to be formally shunned/executed
What did people think of Thomas Aquinas?
he was the outstanding theologian at his time; some of his thinking is still used in circles of the Cathiloc church
What did Thomas Aquinas believe?
man was fallen but the fall only affected man in part- the will of man was fallen but not the intellect
What was the result of Aquinas’ thinking?
man was given more prominence than before
What was the change in art/writing during the Renaissance?
nature had more emphasis
What does “Renaissance” mean?
rebirth
What was the Renaissance a rebirth of?
an idea about man
Did the men of the Reformation learn from the Renaissance?
yes
Who is Samuel Rutherford?
the author of “Lex Rex”; from Scotland
What painting laid out the points in “Lex Rex”?
Justice Lifts the Nations by: Paul Robert
Who are 2 people that mediated “Lex Rex”?
John Witherspoon & John Locke
What does “Lex Rex” mean?
Law is King
What are 2 areas that the Reformation was inconsistent with Biblical teaching?
1) a twisted view of race
2) non-compassionate use of wealth
What are some parallels between France & Russia during the Enlightenment?
same base, elites govern (France- Napoleon, Russia- Lenin)
What kind of base have the Communists had to function under?
internal repression
What does it mean if a law is arbitrary?
it can be changed later if it works better for the majority
What is the mother of modern science? Why?
Christianity; it insists that the God who created the universe has shown himself in the Bible
What was Isaac Newton famous for discovering?
gravity
How did Newton describe gravity?
a universal force of attraction between every body in the universe
Why did Newton not worry about the “why” of things?
he began with the existence of a personal God
What else did Newton do?
worked out the speed of sound
What did Rousseau believe?
man is good until society corrupts him
Describe Rousseau.
French speaking Swiss from Geneva; sent his kids to orphanages
How did Rousseau describe the Grace vs. Nature problem?
Autonomous Freedom vs. Autonomous Nature
How did Immanuel Kant describe the Grace vs. Nature problem?
Noumenal World (concepts of meaning & value) vs. Phenomenal World (external world, world of science)
What does Hegel’s system put emphasis on?
centrality of the state & the flow of history
Where does Hegel find truth?
synthesis- found in the flow of history
How did Kierkgaard describe the Grace vs. Nature problem?
non-reason (faith & optimism) vs. reason (pessimism)
What is reductionism?
man is explained by reducing him to the smallest particles that make up his body
What is Natural Law?
the attempt to make nature the basis of morals
What is the problem with Natural Law?
nature is cruel & non-cruel
Who are the 2 leaders of French existentialism?
Albert Camus & Jean-Paul Sartre
According to Karl Jaspers, we may have a “final experience.” What does he mean by that?
even though our mind tells us that reason is absurd, we might have a final experience that gives us meaning to life
Who was Friedrich Nietzsche?
1st one who said in the modern way that God is dead & understood where man ends up when this is said
Why does Schaeffer think Nietzsche went insane?
Nietzsche understood that insanity was the only philosophic answer if God does not exist
What is hedonism?
every person does his own thing
What does hedonism lead to?
chaos
Whose painting marked the birth of “modern art”?
Pablo Picasso
What did Picasso do?
combined the fragmentation of Cezanne & Gaugin’s noble savage & African masks
List 3 ways that modern pessimism & fragmentation has been spread.
geographically, culturally, socially
Define personal peace.
to be let alone, not caring about anything except oneself
Define affluence.
never having enough things & success
