by BI Yantao, China
How Should We Then Live? is a book by Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer, an American Evangelical Christian theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor, according to Wikipedia. The Chinese version of this book was first published in China January 2008 by Huaxia Press. This is the first time for his books to get published in mainland China.
The book is subtitled as The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture, which reveals what it dwells on. According to the writer, the primary sin for Man is the created tries to take the place of the Creator. Although this book, ultimately, serves as a pastor, it is actually enlightening and well worth reading.
I cherish this book for one more reason. The writer is in fact a great communication scholar when he claims in Chapter I:
"People have presuppositions, and they will live more consistently on the basis of these presuppositions than even they themselves may realize. By presuppositions we mean the basic way an individual looks at life, his basic world-view, the grid through which he sees the world. Presuppositions rest upon that which a person considers to be the truth of what exists. People's presuppositions lay a grid for all they bring forth into the external world. Their presuppositions also provide the basis for their values and therefore the basis for their decisions."
Chapter VI and Chapter VII of the book expounds social masterminding and political controlling by the elites. Therefore, I put this book on the collection list of Daizong Meditation Room, a nonprofit research platform for political communication in China.
For more information on the writer, please refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Schaeffer
