While I attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, I learned a little about Van Til and read nearly every book that Francis Schaeffer published.  Schaeffer's books were texts in the philosophy and apologetics classes of many conservative members of the faculty.  His contribution to apologetics was a, then, new emphasis on the influence of Christianity on culture.  He often cited Rushdoony as an authority on the influence of biblical law on modern law.

After graduating from seminary and entering the pastorate, I decided to investigate the thought of R. J. Rushdoony and his son-in-law Gary North.  I quickly discovered that the worldview reflected in Rushdoony's writings is virtually identical with that of Francis Schaeffer.  Even their tone in voicing their piety is similar.  Most people who read Schaeffer will find numerous resonances in the writings of Rushdoony.

Rushdoony, however, was less reserved than Schaeffer in talking about a perceived clash between Christianity and democracy.   Before he published his Christian Manifesto (1982), you could tell that Schaeffer was no friend of church-state separation, but he did not write explicitly about Christians influencing government by concerted political action.  In my opinion, without saying so explicitly, Schaeffer's Christian Manifesto was a tract that was intended to rally Evangelical Christians to the Reconstructionist cause.

To understand the Reconstructionist movement, you have to know something about the thought and writings of R. J. Rushdoony.  His magnum opus, published in 1973, is an 800 page tome patterned after Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion that Rushdoony entitled The Institutes of Biblical Law.   On page 294, Rushdoony gives an indication why he believes that the American system of pluralistic democracy is heresy.  He wrote, "In the name of toleration, the believer is asked to associate on a common level of total acceptance with the atheist, the pervert, the criminal, and the adherents of other religions."

[To hear a 3.14 minute podcast (mp3) of Bill Moyers introducing Rushdoony and talking to him about biblical law as a blueprint for civil society, click here and give it time to download]

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)  

[To hear a 1.10 minute podcast (mp3) of Bill Moyers talking to Rushdoony about the heresy of democracy, click here and give it time to download]

At its root, Reconstructionism is a militant Biblicism.  In many ways, it is a revival of the holy war theology of the Hebrew Bible under the guise of Christianity.  The chief difference being that Reconstructionists believe they have a mandate to claim more than the land of Palestine, they believe they are commanded to conquer the entire world and exercise "dominion" over all its peoples.  

Tomorrow, part 2 of From Reconstructionism to Dominionism.

Note: The audio excerpts are from Bill Moyers 1989 documentary on God and Politics: On Earth as it is in Heaven.

This is the third of six essays. Here are the links to the other essays in the series:

On Restoring America
Learning to be Patient Revolutionaries
From Reconstructionism to Dominonism, Part 1
From Reconstructionism to Dominionism, Part 2
SBC Takeover Leaders and the CNP
Reconstructionism, Southern Baptists & Education