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R.J. Rushdoony
What Constitutes a Christian Education?
R.J. Rushdoony
But what constitutes a Christian education? Sometimes Christian Schools are Christian in name only: they are humanistic schools with Bible added to a humanistic course of studies. It is a serious mistake to assume, first, of all, that there is any neutral subject which can be taught in the same way by both Christian Schools and humanistic schools. To believe so is to deny God’s total sovereignty over all things. It means that areas exist where man, not God, is the Lord. There is no area of neutrality in all of creation. What we believe determines our perspective in mathematics, history, biology, geology, art, physical education, and everything else. The triune God is totally the creator of all things and thus totally their Lord and determiner. All subjects are either taught from a Biblical, a theistic perspective, or they are taught from a humanistic, a man-centered perspective.
Second, we must remember that facts are never neutral, as Cornelius Van Til has so powerfully taught us. Before there is a fact, there is a faith. The faith interprets and determines the facts. The “facts” of the universe are very different for a Buddhist, an existential humanist, and an orthodox Christian. For the Buddhist, all is illusion and misery; his faith requires a world and life negation. Maya and karma determine all things. For an existential humanist, “facts” have only a purely personal meaning, the meaning which each man assigns them. Neither man nor creation have any essence, any created and preordained meaning. Good and evil and every other form of meaning is self-generated: they are values I assign to things in terms of my will. Nothing has any meaning from God’s creative act; all meaning comes from man’s creative act.
In Biblical thought, however, every fact is God-created and God-interpreted, so that the meaning of all creation is to be understood in terms of Him and His Kingdom. St. Paul makes clear to the Corinthians that
3. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.
4. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. (I Cor. 4:3,4)
The word Paul uses for judge is anakrino, to examine, investigate, and question. Paul simply says that he has no right to examine, inquire about, investigate, question, and judge anything in terms of his own standards and tests. Similarly, he has no regard for any and all such judgments made about himself. The only criterion for investigation and judgment is the Lord and His word, and even then God’s full and clear judgment will only be apparent plainly and totally with the Last Judgment (I Cor. 4:5).
The plain implication here and elsewhere is that all study and investigation must be in terms of God’s word and the fact of God’s sovereignty as creator, sustainer, and Lord.
Third, not only does faith determine facts, but faith determines the mind. The humanistic philosophy of education gives priority to the humanistic mind. Intellectualism is the determiner: it is the true morality. The greater the level of humanistic education, supposedly the greater the level of moral character will be. Salvation is thus seen as the spread of humanistic education and knowledge over all the face of the earth.
For us, however, the spread of humanistic education is the spread of sin and apostasy. For us, education is even more to be desired than for the humanists, but it must be godly education and in terms of God’s whole counsel. Truth for us is not humanistic ideas, faiths and facts, but Jesus Christ (John 14:6), and for us “truth is in order to goodness,” and also to true knowledge. A man cannot be holy or moral outside of Jesus Christ, nor can a man have true knowledge apart from Him.
This means that Christian textbooks are a necessity. We as Christians are members of another kingdom, the Kingdom of God. We live, not in a meaningless, blind, and evolving universe of chance, but in a universe totally created and governed by God the Lord. We dare not know anyone or anything apart from the Lord, because His Lordship, rule, and purpose are total. A school course which is not systematically Biblical is a hidden enemy to the faith. Humanism has no place in our hearts, churches, homes, or classrooms.
The Philosophy of the Christian Curriculum, pp. 129-131
R.J. Rushdoony
But what constitutes a Christian education? Sometimes Christian Schools are Christian in name only: they are humanistic schools with Bible added to a humanistic course of studies. It is a serious mistake to assume, first, of all, that there is any neutral subject which can be taught in the same way by both Christian Schools and humanistic schools. To believe so is to deny God’s total sovereignty over all things. It means that areas exist where man, not God, is the Lord. There is no area of neutrality in all of creation. What we believe determines our perspective in mathematics, history, biology, geology, art, physical education, and everything else. The triune God is totally the creator of all things and thus totally their Lord and determiner. All subjects are either taught from a Biblical, a theistic perspective, or they are taught from a humanistic, a man-centered perspective.
Second, we must remember that facts are never neutral, as Cornelius Van Til has so powerfully taught us. Before there is a fact, there is a faith. The faith interprets and determines the facts. The “facts” of the universe are very different for a Buddhist, an existential humanist, and an orthodox Christian. For the Buddhist, all is illusion and misery; his faith requires a world and life negation. Maya and karma determine all things. For an existential humanist, “facts” have only a purely personal meaning, the meaning which each man assigns them. Neither man nor creation have any essence, any created and preordained meaning. Good and evil and every other form of meaning is self-generated: they are values I assign to things in terms of my will. Nothing has any meaning from God’s creative act; all meaning comes from man’s creative act.
In Biblical thought, however, every fact is God-created and God-interpreted, so that the meaning of all creation is to be understood in terms of Him and His Kingdom. St. Paul makes clear to the Corinthians that
3. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.
4. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. (I Cor. 4:3,4)
The word Paul uses for judge is anakrino, to examine, investigate, and question. Paul simply says that he has no right to examine, inquire about, investigate, question, and judge anything in terms of his own standards and tests. Similarly, he has no regard for any and all such judgments made about himself. The only criterion for investigation and judgment is the Lord and His word, and even then God’s full and clear judgment will only be apparent plainly and totally with the Last Judgment (I Cor. 4:5).
The plain implication here and elsewhere is that all study and investigation must be in terms of God’s word and the fact of God’s sovereignty as creator, sustainer, and Lord.
Third, not only does faith determine facts, but faith determines the mind. The humanistic philosophy of education gives priority to the humanistic mind. Intellectualism is the determiner: it is the true morality. The greater the level of humanistic education, supposedly the greater the level of moral character will be. Salvation is thus seen as the spread of humanistic education and knowledge over all the face of the earth.
For us, however, the spread of humanistic education is the spread of sin and apostasy. For us, education is even more to be desired than for the humanists, but it must be godly education and in terms of God’s whole counsel. Truth for us is not humanistic ideas, faiths and facts, but Jesus Christ (John 14:6), and for us “truth is in order to goodness,” and also to true knowledge. A man cannot be holy or moral outside of Jesus Christ, nor can a man have true knowledge apart from Him.
This means that Christian textbooks are a necessity. We as Christians are members of another kingdom, the Kingdom of God. We live, not in a meaningless, blind, and evolving universe of chance, but in a universe totally created and governed by God the Lord. We dare not know anyone or anything apart from the Lord, because His Lordship, rule, and purpose are total. A school course which is not systematically Biblical is a hidden enemy to the faith. Humanism has no place in our hearts, churches, homes, or classrooms.
The Philosophy of the Christian Curriculum, pp. 129-131
Kayak Rookie...and loving it.
Fishing beautiful Destin / Ft Walton Beach area!
Fishing beautiful Destin / Ft Walton Beach area!
II Chronicles 7:14
if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Replies
R. J. Rushdoony, Reconstructionist and Racist Bigot
May 1, 2009
by Lorette C. Luzajic
The name of this theologian may be unfamiliar, but most men of God are his heirs.
Jerry Falwell, Tim LaHaye, Howard Ahmanson, James Dobson, D. James Kennedy — almost every fundamentalist follows Rousas John Rushdoony, 1916-2001. Newsweek once referred to Rushdoony’s Chalcedon Foundation as the think tank of the religious right.
But what you won’t hear in Sunday school is that Rushdoony is a racist, sexist, Jew-hating bigot who denies the holocaust. Don’t take it from me: The British Centre for Science Education refers to him as “a man every bit as potentially murderous as Stalin, ****, Pol Pot or anyone else you may want to name amongst the annals of evil.”
Democracy Is of the Devil
Pullquote: To keep the secular indoctrination of sciences, arts, and feminism from poisoning society, Rushdoony advocated the death penalty according to Leviticus laws.
R.J.’s basic philosophy was that the Old Testament gave white man dominion over the earth, the animals, women, and heathen nations. Theocracy is God’s will, and democracy is apostasy — only Christians should be able to vote.
To keep the secular indoctrination of sciences, arts, and feminism from poisoning society, Rushdoony advocated the death penalty according to Leviticus laws. Among the 18 capital crimes were of course, adultery, witchcraft, homosexuality, and blasphemy.
Rushdoony is the driving backbone behind the home schooling movement, to guarantee kids would be brainwashed by the O.T. and not by history and literature.
Because R.J. sought to reconstruct the O.T. laws and overturn the apostate civic society, his work is called the Reconstructionist Movement.
Dominion and Stoning
R.J.’s foundation is a web ministry and magazine espousing Reconstructionist theology, promoting home schooling as defense against secularism. “The state, the school, the arts and sciences, law, economics, and every other sphere [is] to be under Christ the King. Nothing is exempt from His dominion.”
The magazine publishes thought provoking articles like W. Einwechter’s on stoning the rebellious child. “It displays the wisdom and mercy of God in restraining wickedness so that the righteous might flourish in peace.” (Jan. 99)
Slavery was Awesome for the ****
Pullquote: “The move from Africa to America was a vast increase of freedom for the ****, materially and spiritually.”
R.J. is best known for Institutes of Biblical Law, an 800 page opus on “the heresy of democracy.”
Here are a few interesting statements from the book:
“The move from Africa to America was a vast increase of freedom for the ****, materially and spiritually.”
Lazy slaves were “an albatross that hung the South, that bled it.”
“The University of Timbuktu never existed. The only thing that existed in Timbuktu was a small mud hut.”
“Some people are by nature slaves and will always be so.”
“The urge to dominion is God-given and is basic to the nature of man. An aspect of this dominion is property.”
“The false witness borne during World War II with respect to Germany (i.e., the death camps) is especially notable and revealing…. the number of Jews who died after deportation is approximately 1,200,000 … very many of these people died of epidemics.”
“All men are NOT created equal before God.”
“The matriarchal society is thus decadent and broken… matriarchal character of **** life is due to the moral failure of **** men, their failure …to provide authority. The same is true of American Indian tribes which are also matriarchal.”
And here are some quotes from Foundations of Social Order:
“An employer therefore has a property right to prefer whom he will, and he can prefer whom he will in terms of color, creed, race, or national origin.”
“Selective breeding in Christian countries has led to … the progressive elimination of defective persons.”
“A ‘Litany’ popular in these circles identifies ‘God’ with the city, with the ’****, black ******, ****, Buddhahead, and ****,’ with ‘all men,this concept runs deeply through the so-called Civil Rights Revolution… But …no society has ever existed without class and caste lines.”
The True Agenda of the Christian Right
But what about Christ’s softer love thy neighbour touch?
His son-in-law, North, explains for him that the Sermon on the Mount was clearly an ethical guide for slaves only!
Most of R.J.’s followers wisely keep his name out of their sermons. But careful examination of the Institutes on which their work is based reveals the truth: power and privilege for white men — God’s only true incarnation — is indeed the true agenda of the Christian right.
"Well Gary, the easiest way to look tall is to stand in a room full of short people." - Curtis Bostick
"All these forums, with barely any activity, are like a neglected old cemetery that no one visits anymore."- anonymouse
:rotflmao
http://www.bcse-revealed.info/bcse/bcse.rev/Main/HomePage.html
10 Questions with an Agnostic: Lorette C. Luzajic
But this losing my religion thing happened quickly and unexpectedly just after Obama’s inauguration.
5. Who are your heroes? Why?
Sacha Baron Cohen-what a genius. He was able to expose the truth about human nature over and over again.
Madonna. Here’s a woman who doesn’t throw in the towel when someone calls her a ****. Who tries new things, even if they fail. Who thinks big. Who is not afraid of women being sexual and intelligent at any age. Who is a massive supporter of the arts.
In my more religious moments I wondered whether or not Madonna might actually be the lady ‘messiah.’
At my church, I feel the presence of God and at my Dad’s, I feel abject loathing for the idiocy of Christians. And I don’t want these emotions to affect my reading. - See more at: http://fallenflawed.com/agnostic-lorette-luzajic/#sthash.i0g5JXJu.dpuf
Human Politics and Jesus don't mix well.
The best description of the tenets of Christian Reconstruction, as espoused by Dr. R. J. Rushdoony, is found in his "Christian Manifesto"1:
1.Sovereignty is an attribute of God alone, not of man nor the state. God alone is Lord or Sovereign over all things; over state, school, family, vocations, society and all things else.
2.The Bible is given as the common law of men and nations and was for most of U. S. History the common law, as Justice Story declared.
3.Salvation is not by politics, education, the church, or any agency or person other than Jesus Christ our Lord.
4.The myth of Machiavelli, that, by state control at the top, bad men can make a good society is at the root of our cultural crisis and growing collapse. A good omelet cannot be made with bad eggs. Truly redeemed men are necessary for a good society.2
5.Civil rulers who rule without the Lord and His law word are, as Augustine said, no different than a mafia, only more powerful.
6.The state is not the government, but one form of government among many, others being the self-government of the Christian man, the family, the school, the church, vocations and society. The state is civil government, a ministry of justice.
7.For the state to equate itself with government is tyranny and evil.
8.The Christian man is the only true free man in all the world, and he is called to exercise dominion over all the earth.
9.Humanism is the way of death and is the essence of original sin, or man trying to be his own god.
10.All men, things, and institutions must serve God, or be judged by Him.
"It is urgently important that we think now of Christian reconstruction, but our thinking cannot be idle talk: it must be both Biblical and also practically applied in our daily life. There are many people ready to eliminate statism, but they have nothing but wishing to replace it. How then will independent schools, private welfare, and individual initiative deal with the vast complex of our social problems? Already most of our Christian conservative causes, and Christian schools, are continually short of funds. What is the answer?
"In any advanced social order, social financing is a major public necessity. The social order cannot exist without a vast network of social institutions which require financing and support. If a Christian concept of social financing is lacking, then the state moves in quickly to supply the lack and gain the social control which results. Social financing means social power."3
1. R. J. Rushdoony, Chalcedon Report No. 225, “A Christian Manifesto,” April 1984 (c.f., Roots of Reconstruction, p. 1114f).
2. This is not to suggest that Rushdoony endorsed simply replacing “bad men” with “godly men” at the top of a state-run society. Rushdoony’s concept of theocracy was not a centralized form of power in the hands of clerical leaders. He wrote, “Few things are more commonly misunderstood than the nature and meaning of theocracy. It is commonly assumed to be a dictatorial rule by self-appointed men who claim to rule for God. In reality, theocracy in Biblical law is the closest thing to a radical libertarianism that can be had” (Roots of Reconstruction, p. 63).
3. R. J. Rushdoony, Roots of Reconstruction (Vallecito, CA: Ross House Books, 1991), 605.
http://chalcedon.edu/topics/christian-reconstruction/
Substitute Islam for Christianity in the above just for giggles.
"Well Gary, the easiest way to look tall is to stand in a room full of short people." - Curtis Bostick
"All these forums, with barely any activity, are like a neglected old cemetery that no one visits anymore."- anonymouse
Let's examine just what R.J. means by the term "dominion"
Dominionism and Dominion Theology
Dominionism and Dominion Theology are not denominations or faith groups. Rather, they are interrelated beliefs which are followed by members of a wide range of Christian denominations.
In his article on dominionism, researcher and author Chip Berlet credits sociologist Sara Diamond with popularizing the term dominionism as "a growing political tendency in the Christian Right." Diamond defined dominionism in 1995 as:
Christians alone are Biblically mandated to occupy all secular institutions until Christ returns--and there is no consensus on when that might be.
"Dominionism," Berlet writes, "is .. a tendency among Protestant Christian evangelicals and fundamentalists that encourages them to not only be active political participants in civic society, but also seek to dominate the political process as part of a mandate from God.
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." (King James Version).
"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground.'" (New International Version).
The vast majority of Christians read this text and conclude that God has appointed them stewards and caretakers of Earth. As Sara Diamond explains, however, some Christian read the text and believe, "that Christians alone are Biblically mandated to occupy all secular institutions until Christ returns--and there is no consensus on when that might be." That, in a nutshell, is the idea of "dominionism."
The Christian Right, Dominionism and Theocracy - Part II by Chip Berlet, December 5, 2005:
In her 1989 book Spiritual Warfare , sociologist Sara Diamond discussed how dominionism as an ideological tendency in the Christian Right had been significantly influenced by Christian Reconstructionism. Over the past 20 years the leading proponents of Christian Reconstructionism and dominion theology have included Rousas John (R.J.) Rushdoony, Gary North, Greg Bahnsen, David Chilton, Gary DeMar, and Andrew Sandlin.
Diamond explained that "the primary importance of the [Christian Reconstructionist] ideology is its role as a catalyst for what is loosely called 'dominion theology.'" According to Diamond, "Largely through the impact of Rushdoony's and North's writings, the concept that Christians are Biblically mandated to 'occupy' all secular institutions has become the central unifying ideology for the Christian Right." (italics in the original).
In a series of articles and book chapters Diamond expanded on her thesis. She called Reconstructionism "the most intellectually grounded, though esoteric, brand of dominion theology," and observed that "promoters of Reconstructionism see their role as ideological entrepreneurs committed to a long-term struggle."
So Christian Reconstructionism was the most influential form of dominion theology, and it influenced both the theological concepts and political activism of white Protestant conservative evangelicals mobilized by the Christian Right.
But very few evangelicals have even heard of dominion theology, and fewer still embrace Christian Reconstructionism. How do we explain this, especially since our critics are quick to point it out? more
The Christian Right, Dominionism, and Theocracy - Part Three, Talk To Action, December 12, 2005:
Open advocates of dominionism declare that "America is a Christian Nation," and that therefore Christians have a God-given mandate to re-assert Christian control over political, social, and cultural institutions. Yet many dominionists stop short of staking out a position that could be called theocratic. This is the "soft" version of dominionism.
The "hard" version of dominionism is explicitly theocratic or "theonomic," as the Christian Reconstructionists prefer to be called. For America, it is a distinction without a difference.
Christian Reconstructionism arose out of conservative Presbyterianism in the early 1970's. Adherents of Christian Reconstructionism believe " that every area dominated by sin must be 'reconstructed' in terms of the Bible ."
Its followers ... are attempting to peacefully convert the laws of the United States so that they match those of the Hebrew Scriptures. They intend to achieve this by using the freedom of religion in the US to train a generation of children in private Christian religious schools. Later, their graduates will be charged with the responsibility of creating a new Bible-based political, religious and social order. One of the first tasks of this order will be to eliminate religious choice and freedom. Their eventual goal is to achieve the "Kingdom of God" in which much of the world is converted to Christianity. more
The Christian Right, Dominionism, and Theocracy - Part Four, Talk To Action, December 19, 2005
From What is Christian Reconstructionism? by Frederick Clarkson:
A general outline of what the reconstructed 'Kingdom,' or confederation of Biblical theocracies, would look like emerges from the large body of Reconstructionist literature. This society would feature a minimal national government, whose main function would be defense by the armed forces. No social services would be provided outside the church, which would be responsible for 'health, education, and welfare.' A radically unfettered capitalism (except in so far as it clashed with Biblical Law) would prevail. Society would return to the gold or silver standard or abolish paper money altogether. The public schools would be abolished. Government functions, including taxes, would be primarily at the county level.
Women would be relegated primarily to the home and home schools, and would be banned from government. Those qualified to vote or hold office would be limited to males from Biblically correct churches.
Dominion theology provides the theological rationale for a "Christian" nation. John F. Sugg writes in the Weekly Planet, Tampa, Florida, March 2004:
Dominion theologians ... preached ... that it was Christians' job to take over the world and impose biblical rule. Christ would not return, they said, until the church had claimed dominion over all of the world's governments and institutions ...
In 2000, the Republican Party of Texas declared that it "affirms that the United States is a Christian nation." Last month, [February 11, 2004,] that sentiment reached the national level. The Constitution Restoration Act of 2004 would acknowledge Christianity's God as the "sovereign source" of our laws. It would reach back in history and reverse all judicial decisions that have built a wall between church and state, and it would prohibit federal judges from making such rulings in the future.
From Reconstructionism to Dominionism, Part 1 by Southern Baptist Minister Bruce Prescott:
If Rushdoony and his disciples have their way, democracy will be abolished and a Christian theocracy will be established. A theocracy based on the Bible along the lines of John Cotton's Massachusetts Bay Colony. Rushdoony wrote, "The only true order is founded on Biblical Law. All law is religious in nature, and every non-Biblical law-order represents an anti-Christian religion." (p. 113) He also made it clear that he expects that force will be necessary to impose such order, "Every law-order is in a state of war against the enemies of that order, and all law is a form of warfare." (p. 93)
From Reconstructionism to Dominionism, Part 2 by Southern Baptist Minister Bruce Prescott::
Despite their differences over the tactics and strategy, all Reconstructionists are committed to making the laws of Ancient Israel the law of the land in the U.S.
A Nation Under God, by John Sugg in Mother Jones, December/January Issue (see whole issue, but this article is a particular favorite of mine -- great update on the Christian Reconstruction movement)
From: The Covert Kingdom -- Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Texas, Joe Bageant www.dissidentvoice.org May 18, 2004:
Christian Reconstructionism has for decades exerted one hell of an influence through its scores of books, publications and classes taught in colleges and universities. Over the past 30 years, Reconstructionist doctrine has permeated not only the religious right, but mainstream churches as well, via the charismatic movement. Its impact on politics and religion in this nation have been massive, with many mainstream churches pushed rightward by pervasive Reconstructionism, without even knowing it.
Kingdom Now/Dominion/Restoration theology, Talk To Action, December 19, 2005
The Rise of Dominionism: Remaking America as a Christian Nation by Frederick Clarkson, The Public Eye
Blogging for Theocracy, Talk To Action, November 29, 2005
Deconstructing the Dominionists, Part III, Dailykos, July 6, 2006
Deconstructing the Dominionists, Part II, Dailykos, June 29, 2006
Deconstructing the Dominionists, Part I, Dailykos, June 21, 2006
The Manipulations of Dominionism, Discernment Newsletter, July/August, 2006
http://www.theocracywatch.org/dominionism.htm
"Well Gary, the easiest way to look tall is to stand in a room full of short people." - Curtis Bostick
"All these forums, with barely any activity, are like a neglected old cemetery that no one visits anymore."- anonymouse
The thing is, when you see the labels racist and **** in the same paragraph, the source is to be considered. In this case, the two sources in #2 are at least as intolerant/bigoted as the subject.
They do indeed speak for themselves.
And they speak to those very things. I have a lot more about R.J. , the Presbyterian Church of America (which I suspect our OP is) his son in law Gary North (Christian economic historian, whatever that means) and this guy, also mentioned above.
"Well Gary, the easiest way to look tall is to stand in a room full of short people." - Curtis Bostick
"All these forums, with barely any activity, are like a neglected old cemetery that no one visits anymore."- anonymouse
The anti-Christians' witch hunt to expose to them as a threat to democracy (along with attempts to link all Christians to their ideology) is probably responsible for the majority of their notoriety these days.
I'm Christian and a very orthodox one and credentialed by public confirmation awarded through study. I didn't start my religion in its name or simply declare myself one in self-confirmation.
So want some more?
Try this:
"the heresy of democracy has since then worked havoc in church and state"
"... Christianity and democracy are inevitably enemies."
"Christianity is completely and radically anti-democratic; it is committed to spiritual aristocracy,"
Saying of democracy "the great love of the failures and cowards of life."
The Institutes of Biblical Law - R. J. Rushdoony 1973
"Well Gary, the easiest way to look tall is to stand in a room full of short people." - Curtis Bostick
"All these forums, with barely any activity, are like a neglected old cemetery that no one visits anymore."- anonymouse
Nothing surprising though.
A southeast Florida laid back beach bum and volunteer bikini assessor who lives on island time.
Rousas John Rushdoony(1916-2001) was born in New York City to recently arrived Armenian immigrants who had fled the Turkish massacres of 1915-1916. Within weeks his parents moved to Kingsburg, California, where his father founded an Armenian-speaking Presbyterian church. He spent his boyhood, save for a time when his father was a pastor in Detroit, Michigan, on the family farm in Kingsburg.
Rushdoony graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a B.A. in English in 1938 and an M.A. in education in 1940. He attended Pacific School of Religion, a Congregational and Methodist seminary near the Berkeley campus, and graduated in 1944. He was ordained that year by the Presbyterian Church, USA and was a missionary to the Paiute and Shoshone Indians on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation in a remote area of Nevada for eight and a half years.
In 1953 Rushdoony took a pastorate in Santa Cruz, California, a small retirement town on the ocean. He left the PCUSA in 1958 and joined the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, bringing into it another church in Santa Cruz. While in Santa Cruz he published By What Standard? an analysis of the thinking of Cornelius Van Til, who argued that the Christian must not base his thinking on autonomous human reason, but rather on self-consciously Scriptural grounds. Van Til was a professor of religion, but Rushdoony expanded Van Til’s “presuppositional” thinking to all of life and thought.Rushdoony’s writings therefore cover a broad spectrum of subjects because he believed in rethinking all area in terms of the Word of God. These areas included theological and Biblical studies as well as history, education, law, science, philosophy, psychology, economics, and epistemology.
By the mid-1950’s Rushdoony had also firmly adopted a post millennial eschatology, which gave his writings a characteristically optimistic perspective. During his pastoral years in Santa Cruz he published Intellectual Schizophrenia and finished The Messianic Character of American Education. These two books stirred a great deal of interest in the establishment of Christian schools. Later, in the 1970’s and 80’s, when Christian and home schools and parental control of children’s education was challenged, Rushdoony frequently appeared around the U.S. as an expert defense witness on behalf of churches, schools, and parents.
In 1962 Rushdoony retired from the full-time pastorate and became a researcher and writer, first for the William Volker Fund and then with its spin-off, the Center for American Studies, before working on The One and the Many on a research grant. This book examined the necessity of a Trinitarian approach to the philosophical tension between unity or diversity as ultimate.
In 1965 Rushdoony founded Chalcedon, a Christian educational think-tank. His own personal monthly newsletter eventually developed into the Chalcedon Report, a monthly magazine.
In 1974 one of the last major aspects of Rushdoony’s thought was published with the first volume of The Institutes of Biblical Law. In this volume he advocated the applicability of Biblical Law. In doing so, Rushdoony distinguished between justification, God’s declaration of our righteousness on the merits of Christ’s atonement which is by grace and sanctification, which is the believer’s growth in grace. Sanctification, he held, was to be oriented around greater obedience to the Word of God. A believer in covenant theology,Rushdoony held Old and New Testament to be binding except where Christ’s person and work clearly superseded the old covenant.Rushdoony’s work on Biblical law gave rise to the theonomy, or theonomic (literally “law of God”) movement, though he personally used that term less frequently than others, preferring to refer to “Biblical law” or “the law of God.”
Rushdoony’s optimistic eschatology, combined with his belief in the Lordship of Christ, Van Tillian persuppositional thinking and particularly his affirmation of Biblical law gave rise to what he termed “Christian reconstructionism,” the idea that Christianity must proclaim not only personal renewal in the gospel, but God’s requirements for every area of life and thought in personal, social, economic and cultural settings. Never an organized movement but rather a perspective on Christian duty, the term “Christian reconstruction” was used by others with differing approaches to its meaning.
In later years, Rushdoonywrote many works, some yet to be published. He also published several commentaries and published his Systematic Theology in two volumes.
http://www.christrules.com/about-rj-rushdoony/
Fishing beautiful Destin / Ft Walton Beach area!
"This means that Christian textbooks are a necessity. We as Christians are members of another kingdom, the Kingdom of God. We live, not in a meaningless, blind, and evolving universe of chance, but in a universe totally created and governed by God the Lord. We dare not know anyone or anything apart from the Lord, because His Lordship, rule, and purpose are total. A school course which is not systematically Biblical is a hidden enemy to the faith. Humanism has no place in our hearts, churches, homes, or classrooms."
As "the father of the Christian homeschool movement" this is his well deserved legacy:
Substituting nonsense for academics should be considered child abuse.
"Well Gary, the easiest way to look tall is to stand in a room full of short people." - Curtis Bostick
"All these forums, with barely any activity, are like a neglected old cemetery that no one visits anymore."- anonymouse
Fishing beautiful Destin / Ft Walton Beach area!
Next!
"Well Gary, the easiest way to look tall is to stand in a room full of short people." - Curtis Bostick
"All these forums, with barely any activity, are like a neglected old cemetery that no one visits anymore."- anonymouse
That's how I know I am doing things right. When I get opposition from the likes of you. Count it all joy brethren when you encounter various trials. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Fishing beautiful Destin / Ft Walton Beach area!
You're welcome to quote the fool 'til sundown, I still don't see a declining and unpopular movement as a credible threat to democracy.
Your sources in #2 are anti-Christians who want people to think he is/they are a threat to democracy; I suppose I could have left out the witch hunt part.
A lot fewer people would be talking about these goofballs if the atheists didn't bring them up every time they feel a mouth-frothing attack on Christians will get them twitter followers.
That there are two of them constantly proselytizing here would indicate otherwise.
They are not anti-Christian. I would describe them as anti-crazy, since they believe that these are not Christians at all. There was nothing inaccurate in those commentaries. Its all easily documented and footnoted.
This thread was started by a guy who subscribes to the "goofballs" philosophy.
So, you may want to explain that to him and our other PCA friend who will be appearing shortly.
Atheists really don't give a **** about this stuff, BTW, other than rolling it up and sticking it in the mock-Christian's eyes for laughs.
"Well Gary, the easiest way to look tall is to stand in a room full of short people." - Curtis Bostick
"All these forums, with barely any activity, are like a neglected old cemetery that no one visits anymore."- anonymouse
What right-wing thumper worth any salt at all would use a man's words to determine what position he may hold to be truth?