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Rousas John Rushdoony (April 25, 1916 – February 8, 2001) was an
Armenian-American Armenian Americans () are citizens or residents of the United States who have total or partial Armenian ancestry. They form the second largest community of the Armenian diaspora after Armenians in Russia. The first major wave of Armenian immig ...
Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...
philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
,
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...
, and
theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...
. He is credited as being the father of
Christian Reconstructionism Christian reconstructionism is a fundamentalist Calvinist theonomic movement. It developed primarily under the direction of R. J. Rushdoony, Greg Bahnsen and Gary North and has had an important influence on the Christian right in the Unit ...
and an inspiration for the modern Christian homeschool movement. His followers and critics have argued that his thought exerts considerable influence on the
evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
Christian right The Christian right are Christian political factions characterized by their strong support of socially conservative and traditionalist policies. Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with their interpretation ...
.


Biography

Rousas John Rushdoony () was born in New York City, the son of recently arrived Ottoman Armenian immigrants Vartanoush (née Gazarian) and Yegheazar Khachig Rushdoony. Before his parents fled the
Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...
of 1915, his ancestors had lived in a remote area near
Mount Ararat Mount Ararat, also known as Masis or Mount Ağrı, is a snow-capped and dormant compound volcano in Eastern Turkey, easternmost Turkey. It consists of two major volcanic cones: Greater Ararat and Little Ararat. Greater Ararat is the highest p ...
in what is now
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
. It is said that since the year 320 AD, every generation of the Rushdoony family has produced a Christian priest or minister. Rushdoony himself claimed that his ancestors "would perpetually give a member of their family to be a priest to perform a kind of Aaronic priesthood as in the
Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
, an hereditary priesthood. Whoever in the family felt called would become the priest. And our family did so. So from the early 300's until now there has always been someone in the ministry in the family." Within weeks of arriving in America, his parents moved to the small farming community of
Kingsburg, California Kingsburg is a city in Fresno County, California, United States. Kingsburg is located southeast of Selma, California, Selma at an elevation of , on the banks of the Kings River (California), Kings River. The city is from Fresno, California, ...
, in
Fresno County Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most populo ...
, where a number of other Armenian families had relocated. They then converted from the
Armenian Apostolic Church The Armenian Apostolic Church () is the Autocephaly, autocephalous national church of Armenia. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christianity, Christian churches. The Armenian Apostolic Church, like the Armenian Catholic ...
to
Presbyterianism Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
. In Kingsburg, his father Yegheazar founded a church, Armenian Martyrs Presbyterian. Rousas learned to read English by poring over the family's
King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by ...
: "By the time I reached my teens I had read the Bible through from cover to cover, over and over and over again.” The family moved in 1925 for a short time to
Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
, where his father pastored another Armenian church. They returned to Kingsburg in 1931, and Rousas completed school in California. His father was the pastor of Bethel Armenian Presbyterian Church in San Francisco in 1942. Rousas had a younger sister, Rose (named after their mother), and a brother, Haig. His father died in Fresno in 1961.


Education

Rushdoony attended public schools, where he learned English, but Armenian was the language spoken at home. He continued his education at the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
, where he earned a
B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...
in English in 1938, a
teaching credential A certified teacher (also known as registered teacher, licensed teacher, or professional teacher based on jurisdiction) is an educator who has earned credentials from an authoritative source, such as a government's regulatory authority, an educ ...
in 1939, and an M.A. in Education in 1940. Rushdoony and Arda Gent married in San Francisco the week before Christmas 1943. Rushdoony attended the
Pacific School of Religion The Pacific School of Religion (PSR) is a Private university, private Protestant seminary in Berkeley, California. It maintains Covenant (religion), covenantal relationships with the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, and the ...
, a Congregationalist and
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
seminary in
Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...
, from which he graduated in 1944. Through letters over the years, he kept up his friendship with his Pacific School of Religion mentor, theology professor George Huntston Williams, who saw in him the "heir of a great national Christian heritage" who would "enunciate anew the Gospel which seems to have been forgotten for a season." In 1944, he was
ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...
by the
Presbyterian Church in the United States of America The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) was a Presbyterian denomination existing from 1789 to 1958. In that year, the PCUSA merged with the United Presbyterian Church of North America. The new church was named the United ...
. He was later awarded an honorary Ph.D. from Valley Christian University for his book, ''The Philosophy of the Christian Curriculum''. Gary North stated that Rushdoony read at least one book a day, six days a week, for fifty years of his life, underlining sentences and making an index of its main ideas in the rear.


Ministry

Rushdoony and his wife Arda served for eight and a half years as
missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...
to the
Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ), also known by the endonym Newe, are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the United States with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshon ...
and
Paiute Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three languages do not form a single subgroup and th ...
Indians on the remote
Duck Valley Indian Reservation The Duck Valley Indian Reservation () was established in the 19th century for the federally recognized Shoshone- Paiute Tribe. It is isolated in the high desert of the western United States, and lies on the state line, the 42nd parallel, betwee ...
in northern Nevada. They lived in the reservation's primary town, Owyhee. It was during their mission to the Native Americans that Rushdoony began writing. Arda taught at the reservation school and Sunday school, led a Girl Scout troop, coached the girls' basketball team, and visited with families. In 1945, they adopted Ronald, an orphaned baby from the reservation. Between 1947 and 1952 in Owyhee, four daughters were born to them. In late 1952, Rushdoony took an American Presbyterian Church pastorate at Trinity Presbyterian Church in
Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish language, Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the largest city and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, California, Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population ...
, and the family left Duck Valley in January 1953. Their son Mark was born the next month in Santa Cruz. In Santa Cruz, Rushdoony became a reader of the Christian libertarian magazine ''Faith and Freedom'', which advocated an "anti-tax, non-interventionist, anti-statist economic model" in opposition to
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
's
New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...
. ''Faith and Freedom''s views on government aligned with Rushdoony's fears of centralized government power, given the Rushdoony family's memories of the Armenian Genocide. Rushdoony contributed articles to ''Faith and Freedom'', including one describing his observations of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation, arguing that government support had reduced residents to "social and personal irresponsibility". The Rushdoonys separated in 1957 and later divorced. About this time, Rushdoony transferred his church membership from the American Presbyterian Church to the Orthodox Presbyterian denomination. The Orthodox Presbyterian Church's newsletter, ''The Presbyterian Guardian'', reported in July 1958 that "the Rev. Rousas J. Rushdoony… was received and a new Orthodox Presbyterian Church organized, consisting of ixty-six charter memberswho had separated from the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. in Santa Cruz." In their petition, the group asked that Rushdoony be ordained as their pastor and stated, " cannot abide in any church which seeks to define righteousness or sin, salvation or sanctification, except in terms of the Word of God. We have witnessed, here in Santa Cruz, against modernism, man-made perfectionism, and church bureaucracy". The newsletter article goes on to report, "The Presbytery in receiving the church also examined Mr. Thomas Kirkwood and Mr. Kenneth Webb as prospective elders, and they with Mr. Rushdoony were constituted the session of the church," and announced the publication of Rushdoony's ''By What Standard?'' later that year.


Later life

The May 1962 edition of ''The Presbyterian Guardian'' reported Rushdoony's resignation, noted as "reportedly to devote his time for his writing and lecturing." Rushdoony married his second wife, Dorothy Barbara Ross Kirkwood, in 1962. She died in 2003. Rushdoony moved to Los Angeles in 1965 and founded the
Chalcedon Foundation The Chalcedon Foundation is an American Christian Reconstructionist organization, founded by Rousas John Rushdoony in 1965. Named for the Council of Chalcedon, it has also included theologians such as Gary North, who later founded his own or ...
; the monthly ''Chalcedon Report'', which Rushdoony edited, began appearing that October. His daughter Sharon later married Gary North, a Christian Reconstructionist writer and economic historian. North and Rushdoony became collaborators, and their partnership lasted until 1981 when it ended due to a dispute over the content of one of North's articles. Following the dispute, North and Chalcedon continued to promote each other's views independently, but they did not reach a "truce" until 1995. Under Rushdoony, the Chalcedon Foundation grew to twelve staff members with 25,000–40,000 people on their mailing lists during the 1980s. Chalcedon and Reconstructionism obtained the support of major Christian book publishers and endorsements from influential evangelical leaders, including
Pat Robertson Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson (March 22, 1930 – June 8, 2023) was an American Media proprietor, media mogul, Televangelism, televangelist, political commentator, presidential candidate, and charismatic movement, charismatic minister. Rober ...
,
Jerry Falwell Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. (August 11, 1933 – May 15, 2007) was an American Baptist pastor, televangelist, and conservatism in the United States, conservative activist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch ...
, and Frank Schaeffer (who later repudiated the movement). Rushdoony died in 2001 with his children at his side. Rushdoony's son, Mark R. Rushdoony, became and remains the president of the Chalcedon Foundation and editor of the ''Chalcedon Report''.


Philosophical and theological contributions

Michael J. McVicar summarized Rushdoony's theology and philosophy as follows: Rushdoony developed his philosophy as an extension of the work of Calvinist philosopher
Cornelius Van Til Cornelius Van Til (May 3, 1895 – April 17, 1987) was a Dutch-American Reformed theologian, who is credited as being the originator of modern presuppositional apologetics. A graduate of Calvin College, Van Til later received his PhD from Pr ...
. Van Til critiqued human knowledge in light of the Calvinist doctrine of
total depravity Total depravity (also called radical corruption or pervasive depravity) is a Protestant theological doctrine derived from the concept of original sin Original sin () in Christian theology refers to the condition of sinfulness that all h ...
. He argued that sin affected a person's ability to reason. In order to be rational, Van Til claimed, one must presuppose the existence of God and the inerrant, divine inspiration of the (Protestant)
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
. Rushdoony attended to the implications – where Van Til held true knowledge came from God, Rushdoony asserted that "all non-Christian knowledge is sinful, invalid nonsense. The only valid knowledge that non-Christians possess is 'stolen' from 'Christian-theistic' sources." In effect, Rushdoony extended Van Til's thinking from philosophy to "all of life and thought."


Early writings

Rushdoony began to promote the works of Calvinist philosophers Cornelius Van Til and
Herman Dooyeweerd Herman Dooyeweerd, also spelled Herman Dooijeweerd (7 October 1894, Amsterdam – 12 February 1977, Amsterdam), was a professor of law and jurisprudence at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam from 1926 to 1965. He was also a philosopher and princ ...
into a short survey of contemporary
humanism Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and Agency (philosophy), agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The me ...
called ''By What Standard?''. Arguing for a Calvinist system of thought, Rushdoony dealt with subjects as broad as
epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...
and cognitive metaphysics and as narrow as the
psychology of religion Psychology of religion consists of the application of psychological methods and interpretive frameworks to the diverse contents of religious traditions as well as to both religious and irreligious individuals. The various methods and frameworks ...
and
predestination Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby Go ...
. He wrote a book, ''The One And The Many: Studies in the Philosophy of Order and Ultimacy'', using Van Tillian presuppositional philosophy to critique various aspects of
secular humanism Secular humanism is a philosophy, belief system, or life stance that embraces human reason, logic, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism, while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basi ...
. He also wrote many essays and book reviews, published in such venues as the '' Westminster Theological Journal''.


Homeschooling

Rushdoony's next focus was on education, especially on behalf of
homeschooling Homeschooling or home schooling (American English), also known as home education or elective home education (EHE) (British English), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted ...
, which he saw as a way to combat the intentionally secular nature of the U.S. public school system. By the early 1980s, he was active in the homeschooling movement, appearing as an
expert witness An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...
in order to defend the rights of homeschoolers. He vigorously attacked progressive
school reform A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of ...
ers such as
Horace Mann Horace Mann (May 4, 1796August 2, 1859) was an American educational reformer, slavery abolitionist and Whig Party (United States), Whig politician known for his commitment to promoting public education, he is thus also known as ''The Father of A ...
and
John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and Education reform, educational reformer. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the first half of the twentieth century. The overridi ...
and argued for the dismantling of the state's influence on education in three works: ''Intellectual Schizophrenia'' (a general and concise study of education), ''The Messianic Character of American Education'' (a history and castigation of public education in the U.S.), and ''The Philosophy of the Christian Curriculum'' (a parent-oriented pedagogical statement).


History

Rushdoony then pursued history – of the world, of the United States, and of the church. He maintained that Calvinistic Christianity provided the intellectual roots for the
American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
and thus had always had an influential impact in
American history The history of the present-day United States began in roughly 15,000 BC with the arrival of Peopling of the Americas, the first people in the Americas. In the late 15th century, European colonization of the Americas, European colonization beg ...
. The American Revolution, according to Rushdoony, was a "conservative counterrevolution" to preserve American liberties from British usurpation and it owed nothing to the
Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...
. He further argued that the
United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...
was a secular document in appearance only and did not need to establish Christianity as an official religion since the states were already Christian establishments. Drawing on the work of theologian
Robert Lewis Dabney Robert Lewis Dabney (March 5, 1820 – January 3, 1898) was a Presbyterian Church in the United States, Southern Presbyterian pastor and theologian, Confederate States Army, Confederate army chaplain, and architect from Virginia. He was also ...
, Rushdoony argued that the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
"destroyed the early American Republic, which he envisioned as a decentralized Protestant
feudal system Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structuring socie ...
and an orthodox Christian nation." Rushdoony saw the North's victory as a "defeat for Christian orthodoxy." Some historians have argued that this aspect of Rushdoony's thought influenced some activists in the
Neo-Confederate Neo-Confederates are groups and individuals who portray the Confederate States of America and its actions during the American Civil War in a positive light. The League of the South (formed in 1994), the Sons of Confederate Veterans (formed 1896 ...
movement and Southern conservatives such as J. Steven Wilkins. He would further this study in his works on American
ideology An ideology is a set of beliefs or values attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely about belief in certain knowledge, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones". Form ...
and
historiography Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...
, ''This Independent Republic: Studies in the Nature and Meaning of American History'' and ''The Nature of the American System''. On the matter of Israel's place in history, he believed that the prophet Daniel "makes clear that God by-passed His chosen people in favor of four great monarchies...and then called forth a Fifth Monarchy which is by no means identified with Israel".


Christian Reconstruction

Rushdoony's most important area of writing, however, was
law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...
and
politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...
, as expressed in his small book of popular essays ''Law & Liberty'' and discussed in much greater detail in his three-volume, 1,894-page
magnum opus A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...
, ''
The Institutes of Biblical Law ''The Institutes of Biblical Law'' is a 1973 book by the philosopher and theologian Rousas Rushdoony, Rousas John Rushdoony. It is the first volume of a three-volume work, also referred to by the same title, which is modeled after John Calvin's ' ...
''. With a title modeled after Calvin's ''
Institutes of the Christian Religion ''Institutes of the Christian Religion'' () is John Calvin's seminal work of systematic theology. Regarded as one of the most influential works of Protestant theology, it was published in Latin in 1536 at the same time as Henry VIII of England's ...
'', Rushdoony's ''Institutes'' was arguably his most influential work. In the book, he proposed that
Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
law should be applied to modern
society A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...
and that there should be a Christian
theonomy Theonomy (from Greek ''theos'' "God" and ''nomos'' "law") is a hypothetical Christian form of government in which divine law governs societies. Theonomists hold that societies should observe divine law, particularly the Old Testament’s judici ...
, a concept developed in his colleague
Greg Bahnsen Gregory Lyle Bahnsen (; September 17, 1948 – December 11, 1995), credited in most of his books as Greg Bahnsen, was an American Calvinist philosopher and Christian apologist. He was a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and a fu ...
's controversial book ''Theonomy in Christian Ethics,'' which Rushdoony heartily endorsed. In the ''Institutes'', Rushdoony supported the reinstatement of the Mosaic law's penal sanctions. Under such a system, the list of civil crimes which carried a death sentence would include
homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...
,
adultery Adultery is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal consequences, the concept ...
,
incest Incest ( ) is sexual intercourse, sex between kinship, close relatives, for example a brother, sister, or parent. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by lineag ...
, lying about one's
virginity Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereo ...
, bestiality,
witchcraft Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...
,
idolatry Idolatry is the worship of an idol as though it were a deity. In Abrahamic religions (namely Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith) idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than the Abrahamic ...
or
apostasy Apostasy (; ) is the formal religious disaffiliation, disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that is contrary to one's previous re ...
, public
blasphemy Blasphemy refers to an insult that shows contempt, disrespect or lack of Reverence (emotion), reverence concerning a deity, an object considered sacred, or something considered Sanctity of life, inviolable. Some religions, especially Abrahamic o ...
, false prophesying,
kidnapping Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...
,
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
, and bearing false witness in a capital case. Although he supported the
separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and Jurisprudence, jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the State (polity), state. Conceptually, the term refers to ...
at the national level, Rushdoony also believed that both institutions were under the rule of
God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
, and thus he conceived
secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion. It is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened ...
as posing endless false dichotomies, which his massive work addresses in considerable detail. In short, he sought to cast a vision for the reconstruction of society based on Christian principles. The book was critical of
democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...
. He wrote that "the heresy of democracy has since then worked havoc in church and state ... Christianity and democracy are inevitably enemies" because democracy asserts the will of man over the will of God. According to Frank Schaeffer, who knew Rushdoony, Rushdoony supported the re-institution of the slave trade, corporal punishment for children, burning people at the stake and public executions. Rushdoony believed that a
republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...
is a better form of civil government than a democracy. According to Rushdoony, a republic avoided mob rule and the rule of the "51%" of society; in other words "might does not make right" in a republic. Rushdoony wrote that America's separation of powers between three branches of government is a far more neutral and better method of civil government than a direct democracy, stating " e
merican ''Merican'' is an Extended play, EP by the American punk rock band Descendents, released February 10, 2004. It was the band's first release for Fat Wreck Chords and served as a pre-release to their sixth studio album ''Cool to Be You'', released ...
Constitution was designed to perpetuate a Christian order". Rushdoony argues that the Constitution's purpose was to protect religion from the federal government and to preserve "states' rights." Rushdoony's work has been used by
Dominion Theology Dominion theology, also known as dominionism, is a group of Christian political ideologies that seek to institute a nation governed by Christians and based on their understandings of biblical law. Extents of rule and ways of acquiring governing ...
advocates who attempt to implement a Christian
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
subject to Biblical law in the United States. Authority, behavioral boundaries,
economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...
,
penology Penology (also penal theory) is a Academic discipline, subfield of criminology that deals with the philosophy and practice of various societies in their attempts to repress crime, criminal activities, and satisfy public opinion via an appropriate ...
and the like would all be governed by biblical principles in Rushdoony's vision, but he also proposed a wide system of freedom, especially in the economic sphere, and claimed
Ludwig von Mises Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (; ; September 29, 1881 – October 10, 1973) was an Austrian-American political economist and philosopher of the Austrian school. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on the social contributions of classical l ...
as an intellectual mentor; he called himself a Christian
libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...
. Rushdoony was the founder in 1965 of the
Chalcedon Foundation The Chalcedon Foundation is an American Christian Reconstructionist organization, founded by Rousas John Rushdoony in 1965. Named for the Council of Chalcedon, it has also included theologians such as Gary North, who later founded his own or ...
and the editor of its monthly magazine, the ''Chalcedon Report''. He also published the ''Journal of Christian Reconstruction'' and was an early board member of the
Rutherford Institute The Rutherford Institute is a public interest law firm dedicated to the defense of civil liberties, human rights, and religious liberties. Based in Charlottesville, Virginia, the non-profit organization's motto is "It's our job to make the gove ...
, founded in 1982 by John W. Whitehead. In 1972, Cornelius Van Til "disclaimed affiliation" with Rushdoony and the Christian Reconstructionist movement, writing "...I am frankly a little concerned about the political views of Mr. Rushdoony and Mr. North and particularly if I am correctly informed about some of the views Gary North has with respect to the application of Old Testament principles to our day. My only point is that I would hope and expect they would not claim such views are inherent in the principles I hold".


Criticism

Rushdoony was, and remains, a controversial figure, as is the Christian Reconstructionist movement in which he was involved. Pointing to Rushdoony's support for the
death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...
, the
British Centre for Science Education The British Centre for Science Education (BCSE) is a volunteer-run organization in the United Kingdom that has the goal of "countering creationism within the UK" and was formed to campaign against the teaching of creationism in schools. Activitie ...
decried his perceived dislike of democracy and tolerance. Furthermore, Rushdoony has been accused of
Holocaust denial Historical negationism, Denial of the Holocaust is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that asserts that the genocide of Jews by the Nazi Party, Nazis is a fabrication or exaggeration. It includes making one or more of the following false claims: ...
and
racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
.*Sugg, John
"A Nation Under God"
, '' Mother Jones'', December 2005. "Rushdoony denied the Holocaust and defended segregation and slavery". * Braun, Aurel; Scheinberg, Stephen J. ''The Extreme Right: Freedom and Security at Risk'', Westview Press, 1997, p. 71. "Rushdoony, a one-time John Birch society activist, has in his books 'maligned Jews, Judaism and Blacks, and asengaged in Holocaust "revisionism"'". * Lane, Frederick S. ''The court and the cross: the religious right's crusade to reshape the Supreme Court'', Beacon Press, 2008, p. 40. "Despite its provocative suggestions, the book 'Institutes of Biblical Law''did not receive widespread attention when it was published ..in part because Rushdoony also used the work to deny the Holocaust, defend segregation and slavery, and condemn interracial, intercultural, and interreligious marriages." * Holthouse, David
"Casting Stones"
, ''Intelligence Report'',
Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white ...
, Winter 2005. Retrieved November 4, 2009. "The elder Rushdoony was a racist and Holocaust denier who took his group's name from a medieval council of bishops that proclaimed the subservience of all nations and governments to God." * Schaeffer, Frank. ''Patience with God: Faith for People Who Don't Like Religion (or Atheism)'', Da Capo Press, 2009, p. 117. "Rushdoony was also a Holocaust denier." * Trueman, Carl R. ''Histories and Fallacies: Problems Faced in the Writing of History'', Crossway, 2009, p. 30. "While Rushdoony's followers do not like to acknowledge his Holocaust Denial, it is incontestable that he held such a position..." * Brock, David. ''Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative'', Random House of Canada, 2003, p. 201. "Rushdoony was also a Holocaust denier." * Blumenthal, Sidney. ''The Clinton Wars'', Plume, 2004, p. 319. "One of the members of the small founding board, RJ Rushdoony, was a Holocaust denier who favored the death penalty for homosexuals and doctors performing abortions."
According to Frank Schaeffer, Rushdoony believed that
interracial marriage Interracial marriage is a marriage involving spouses who belong to different "Race (classification of human beings), races" or Ethnic group#Ethnicity and race, racialized ethnicities. In the past, such marriages were outlawed in the United Sta ...
, which he referred to as "unequal yoking", should be made illegal; however, his son Mark R. Rushdoony stated that his father R. J. Rushdoony officiated at weddings between European American and African American couples, teaching that "I cannot forbid what God has not!" What R. J. Rushdoony actually thought was imprudent, according to his son Mark R. Rushdoony, were marriages in which there were significant cultural differences such as those between non-Christian
war bride War brides are women who married military personnel from other countries in times of war or during military occupations, a practice that occurred in great frequency during World War I and World War II. Allies of World War II, Allied servicemen ...
s from Japan and American soldiers who, in Rushdoony's view, little understood one another; in his own life, the father of the first woman whom R. J. Rushdoony courted rejected Rushdoony's proposal citing cultural differences between their Swedish background and Rushdoony's
Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
background. Mark R. Rushdoony stated that R. J. Rushdoony's views "did not reflect on any race but on what could potentially create an unequal yoke" and asserted his own father's view that "Man ... cannot treat his fellow-men or any part of creation with contempt." He also opposed "enforced integration", referred to Southern slavery as "benevolent", and said that "some people are by nature slaves". Kerwin Lee Klein, however, argues that Rushdoony was not a "biological racialist" and that for him "racism founded on modern biology simply represented another pagan revival." In ''
The Institutes of Biblical Law ''The Institutes of Biblical Law'' is a 1973 book by the philosopher and theologian Rousas Rushdoony, Rousas John Rushdoony. It is the first volume of a three-volume work, also referred to by the same title, which is modeled after John Calvin's ' ...
'', he uses the 1967 work ''Judaism and the Vatican'' by Léon de Poncins as a source for
Paul Rassinier Paul Rassinier (18 March 1906 – 28 July 1967) was a French political activist and writer who is viewed as "the father of Holocaust denial". Totten, Samuel; Bartrop, Paul Robert; Jacobs, Steven L. "Rassinier, Paul", ''Dictionary of Genoci ...
's figure of 1.2 million Jewish deaths during the
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
, and the claim that
Raul Hilberg Raul Hilberg (June 2, 1926 – August 4, 2007) was a Jewish Austrian-born American political scientist and historian. He was widely considered to be the preeminent scholar on the Holocaust. Christopher R. Browning has called him the founding f ...
calculated the number at 896,292, and further asserts that very many of these died of epidemics. He called the charge of 6 million Jewish deaths "false witness" against Germany. , citing "The false witness born during World War II with respect to Germany is especially notable and revealing. The charge is repeatedly made that six million innocent Jews were slain by the Nazis, and the figureand even larger figuresis now entrenched in the history books. Poncins, in summarizing the studies of the French Socialist, Paul Rassinier, himself a prisoner in Buchenwald, states: Rassinier reached the conclusion that the number of Jews who died after deportation is approximately 1,200,000 and this figure, he tells us, has finally been accepted as valid by the Centre Mondial de Documentation Juive Contemporaine. Likewise he notes that Paul Hilberg, in his study of the same problem, reached a total of 896,292 victims. Very many of these people died of epidemics; many were executed..." In 2000, Rushdoony stated concerning this passage in his ''Institutes'': "It was not my purpose to enter a debate over numbers, whether millions were killed, or tens of millions, an area which must be left to others with expertise in such matters. My point then and now is that in all such matters what the Ninth Commandment requires is the truth, not exaggeration, irrespective of the cause one seeks to serve." Carl R. Trueman, Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at
Westminster Theological Seminary Westminster Theological Seminary (WTS) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian theology, theological seminary in the Reformed theology, Reformed theological tradition in Glenside, Pennsylvania. It was founded by members of the faculty of Prince ...
wrote in 2009 regarding the passage and Rushdoony's Holocaust denial: Joe Boot, in a misguided attempt to rebut Trueman's claim, argues that Rushdoony's "sole point was to say that our society has become so desensitized to violence, brutality, and cruelty that citing murders in small numbers doesn't have the same psychological impact upon people anymore."
Murray Rothbard Murray Newton Rothbard (; March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was an American economist of the Austrian School,Ronald Hamowy, ed., 2008, The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism', Cato Institute, Sage, , p. 62: "a leading economist of the Austri ...
, a prominent figure in the American libertarian movement, disputed Rushdoony's claim of being a libertarian in a scathing book review of Rushdoony's ''Intellectual Schizophrenia''.


Selected works

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


References


Further reading

* ''Originally appeared as'' * * * * * * Worthen, Molly. “The Chalcedon Problem: Rousas John Rushdoony and the Origins of Christian Reconstructionism.” Church History 77, no. 2 (2008): 399–437


External links


The Chalcedon Foundation
*
"The Vision of R. J. Rushdoony"
– a biography by Rushdoony's son ** ** ** **
Works
at
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Articles of Rushdoony in "Résister et construire"

West Virginia Division of Culture and History.
''Marriage License: Thomas Gilbert Kirkwood & Dorothy Barbara Ross. August 1, 1932.''
Find a Grave. ''Dorothy Barbara Ross Rushdoony''.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rushdoony, Rousas John 1916 births 2001 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians 20th-century American Presbyterian ministers Advocates of unschooling and homeschooling American Calvinist and Reformed theologians American Christian creationists American evangelicals American Holocaust deniers American libertarians American male non-fiction writers American people of Armenian descent American Presbyterians Armenian Protestants American proslavery activists American religious writers American segregationists Calvinist and Reformed philosophers Calvinist and Reformed writers Christian libertarians Christian reconstructionism Dominion theology Homeschooling advocates John Birch Society members Neo-Confederates Orthodox Presbyterian Church ministers Pacific School of Religion alumni People from Elko County, Nevada People from Kingsburg, California Philosophers from New York (state) Politics and race in the United States Proponents of scientific racism Presbyterian writers University of California, Berkeley alumni Writers from New York City