Crazy for God by Frank Schaeffer

I picked this book up after hearing the author interviewed on NPR’s Fresh Aire program. In his memoir, Crazy for God, Frank Schaeffer, recounts his life as the son of evangelical Christian missionaries who founded a community in Switzerland, where Frankie spent his childhood. No family secret goes unrevealed. Though he clearly loves and admires his parents, he spares no details in writing about them - his father’s depression, his parent’s sexual relations, the physical abuse of his mother by his father. “Frankie” also provides graphic details of his adolescent explorations. The subtitle, “How I grew up as one of the elect, helped found the religious right, and lived to take all (or almost all) of it” provides an outline of the second half of the book. The author explains how the religious right was formed and provides an insider’s view of the leaders of this movement – Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Billy Graham, to name a few. Schaeffer goes on to explain how he broke away from the movement when he could no longer in good conscience support the values espoused by the religious right. In conclusion, I found this to be a fascinating look into the evangelical Christian world and I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys biographies and reading about religion and politics.