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

Written by Frank Schaeffer

Narrated by Frank Schaeffer

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 while coming of age as a rising evangelical star, Schaeffer felt increasingly alienated, and as a result he experienced a crisis of faith that would ultimately lead to his journey out of the fold-even if it meant losing everything.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ascent Audio
• Release date: Sep 13, 2010
• ISBN: 9781596596740

Frank Schaeffer

Frank Schaeffer is a New York Times bestselling author whose books include Keeping Faith (as seen on Oprah) and Crazy for God. He lives in Salisbury, Massachusetts.

Reviews for Crazy for God

[lukegoldstein · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

One of our history’s most prized and famous sayings is, “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover.” It’s oft repeated because the truth in those words is evidenced nearly every day of our lives. Sometimes you get something far less than you hoped for, which is a unique and terrible type of disappointment. Yet, on luckier occasions, you just might find something unexpected and surprising under that front facing disguise. On the surface this book seems to be about the dangerous mix of politics and religion, coming from the viewpoint of someone who was there in the beginning of this recent flare up of the religious right wing, but what you find in these pages is far less about politics and far more about family.

Crazy for God is a memoir by Frank Schaeffer, who grew up in a very conservative religious household, one that physically roamed throughout his childhood until they landed in their own commune for people to come and learn their holier-than-most viewpoints. What began as an evangelical camp for those looking to escape or rebound from the peace & love generation, Frank witnessed his parents become religious dignitaries at a level they never expected, causing internal strife about what they wanted to be, healers and teachers, and what they had become, weapons.

Having an interest in politics and especially the dangerous mixing of that with religion, the title of this book grabbed me, but politics is merely the context for a much deeper story here, the one between Frank and his family. While finding himself imprinted with his parents views on God, the Bible and the true reason for living, Frank found himself at odds with himself. His internal voice did not match the outer voice he using to appease those around him. Eventually, as his parents find themselves in the middle of this religious revolution in politics, Frank breaks with the family’s creed and has to deal with the consequences.

While I was hoping for more insight into some of the backroom deals made to further the religious right and episodes of hypocrisy in the face of their proposed beliefs, what I got was a profile of a son watching his father lose himself in a movement far beyond his control. The memoir, while being from Frank’s perspective, is more about his father and the toll inflicted on him by the far-right conservative block he helped build with his teachings. It was almost ironic that it grew to something he couldn’t even recognize or control, because that seems to be the fate of almost all religions. I wonder day after day what the early prophets would think of the religions they helped start all those years ago.

In opposition to his father, Frank’s mother revels in the power and glory that the movement grows to and takes each and every chance to bask in the glory of the powerful people in her orbit. The relationship between his parents is another area where the story dives underneath the waves of religious fervor and shows the strain and tension wrought upon people when they are thrust from normalcy into celebrity. What they preach to their followers in the open air of their living room and lecture halls is utterly and totally tossed out the window behind closed doors. It became increasingly impossible for both parents to feel they were doing the right thing when the definition of that was in total contention.

Another chasm that opened widely between Frank’s father and the movement was his treatment of the gay lifestyle. He believed that you can be gay and still love God, but those that rose in the ranks of the religious right alongside him were aghast at the idea. Frank’s father relegated himself farther and farther away from the spotlight, which after many years had begun to burn. By this point Frank himself had turned against the teachings of his parents and while still having his own personal faith had come to the conclusion that his parents’ methods were far from anything he wanted to pass on.

In the end, Crazy for God will resonate less with the political and religious crowd and more with those who have ever had to break the tethers of their parents and blaze a trail in complete opposition to what they were brought up to believe.

[olegalca · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very, very interesting.

[pedrbran · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read Francis Schaeffer's books back in the late seventies when I was in college. I never thought much of him. To me, he was a wannabee Christian evangelical intellectual ( an oxymoron if there ever was one) who wrote bad philosophy books. My thought was 'really, this is all you got? No wonder the modern religious right, who descends from him and others like him, is intellectually bankrupt.The author, his son, who is now an atheist, describes what it was like to grow up in this family. If you are interested in what is what like to grow up having a dad who was one of the 'bright lights' of the religious right, read it.

[phyllis01_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The title says it all. Schaeffer is a good writer and paints a picture of his family that was one way in public, and another in private.

[myrlton · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As one who admired Francis and Edith Schaeffer and their life's work in L'Abri, I was interested to read their son's unusual re-telling of his life. As the youngest child, he writes like aspoiled brat who wants to 'take back' his role in bringing Francis's influence to its peak during the 1970's and 1980's. As I recall, he seemed to enjoy his role in motivating Christians to take an interest in politics and especially in taking up the Pro-Life cause after the legal despotism of the Roe vs Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973 wrongly took the laws controlling abortion from the States. Frankie seemed to relish the travel, the fame and the influence he welded back then. One of Frankie's earlierbooks, "A Time for Anger" urged Christians to get angry and surround abortion clinics. His logic was that the government couldn't arrest millions of Christians because the legal system would collaspe. Oddly, this earlier work isn't listed as written by Frankie Schaeffer in the preface of Crazy for God.Crazy for God is well-written, but has a bitter sarcastic and harsh tone. Frankie seems really angry. Perhaps some of that anger might stem from his unresolved guilt over trashing the amazing life and scholarship of his Father to justify his departure from the branch of the Christian faith he was raised in to join the Greek Orthodox faith. I wish him well and salute him for his support of our military. His views offers some balance needed to correct some of the more radical stances of the Religious Right, but I believe the Religious Right has been a blessing overall to America, than the curse Frankie seems to want to libel it with.

[geekgoddess_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I found the story of his life interesting, and I was angry at how such a small handful of people changed the politic climate and let the minority fundamentalist crazies have such a big voice in how our country and our government have progressed.

[jthierer_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This memoir is well-written, but I found my enjoyment hampered by the unlikeable nature of most of the main figures. While this provides evidence that Schaeffer was probably presenting an accurate portrait (not least of himself), it makes it hard to root for any of them.

[michaelwoodhead · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The subtitle for this in-depth look at the life of theologian and Christian apologist Francis A. Schaeffer’s son is 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.Those familiar with the Schaeffers will also probably be familiar with some of Frank’s evangelical works which include Addicted to Mediocrity; A Time for Anger; amongst others, as well as the film presentations How Should We Then Live, and Whatever Happened to the Human Race. However, he is also the author of The Calvin Becker Trilogy (Portofino, Zermatt, and Saving Grandma) and Baby Jack, as well as the non-fiction works, Keeping Faith; Faith of Our Sons; and Voices from the Front.As may be discerned when one reads this book, in many respects, Frank is still an “angry young man”, although this time, his anger seems more directed towards himself than at anyone else in particular. This moving memoir takes the reader behind the scenes, so to speak, of the author’s life with his parents and siblings, friends, co-workers, wife and children, and reveals much more than what the reader might expect. That is to say, in “real life”, the Schaeffers, like many other Christian “icons” and Frank isn’t afraid to name some of them--were and are just as human as the rest of us, some of them with even greater foibles than we might want to believe.Frank presents the memoir in four sections: Childhood, Education, Turmoil, and Peace. Although focusing on his own emotional and psychological tribulations, he manages to help the reader understand how people and experiences helped shape who he first became, and why he gradually distanced himself from the evangelical movement, turning instead, to Greek Orthodoxy.Frank is remarkably transparent throughout this book, sharing how more and more alienated he felt in spite of the fact that he and his father were popular evangelical authors and speakers, particularly to fundamentalist churches and organizations crying out to them that they needed to “take back America”. Further, Frank describes his vacillating life as a rebellious young man, a filmmaker and a father, and his eventual journey back to a new prominence as a writer.The book ends on a poignant note: “maybe there is a God who forgives, who loves, who knows. I hope so. Anything is possible in world where a daughter forgives her father, for ignorance, for anger, for failure, and places her daughter in his arms.” For those interested in a different perspective on Francis and Edith Schaeffer, l'Abri, and the fundamentalist right-wing evangelical movement, as well as the touching story of someone deeply involved in it all, this is a must-read.First Reviewed for TCM Reviews

[lhlibrarian · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very interesting read. Having grown up somewhat familiar with the names and ideals he was talking about it was eye opening to hear his side of the story. Gave me a lot to think about. A few times, he tends to rant and get off topic, but he still is able to tie up all the various strings he starts.