On Eschatology and Politics
Mainstream Baptist printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Wed Dec 21, 2005 at 09:37:53 AM EST

Thanks to Fred and Jonathan for challenging the extremist rhetoric directed at me from Chris Ortiz (and thanks to Chris for toning it down a bit in response).   Having written a blog about a new theological emphasis emanating from Southern Seminary, a Baptist institution, I was surprised to find that the most vehement response to my blog came from the Chalcedon Foundation.  This might be an indication of yet another convergence between Baptist thinking and Reconstructionist thought - but what thought or idea, exactly, is at the point of the convergence?
At the moment, my best guess is that the "full quiver" theology emanating from Southern Seminary is converging with the "post-millennial" eschatology of Christian Reconstructionism.  

"Post-millennialism" is not new in Southern Baptist theology.  By 1979 (when the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention began), however, it had been thoroughly eclipsed by C.I. Schoffield's  "dispensational pre-millennialism" as popularized by Hal Lindsey.  In fact, a major undercurrent within the takeover movement was outrage at the "liberalism" of seminary professors who espoused an "a-millennial" eschatology instead of some form of "pre-millenialism."  As far as I know, twenty-five years ago no noteworthy "living" Southern Baptist was arguing for post-millennialism.  Now, thanks to influence of Christian Reconstructionism, we may be witnessing the renewal of post-millennial eschatology among Southern Baptists.

Different Christian views of the millennium can have political implications.  The pessimistic outlook of pre-millennialism can easily lead to a nuclear holocaust if it becomes the ideology that guides the diplomacy of modern politics in the Middle East.  The optimistic outlook of post-millennialism can lead to a theocracy if Christian Dominionists can outbreed the heathen and work to subdue them.  While an a-millennialism that understands the Kingdom of God to be a "spiritual" kingdom, rather than a "political" kingdom, can live in peace with people of other religious convictions and treat those of different faiths with mutual respect.




Display:
I think Mohler and Moore and others in the SBC are attracted to the "intellectualism" or "bookism" of the various conservative/orthodox reformed/presbyterian movements. The question is why are these movements growing? Why are so many families choosing to homeschool their children? Why have SBC leaders abandoned the best aspects of their Baptist heritage?

by Carlos on Wed Dec 21, 2005 at 11:51:53 AM EST

Those little "Prairie Muffins" are cute until they grow up, get elected as State Representatives, and start passing Dominionist legislation.

I wouldn't be surprised if some current state legislators in Texas and Oklahoma might have been a little "prairie muffins" once.

by Mainstream Baptist on Wed Dec 21, 2005 at 12:09:35 PM EST


Actually, I think Reconstructionists prefer simple stones.  

The "muffins" might be trained to use sling shots as young David wielded when slaying the Philistine Goliath.

I fear, however, that our sarcasm may not do much to further our dialogue with whatever Dominionists may be lurking on this site.

by Mainstream Baptist on Wed Dec 21, 2005 at 01:02:27 PM EST

You're right. Sigh.

by Bruce Wilson on Wed Dec 21, 2005 at 03:49:38 PM EST
Parent


Talk about a parallel universe... that manifesto is scary! Especially the part about being 'fiercely submissive' to God and hubby. What is this- a Dom/sub kind of thing?

I have an apron and know how to use it, too. (Great for flicking at miscreant felines!) And I have a brain, and definitely know how to use it!

I think that the main difference between me and a PM is that I keep my home for me, not for anyone else. If that makes me selfish, so be it.

There but for the grace of God, exceptionally good luck, and some very astute diversionary tactics, go I...

by Lorie Johnson on Wed Dec 21, 2005 at 03:26:19 PM EST


Witness the Prairie Muffin Manifesto

Image hosted by Photobucket.com
Meanwhile, here is one "Prairie Muffin" sympathizer's website. It is instructive for those who haven't much looked at this movement : the Christian ( full blown reconstructionist or at least in sympathy ) homeschooling movement is the farthest thing from shallow, humorless, or even overtly doctrinaire. "Prairie muffins" - take note - are parodying themselves. Consciously. There is strength in that - they're secure enough in their chosen lifestyles to do that - and I think those who value pluralist democracy would do well to contemplate this nightmare : well raised ( if occasionally beaten, but not all by any means would be - or even the majority ) children, loved, well cared for and tenderly instructed as to the evils of liberals, secularism, and religious pluralism and brought up to believe that it is their sacred duty to enter politics and the military in order to achieve Christian theocracy.

by Bruce Wilson on Wed Dec 21, 2005 at 03:57:04 PM EST

Dr. Prescott,

When I was a student at Baptist Bible College in the mid 50s, Dr. Noel Smith, editor of the Baptist Bible Tribune used to regularly rail against the post-millennialists and modernists in the SBC. It was my undestanding that men like J. Frank Norris, Chester Tulga, T. T. Shields and others left the American Baptists and the SBC in the 20s and 30s because of what they perceived as modernism in both associations. Their departure led to the formation of groups like the Baptist Bible Fellowship, Conservative Baptist and the General Association of Regular Baptists.

As to pre-millennialists, Gary North has said something to the effect that a politically active pre-millennialist is a pro forma post-millennialists.

Many pre-millennialists have been neutralized in their pre-millennial zeal for Christ's return by their political activities as exampled by Jerry Falwell who has said many times he does not want to argue about eschotology since no one really knows when Christ will return so he might as well do what he can to make the earth, in his view, a better place.


by JerrySloan on Wed Dec 21, 2005 at 04:32:40 PM EST

I had not heard the quote from North about politically active pre-mill's, but he's right.  They are pro-forma post-mill's.

Thanks for the info.

by Mainstream Baptist on Wed Dec 21, 2005 at 05:33:32 PM EST
Parent


There is one other name I would like to add to the Fundamentalist giants I mentioned above. . Robert Ketchum. He along with the others I have mentioned was partially responsible for the spread of Fundamentalism between 1920 to 1970.

J. Frank Norris was the most colorful of the four and may have given birth to the megachurch.  In fact he pastored two churches at the same time although they were located 1200 miles apart, the First Baptist Church in Ft. Worth and the Temple Baptist Church in Detroit. Total membership between the two churches was 25,000. He gave away balloons, gold fish, held contests, anything to get people into Sunday School. The First Baptist in the late 50s was running upward to 3000 in Sunday School each time as was the Temple Baptist in Detroit.

At one point he shot and killed a man in his office at First Baptist. The murder was ruled self defense.

Another time he was pushing his deacons for a new First Baptist Church building and the deacons were reluctant to do it and lo and behold the church burnt down.

In 1950 a group of young preachers whom he had mentored felt he was getting too autocratic and did what Baptists do -- broke away and formed the Baptist Bible Fellowship, a group which again specialized in large Sunday Schools long before we heard of megachurches.

In the 50s the Fundamental Baptist and the Pentecostal was very low on the religious totem pole but Fundamentalist and the Pentecostals have pushed forward regardless of scandal or unpopularity and now dominate the religious picture in America today


by JerrySloan on Wed Dec 21, 2005 at 06:23:55 PM EST
Parent



Hi, there. I am the owner of the blog linked above, decribed as an "instructive" one in "contemplate (ing) this nightmare : well raised (if occasionally beaten, but not all by any means would be - or even the majority ) children, loved, well cared for and tenderly instructed as to the evils of liberals, secularism, and religious pluralism and brought up to believe that it is their sacred duty to enter politics and the military in order to achieve Christian theocracy.)

I am a homeschooling mother, a Jew by birth who is now a reformed Presbyterian, and also an artist. I would not, I think, be considered a fundamentalist.

My children are not beaten, nor are they brought up to believe that it is their sacred duty to enter politics (I am a non-voting free-market libertarian and completely reject political solutions), nor are they encouraged to enter the military, because barring the most aggressive militaristic attack on our country, I am completely anti-war, and would actually be horrified if any of my children wanted to be in the military voluntarily.

Regarding the idea of theonomy and reconstructionism, Prairie-Muffinism and Patriarchy, I will be making a full entry about these things, plus more info, probably, about the issue of the military and politics. Hopefully I can do this by tomorrow evening.

Blessings to you.

Samantha

The Home Realm (My Blog)

Eclectic Domestic Emporium (My Art Site)

by sammycakes on Thu Dec 22, 2005 at 11:36:14 PM EST


WWW Talk To Action


Cognitive Dissonance & Dominionism Denial
There is new research on why people are averse to hearing or learning about the views of ideological opponents. Based on evaluation of five......
By Frederick Clarkson (374 comments)
Will the Air Force Do Anything To Rein In Its Dynamic Duo of Gay-Bashing, Misogynistic Bloggers?
"I always get nervous when I see female pastors/chaplains. Here is why everyone should as well: "First, women are not called to be pastors,......
By Chris Rodda (199 comments)
The Legacy of Big Oil
The media is ablaze with the upcoming publication of David Grann's book, Killers of the Flower Moon. The shocking non fiction account of the......
By wilkyjr (111 comments)
Gimme That Old Time Dominionism Denial
Over the years, I have written a great deal here and in other venues about the explicitly theocratic movement called dominionism -- which has......
By Frederick Clarkson (101 comments)
History Advisor to Members of Congress Completely Twists Jefferson's Words to Support Muslim Ban
Pseudo-historian David Barton, best known for his misquoting of our country's founders to promote the notion that America was founded as a Christian nation,......
By Chris Rodda (113 comments)
"Christian Fighter Pilot" Calls First Lesbian Air Force Academy Commandant a Liar
In a new post on his "Christian Fighter Pilot" blog titled "BGen Kristin Goodwin and the USAFA Honor Code," Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan......
By Chris Rodda (144 comments)
Catholic Right Leader Unapologetic about Call for 'Death to Liberal Professors' -- UPDATED
Today, Donald Trump appointed C-FAM Executive Vice President Lisa Correnti to the US Delegation To UN Commission On Status Of Women. (C-FAM is a......
By Frederick Clarkson (126 comments)
Controlling Information
     Yesterday I listened to Russ Limbaugh.  Rush advised listeners it would be best that they not listen to CNN,MSNBC, ABC, CBS and......
By wilkyjr (118 comments)
Is Bannon Fifth-Columning the Pope?
In December 2016 I wrote about how White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who likes to flash his Catholic credentials when it comes to......
By Frank Cocozzelli (251 comments)
Ross Douthat's Hackery on the Seemingly Incongruous Alliance of Bannon & Burke
Conservative Catholic writer Ross Douthat has dissembled again. This time, in a February 15, 2017 New York Times op-ed titled The Trump Era's Catholic......
By Frank Cocozzelli (64 comments)
`So-Called Patriots' Attack The Rule Of Law
Every so often, right-wing commentator Pat Buchanan lurches out of the far-right fever swamp where he has resided for the past 50 years to......
By Rob Boston (161 comments)
Bad Faith from Focus on the Family
Here is one from the archives, Feb 12, 2011, that serves as a reminder of how deeply disingenuous people can be. Appeals to seek......
By Frederick Clarkson (177 comments)
The Legacy of George Wallace
"One need not accept any of those views to agree that they had appealed to real concerns of real people, not to mindless, unreasoning......
By wilkyjr (70 comments)
Betsy DeVos's Mudsill View of Public Education
My Talk to Action colleague Rachel Tabachnick has been doing yeoman's work in explaining Betsy DeVos's long-term strategy for decimating universal public education. If......
By Frank Cocozzelli (80 comments)
Prince and DeVos Families at Intersection of Radical Free Market Privatizers and Religious Right
This post from 2011 surfaces important information about President-Elect Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. -- FC Erik Prince, Brother of Betsy......
By Rachel Tabachnick (218 comments)

Respect for Others? or Political Correctness?
The term "political correctness" as used by Conservatives and Republicans has often puzzled me: what exactly do they mean by it? After reading Chip Berlin's piece here-- http://www.talk2action.org/story/2016/7/21/04356/9417 I thought about what he explained......
MTOLincoln (253 comments)
Fear
What I'm feeling now is fear.  I swear that it seems my nightmares are coming true with this new "president".  I'm also frustrated because so many people are not connecting all the dots! I've......
ArchaeoBob (107 comments)
"America - love it or LEAVE!"
I've been hearing that and similar sentiments fairly frequently in the last few days - far FAR more often than ever before.  Hearing about "consequences for burning the flag (actions) from Trump is chilling!......
ArchaeoBob (211 comments)
"Faked!" Meme
Keep your eyes and ears open for a possible move to try to discredit the people openly opposing Trump and the bigots, especially people who have experienced terrorism from the "Right"  (Christian Terrorism is......
ArchaeoBob (165 comments)
More aggressive proselytizing
My wife told me today of an experience she had this last week, where she was proselytized by a McDonald's employee while in the store. ......
ArchaeoBob (163 comments)
See if you recognize names on this list
This comes from the local newspaper, which was conservative before and took a hard right turn after it was sold. Hint: Sarah Palin's name is on it!  (It's also connected to Trump.) ......
ArchaeoBob (169 comments)
Unions: A Labor Day Discussion
This is a revision of an article which I posted on my personal board and also on Dailykos. I had an interesting discussion on a discussion board concerning Unions. I tried to piece it......
Xulon (180 comments)
Extremely obnoxious protesters at WitchsFest NYC: connected to NAR?
In July of this year, some extremely loud, obnoxious Christian-identified protesters showed up at WitchsFest, an annual Pagan street fair here in NYC.  Here's an account of the protest by Pagan writer Heather Greene......
Diane Vera (130 comments)
Capitalism and the Attack on the Imago Dei
I joined this site today, having been linked here by Crooksandliars' Blog Roundup. I thought I'd put up something I put up previously on my Wordpress blog and also at the DailyKos. As will......
Xulon (331 comments)
History of attitudes towards poverty and the churches.
Jesus is said to have stated that "The Poor will always be with you" and some Christians have used that to refuse to try to help the poor, because "they will always be with......
ArchaeoBob (148 comments)
Alternate economy medical treatment
Dogemperor wrote several times about the alternate economy structure that dominionists have built.  Well, it's actually made the news.  Pretty good article, although it doesn't get into how bad people could be (have been)......
ArchaeoBob (90 comments)
Evidence violence is more common than believed
Think I've been making things up about experiencing Christian Terrorism or exaggerating, or that it was an isolated incident?  I suggest you read this article (linked below in body), which is about our great......
ArchaeoBob (214 comments)

More Diaries...




All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments, posts, stories, and all other content are owned by the authors. Everything else © 2005 Talk to Action, LLC.