Christian Feminism Today

A Personal Response to a Provocative Memoir

by Sharon Gallagher.

This essay is the second section of a three-part discussion, beginning with Anne Eggebroten's review of the book Crazy for God by Frank Schaeffer. The discussion concludes with the essay Crazy about Abortion.

In the early seventies, after graduating from college, I headed off with a friend to tour Europe. It was a time when large numbers of baby boomers were coming of age and wanted to see the world. They were searching for meaning and transcendence in a variety of ways—many used drugs, some went to Indian Ashrams, some joined cults. And, in my view, providence brought many to the L’Abri community in Switzerland. I was one of those students, and that visit changed my life.

Founded by Francis and Edith Schaeffer, L’Abri (French for “the Shelter”) welcomed pilgrims and seekers to learn about the Christian faith in an amazingly beautiful valley in the Swiss Alps. There, an international group of young travelers attended lectures followed by long discussions about existentialism, the Vietnam war, movies, books, art, and theology. All concerns were taken seriously.

At a time when many American Christians recoiled from countercultural types, L’Abri welcomed them. In fact, Francis became one of them, growing his hair and a goatee and abandoning his earlier missionary suits for his now famous mountain-climber’s knickers.

I’d grown up in a fundamentalist subculture in the “Christ against culture” mode where the larger culture was viewed with suspicion. At L’Abri the culture was engaged. It was a breath of fresh air to be with Christians who loved the things I loved—art, music, literature, and movies. (The film discussions inspired the many movie reviews I’ve written over the years.) Evening conversations were held over delicious candle-lit dinners, served on real china. One of Edith Schaeffer's themes was that in addition to good theology, we all need beauty in our lives.

Being with these prayerful, thoughtful Christians gave me a taste for community that has shaped my life. Returning from Europe, instead of going to graduate school as planned, I headed to a Christian community in Berkeley, and never left.

Some of my first subversive thoughts about women’s roles came to me at L’Abri, but they weren’t inspired by the lectures. I stayed for awhile in the chalet of Debby and Udo Middelmann. Debby was one of the Schaeffers’ three daughters and a graduate of the University of Lausanne. Udo presided over the table conversations while Debby and other female helpers made supper. In the middle of one conversation Debby came out of the kitchen to put something on the table and, before rushing back into the kitchen, she made a brilliant comment that illuminated the whole discussion we were having. I remember thinking “She should be out here at the table with us—not stuck in the kitchen.”

I was also aware of a furtive figure occasionally seen tromping around in motorcycle boots with a scowl on his face, the Schaeffers’ only son, Franky. I’d heard that Franky had been expelled from boarding school and never finished high school. He’d gotten one of the young and lovely L’Abri students pregnant and they were newly married. Yet it seemed clear that despite his history, and all the gifted, spiritually mature L’Abri members (including his sisters), Franky was L’Abri’s heir apparent.

It is this Franky, now Frank, Schaeffer whose new book Crazy for God, we’re reviewing. If those of us visiting L’Abri found it liberating and life-transforming, for Franky, it was a place of pious expectations that he felt he could never fulfill.

Two prominent leaders of L’Abri , Os Guinness and Hans Rookmaaker, became friends of mine. So after buying Crazy for God I immediately looked in the index for their names. There were two brief references to Os Guinness and no mention of Hans Rookmaaker. Yet Frank spends many pages describing in great and lyrical detail the girls he had crushes on. This book is not “The L’Abri Story.” This is Frank’s book and his memories are those of a rebellious teenage boy, keenly interested in sex and resentful of his parents’ focus on their ministry.

In his early twenties Frank became an anti-abortion activist. Frank explains that his convictions came out of his deep love for his baby daughter. The idea that other babies conceived out of wedlock might be aborted outraged him.

His allies in this battle were C. Everett Koop, the pediatrician who later became Surgeon General under Ronald Reagan, and Francis Schaeffer, who was drawn into the battle reluctantly at his son’s insistence.

Francis and Frank soon found themselves strategizing with other leaders of the Religious Right, who as Francis commented “are not our sort of people” (p. 297). Here is how Frank characterizes some of them:

“In private, they ranged from unreconstructed bigot reactionaries like Jerry Falwell, to Dr. Dobson, the most power-hungry and ambitious person I have ever met . . . to Pat Robertson, who would have a hard time finding work in any job where hearing voices is not a requirement” (p. 315).

Frank now regrets much of his involvement with the Religious Right. It’s rare (and impressive) for a public figure to repent of much of his life’s work, to be so brutally candid about his own failures and shortcomings. But Frank’s revelations about his family’s imperfections made me uneasy. They seem like a betrayal—even public figures have a right to privacy. There’s also a persistent tone of mockery about his parents’ faith and work that’s disturbing. It’s the voice of the angry adolescent still struggling to define himself as different, in fact superior, to his family. In contrast, when Frank describes his own wife and children there is a different voice—he sounds like a grown-up.

Frank says that he is still “pro-life” but he defines the term more broadly now. He recently came out in support of Barack Obama saying, “When I listen to Obama speak (and to his remarkable wife, Michelle) what I hear is a world view that actually nurtures life. . . . A leader who believes in hope, the future, trying to save our planet and providing a just and good life for everyone is someone who is actually pro-life.” (From Frank Schaeffer’s blog on The Huffington Post website, Feb. 7, 2008.)

Frank is clearly still a man in process and I wish him well on his journey. I will also always be grateful for Francis and Edith Schaeffer and the other members of the L’Abri community who made such an impact on my own pilgrimage.

The discussion continues with Anne Eggebroten's essay Crazy about Abortion.

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Sharon Gallagher is the editor of Radix magazine, the Associate Director of New College Berkeley, and the author of Finding Faith: Life-Changing Encounters with Christ (Berkeley, CA: PageMill Press, 2001).