Crazy for God
How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of it Back
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Average rating4
15
How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of it Back
Ratings1
Average rating4
By the time he was nineteen, Frank Schaeffer's parents, Francis and Edith Schaeffer, had achieved global fame as bestselling evangelical authors and speakers, and Frank had joined his father on the evangelical circuit. He would go on to speak before thousands in arenas around America, publish his own evangelical bestseller, and work with such figures as Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Dr. James Dobson. But all the while Schaeffer felt increasingly alienated, precipitating a crisis of faith that would ultimately lead to his departure—even if it meant losing everything. With honesty, empathy, and humor, Schaeffer delivers “a brave and important book” (Andre Dubus III, author of House of Sand and Fog)—both a fascinating insider's look at the American evangelical movement and a deeply affecting personal odyssey of faith.
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Short review: This is my favorite memoir so far this year. It is not new, but I have not read it previously because of some preconcieved notion that it was a screed against his parents. It is not. It is an honest look at growing up in the Evangelical spotlight. With imperfect people as parents (as we all did.) If Frank did not place the focus of the book on his own problems and shortcomings it might feel like a screed. But Frank is sure that for every real and honest complaint about his parents or something or someone else, there are several more about himself.
Again, I was reminded today reading an article about Thomas Kincaid that it is important that especially as Christians we need to allow people to be fallen. No Christian hero is perfect. This book will join a list of others that I recommend to people that want to honestly look at Christian spiritual development.
