How Should We Then Live? by Francis A. Schaeffer
Week 3: Chapter 3 — The Renaissance
Read Chapter 3 of How Should We Then Live? Key figures discussed: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael; the shift from God-centered to human-centered thought.
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The Renaissance is often celebrated as the dawn of human potential — but Schaeffer reads it as the moment when humanism began its long project of placing the autonomous human being at the center of all things, with consequences that would take centuries to fully unfold.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Schaeffer argues that Renaissance humanism was not simply a celebration of human dignity (which the Bible also affirms) but a declaration of human autonomy — the idea that humanity is the measure of all things. What is the crucial difference between those two positions?
2.He uses Renaissance art — particularly the contrast between Michelangelo's heroic, idealized figures and the biblical view of broken, redeemed humanity — to illustrate the shift in worldview. What does it tell us about a culture when its highest art glorifies the human form as essentially perfect and self-sufficient?
3.Schaeffer describes how Renaissance thinkers rediscovered classical Greek and Roman thought and used it to push back against the authority of the church and Scripture. Is the recovery of classical thought inherently dangerous, or does it depend on what role that thought is given? How does the Reformation handle this same classical heritage differently?