Schaeffer skirted the enlightenment, mentioning it briefly in the Reformation episode that we did not watch and brings it up as a part of the revolution era. The Enlightenment is "the period of European thought characterized by the emphasis on experience and reason, mistrust of religion and traditional authority, and a gradual emergence of the ideals of liberal, secular, democratic societies." (Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, Oxford University Press, 1994) What he did say was that while Voltaire was exiled in England he was impressed by the relative peaceful revolution that took place in Britain when William and Mary ascended to the throne in the "Glorious" of "Bloodless" revolution. When he went back to France he tried to modify what he had observed using Enlightenment values instead of the universals that come from God. S. argues that the thing that saved the British was a "Reformation base." There is a good deal of sense in this argument since the Anglican (The Church of England) Church had gone through its own type of reformation while not being strictly "Reformed." The result in France was the horror of the French Revolution.
So we consider the age of revolution - the eighteenth through twentieth centuries saw uprisings all across Europe and her colonies which sought to overthrow governments, many of which were unjust.
Some of these revolutions were based (partly because of the reformation) upon sound and sometimes biblical values which resulted in peaceful revolutions, others fared worse... much worse... Especially in the twentieth century: Ukrainian famine in the 30s, Hungary in '56, Czechoslovakia in 68, Uganda in 75, Cambodia in the late 70s, Iran in the 70s, Afghanistan and Poland in the 80s, the Balkans in the 90s, Darfur today... Iraq...
S. argues that if laws are based upon biblical (universal) values then they are laws that do not allow the tyranny of kings. He notes that systems of checks and balances are needed by the fallen people in governments.
Conversely, Marxist-Leninism corrupted the revolution in Russia and created a one man elite in Stalin which resulted in the killing of millions when one considers the starving of millions of Ukrainians and the jailing of all political opponents in the Gulags.
Then, without universal values to guide, who was to stop Hitler from killing Jews, Gypsies and others that he considered less than human? Hitler's extermination of these millions was based primarily of the denial of the biblical value that ALL PEOPLE are valuable.
Lex, Rex, or The Law and the Prince by Samuel Rutherford provides a basis for law which Paul Robert illustrated in the stair of the Old Supreme Court building in Switzerland. Justice holds a scale in her right hand but her sword points to The Law of God... universal values as the foundation for
law. We might remember that S. followed by saying that biblical absolutes provide a basis for stopping the despotism of a group or individual or the 51% vote... further... when biblical universals are ignored, what is there to stop fallen people from oppressing one another??? S. gives examples of the failure of the church which should have spoken out about issues like slavery and oppression of women and children in factories...
AND SO a question of application exists for us as individuals and as a community... how should we respond to this call? if we say we embrace biblical universals, how has it changed our attitudes and actions as regarding justice? prejudice? racism? classism? what do our presuppositions tell us about what our world view really reflects? Are we any better? We too need the understanding of the universal values.
But I contend that humans have, since The Fall, always been in the middle of a "revolutionary" era. To deal with this we need to comprehend the reconciliation that God offers. Therefore, we will begin now looking at The Universal values of God by studying God himself.