Edith Schaeffer Explained

Birth Name:Edith Rachel Merritt Seville
Birth Date:3 November 1914
Birth Place:Wenzhou, China
Death Place:Gryon, Switzerland
Spouse:Francis Schaeffer
Children:Priscilla, Susan, Deborah, Frank

Edith Rachel Merritt Schaeffer (née Seville; November 3, 1914 – March 30, 2013) was a Christian author and co-founder of L'Abri, a Christian organization which hosts guests.[1] She was the wife of Francis Schaeffer, and the mother of Frank Schaeffer and three other children.

Early life

Schaeffer was born in Wenzhou, China, the fourth child of George and Jessie Seville, missionaries who were serving in China with the China Inland Mission. In addition to her English name, her parents gave her the Chinese name Mei Fuh, meaning "beautiful happiness".[2]

Schaeffer attended Beaver College in Glenside, Pennsylvania. It was there that she met Francis Schaeffer and they were married in 1935. They had four children: Priscilla, Susan, Deborah and Frank.[3]

L'Abri

They were sent in 1948 to Switzerland by the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions. In 1955 they began L'Abri, a community that welcomed people who were seeking intellectually honest and culturally informed answers to questions about God and the meaning of life.[4]

Schaeffer's husband Francis died in 1984,[5] but she continued to be associated with the L'Abri organisation which she and her husband founded.[5]

Schaeffer wrote numerous books, both before and after the death of her husband. Her book Affliction (1978) explores human suffering in a Christian context.[6] [7] It won a Gold Medallion Award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) in 1979.[8] Her What is a Family? (1975) compared the extended family to a mobile.[9] Her autobiographical The Tapestry: the Life and Times of Francis and Edith Schaeffer (1981) won the ECPA award in 1982.[10]

Schaeffer's The Hidden Art of Homemaking (1971) has been influential among women in the Christian Patriarchy movement,[11] and has been described by Kathryn Joyce as "perhaps unintentionally, a landmark book for proponents of biblical womanhood."[11] This book, along with What is a Family?, has been described by author Becky Freeman Johnson as a "timeless classic".[12]

In 2000, Schaeffer was listed in Helen Kooiman Hosier's 100 Christian Women Who Changed the Twentieth Century.[13]

Death

At the age of 98, Schaeffer died on March 30, 2013, at home in Gryon, Switzerland.[14]

Works

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.labri.org/ L'Abri Fellowship International website
  2. Schaeffer 1998
  3. Burson, Scott R. and Walls, Jerry L. (1998), C.S. Lewis & Francis Schaeffer: Lessons for a new century from the most influential apologists of our time, InterVarsity Press,, p. 40.
  4. Hankins, Barry (2008), Francis Schaeffer and the Shaping of Evangelical America, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing,, pp. 5–59.
  5. Heller, Jennifer (2002), "Marriage, Womanhood, and the Search for 'Something More': American Evangelical Women's Best-selling 'Self-Help' Books, 1972-1979," Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, Vol. 2.
  6. Bloem, Steve and Bloem, Robyn (2005), Broken minds: hope for healing when you feel like you're "losing it", Kregel Publications,, p. 81.
  7. Stanley, Charles F. (1989), How to Handle Adversity,Thomas Nelson,, p. 138.
  8. http://www.christianbookexpo.com/christianbookawards/gm1979.php Christian Book Awards, 1979
  9. Grant, Kathryn and Giesbrecht, Penny Rosell (1990), Making the Most of the Best of Your Life, Hannibal Books,, p. 96.
  10. http://www.christianbookexpo.com/christianbookawards/gm1982.php Christian Book Awards, 1982
  11. Joyce, Kathryn (2009), Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement, Beacon Press,, p. 42.
  12. Freeman, Becky (2002), Mom's Everything Book for Daughters: Practical Ideas for a Quality Relationship, Zondervan,, p. 155.
  13. Hosier, Helen Kooiman (2000), 100 Christian Women Who Changed the Twentieth Century, Baker Publishing Group, .
  14. News: Died: Edith Schaeffer, Co-Founder of L'Abri with Husband Francis. Christianity Today. April 1, 2013. Jeremy Weber. April 13, 2013.

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