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| 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 | 
 enlarge | Author: Frank Schaeffer
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $9.54
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Avg. Customer Rating:  67 reviews
Sales Rank: 11500
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st Da Capo Press Pbk. Ed
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.2
ISBN: 0306817500
Dewey Decimal Number: 269.2092
EAN: 9780306817502
ASIN: 0306817500
Publication Date: September 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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Product Description
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 all the while Schaeffer felt increasingly alienated, precipitating a crisis of faith that would ultimately lead to his departure—even if it meant losing everything. With honesty, empathy, and humor, Schaeffer delivers “a brave and important book” (Andre Dubus III, author of House of Sand and Fog)—both a fascinating insider’s look at the American evangelical movement and a deeply affecting personal odyssey of faith.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 62 more reviews...
 sloppy sleazy pathetic November 30, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
frank is the reflection of his social climbing self absorbed mom_and abusive whining dad. that frank has the terrible judgement to inflict this biography on us is regrettable. his is a life of disorder and wet dreams and illusions of grandeur...a hillbilly from the alps.
 FRANKIE GOES TO SWITZERLAND September 16, 2008
13 out of 19 found this review helpful
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-by Frank Schaeffer, like all of the authors books, is well written and an easy read. But, wait, RELAX, Don't Do IT! This quasi auto-biography is long on "look how wonderful and enlightened I am" and short on any real substance. It's MOMMY DEAREST for the born-again liberal crowd, except this mommy is no over the top Hollywood actress, just the woman behind the fundamentalist man, in this case the late, and I feel great, Francis Schaeffer. If you haven't figured out by the prologue Frank Schaeffer is the only son of theologian/cultural commentator Francis Schaeffer.
Just so readers of this review will know where I am coming from I am a practicing Catholic (whose gonna keep practicing until he gets it right) and one who enjoys Frank Schaeffer's writing, especially his novels. I have followed his career since the 1990s. I was there when he converted from Fundamentalist Christian to Orthodox attack dog polemicist, though in this book you find out that the fire has gone out. I subscribed to his now defunct, but always interesting (at least the articles written by his guest writers) Christian Activist periodical. If I remember I think in passing I also saw his movie, on late night TV, Baby on Board. So I am familiar with Mr. Schaeffer.
Simply, he is bitter, he has always been bitter, and now he is more burnt out than bitter. So who does he blame, MOM and DAD. Not really very original. And, that is the problem with this book, there is no truth in advertising. You really never find out what it was like in the early days of the organized religious right, you just find out that the author thinks that the likes of the late Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, etc. are terrible, misguided, evil, or all of the above. And which thinking person on the right or left doesn't think the above three are misguided to some degree? In other words you only get a cursory idea of Frank Schaeffer's brushes with these folks, no details, and a lot of hand wringing from the author. To hear him (or in this case read him) tell it if it was not for Frank Schaeffer no one would have heard of any of the stars of the American Religious Right. So, you are not there in the beginning.
What you do get a lot of is if it wasn't for my parents I would have been the greatest artist, film director, writer and all about cultural icon that ever lived. And, you find out he masturbated a lot, and lusted after any and all females under the age of 30 who visited L'Abri, the cultural discussion hostel in Switzerland founded by his parents. And, oh yeah, now that dad is dead and mom is senile and blind his parents were (and still are, in the case of mom) great people and he loves them. But, and I did say he is a talented writer, dig deeper, beyond the literary pats on the back the author gives himself and you will find his parents had feet of clay, whose doesn't, they loved him and most of all they indulged him. While Mr. Schaeffer is loathe to admit it, until he knocked up his wife, and even after that, this guy led a charmed life, with no demands. He got to paint, make movies, meet Led Zeppelin, oh yeah, the writer drops names like a dying oak. This reminds me of the old Steve Martin routine "Sammy Davis Jr., personal friend of mine." So this now begs the question, after reading this tome, why is he mad and why should I care that he is mad? Hey Frankie, count your blessings you smuck. You never had to get a real job, oh yeah, I know you do tell us in the book how when you were a starving artist you stole pork chops. But, this is actually a literary device, much like "it was a dark and stormy night" that I know I read somewhere else. In the book you tell us that when you were a teenager you painted and a bit later sold your work to folks like the Rockefellers. Also, had showings at well known galleries in Europe and New York, all because of the connections you made because of your father. This, while the rest of us slobs, were flipping burgers at MacDonalds, and running the ditto machine in some college work study program. So, what the hell are you complaining about in this book?
In closing there is no real insight or history here. Just a lot of the usual Frank Schaeffer bitterness and regret. He's a still a sensitive lad you know, at least according to this book. I really expected him to quote the song My Way, by the end of the book. All this being said like all Frank Schaeffer books it is well written, easy to read, and entertaining. But only if you can push aside all the "my childhood was really messed up" stuff. You see, Frank Schaeffer, apparently, according to this book, was an angry young man who now is just tired.
 A Story that Needed to be told! September 11, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
I first read Frank Schaeffer's book "Baby Jack The Novel" and felt it was a brilliant story and well written. I never realized that this author was the also the same guy who was one of those fundamentalist leaders who helped marry the religious right to the GOP. In his newest book "Crazy for God" the author writes a very personal and brutally honest memoir, that opens up and exposes the underbelly of the evangelistic movement; where he was a big mover and shaker in that christian community.
His book takes us on an emotional journey with his dysfunctional family. He shares what it was like growing up in a community in Switzerland founded by his evangelical parents. His father was a leader in that religious community and it seemed to be his predetermined destiny that he would follow that same route himself. The book is so full of side stories and insights on his earlier life that the book almost comes across as a novel.
His story is fascinating and full of authentic introspection - almost too honestly written. The authors leaves himself totally exposed with all his warts and blemishes. He gives the reader a rare and different look at some of various leaders of the fundamentalist moment, like Jerry Farwell, and Pat Robertson. The book may open some eyes and minds about the dangers of politics and religion; but for those who are deeply into the faith, I think they may not too impressed by the authors concerns. Personally, I found this book fascinating on many different levels- politics, religion, family, sex, social relationships, power and the ever present egos.
The book is as much about family life, as it is about religion and belief systems. In the end, one comes away believing that the author is still evolving and seeking answers. His quest seems much more open and honest then it ever was in his earlier life. I learned a lot about the author that I liked and it only deepens my appreciation and respect for him even more as a novelist today.
"Crazy For God" could become a must read book for serious seekers looking for their own authentic path to enlightenment, or at least some inner peace. The book is an eye-opener, from someone who was on the inside and was one of their respected leaders. I highly recommend this book!
Great story, very relatable September 1, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Written in a way that keeps you stuck in the book for hours, Frank's story is so unusual, so unique, everyone should read it.
Some very good and timely stuff here. A good read! August 21, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
For me, "Crazy for God" was very worth reading on a number of levels. Granted, some sensitive souls (me included) may need to take the AA sharing approach of "Take what you like and leave the rest". Frank is a very good writer. The book flows easily from chapter to chapter, and I found it hard to put down. As I tried to read Chapter 56 aloud to my wife about Frank's last time with his Dad in the hospital remembering skiing together, I kept having to stop reading, I was so choked up. In Chapter 57 Frank revisits the abortion issue, and the way we Evangelicals over-simplify (to our shame and detriment) complex ethical problems, be they abortion, capital punishment or so called "justified" wars. It's an excellent chapter, the thoughts expressed ought to be required reading. For me it was the heart of the book.
Unlike Frank, or my own adult children, or my wife, I did not grow up in a practicing Christian home. I was a "Jesus Freak" of the early 70's from a very, very dysfunctional background. Somehow it just seems that those of us who find and surrender to Jesus after a childhood without him, go on relating to Him differently than those who were "inoculated" to Christianity from the beginning. Frank, like my own own children, is one of these. Could it be something to do with Jesus' words that those that are well don't need a physician, that He came to seek and to save those (like me at 19) who are lost? I still haven't figured this out. But, Crazy for God has helped me get a better feel for what my children must be struggling with trying to relate to (and take ownership of) the faith they grew up with.
Finally, I was a teenager in both local Swiss and then international schools from 1965 to 1969, learning to smoke dope in Geneva at the same time as young Frank. And like Frank, my parents were too occupied to make a difference. This part of the story was just fun to read. It blows my mind now to realize that all this L'Abri fellowship stuff was going on just a few miles away!
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