Death in the City by Francis A Schaeffer IVP, 1969 127 pages £11.00 ISBN 0 851 103 472
Dr Schaeffer was a leading, American, evangelical theologian and philosopher of the last century. He was most closely associated with L’Abri Fellowship based in Switzerland, using his knowledge and skills in apologetics and philosophy to bring many to faith.
In this book Dr Schaeffer links the Old Testament story of Jeremiah in Jerusalem to Paul’s letter to the Romans to argue the predictable consequences of a society that turns away from the God of the Bible.
Jeremiah was a reluctant prophet but maintained his witness and prophetic message for 40 years to a largely disbelieving society, suffering hostility, abuse and imprisonment because his message was unacceptable and /or ignored. Jeremiah was thoroughly rejected by his people and his kings.
Imagine being a preacher for 40 years with very few, if any, taking any notice whatsoever either of you or of what you were declaring to be the message of Almighty God.
Dr Schaeffer’s impassioned appeal is to his contemporary society and to the church which, he believes, was not preaching the same message as Jeremiah – a message of warning, of repentance and of forgiveness.
As a result the church was weak and failing in its duty to declare God’s judgement on a society going in the wrong direction. Without a strong, reliable moral base, the society was directionless.
What was needed was a restatement of the Biblical gospel – the justice and compassion of a sovereign God in relation to humankind where each individual has significance, not just in chemical or psychological terms, but in spiritual terms, as personally accountable to a living God.
The juxtaposition of Jeremiah before the exile and Paul’s letter to the Romans is very well made here with the compelling logic of someone of the stature of Francis Schaeffer, making a powerful statement to the church and to the world.