Customer Reviews

Systematic Theology (2 Volume Set)

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Rushdoony has written a profound and challenging work that should challenge the way we think about and do theology. One quote will illustrate the whole method of this work,

"The most serious mistake we can make with reference to expiation and atonement is to assume that htese are ecclesiastical concerns whose sole reference is to a particular institution, the church or Christian synagogue, and its doctrine of Christ . . . . Whether or not men believe in God, they are inescapably tied to Him in all their being . . . . By his sin and unbelief, man makes himself morally estranged from God, and at war with God . . . . [I]n spite of himself, man cannot depart one iota from the conditions of life and being as they are ordained by God (pg. 563ul)."

In other words, it's not simply a matter of whether we will have a god or not, atonement or not, justification or not, infalliblity or not. We will have all of these either as God has intended them or as counterfeited in some way. These are inescapable concepts.

Rushdoony illustrates at length that Christian doctrine is not something academic or simply for church. Rather, it is the key to understanding the life and movement of God's world, our own psychology, and the life of every society.

This is a good book. There are many worthwhile insights. But, it could use a good editing. The chapters were in many cases (all?) delivered first as lectures. I listened to the ones on "justification", "guilt", and "atonement" years ago. They were profound. As they show up in the book now, they lack the same force and read more like random newsletter articles than ideas which connect and build on each other. Don't throw away your other theological tomes, but supplement them with this one.

Rousas John Rushdoony (1916-2001) is the extremely controversial founder of the "Christian Reconstruction" movement; he has long advocated a need for a systematic theology (see his earlier book, The Necessity for Systematic Theology), and in 1994, the work was finally released.

He states in the Introduction, "This study is titled 'Systematic Theology' because it is an effort to apply Scripture systematically to various spheres of faith and life.... It is a serious mistake to see theology as an academic exercise ... it is the duty of the theologian to understand it AND to apply it to every area of life and thought."

Rushdoony eschews the traditional six- to eight-part divisions of most systematic theologies, dividing his work into nineteen categories (including besides the usual categories, "The Covenant," "Theology of the Land," "Theology of Work," and "Authority").

Rushdoony's comments are often (to put it charitably) rather acerbic. Here are some representative quotations (with which I certainly do not agree), to give you an idea of what the work contains:

He considers the differences between superlapsarian, infralapsarian, and sublapsarian positions to be based on a "blasphemous presumption." (Pg. 69)
"The goal of ideas is not criticism but action." (Pg. 101)
"If the Bible is true, then, whether a man is a male prostitute or a cynical critic of the Old Testament text, his is a moral and a religious problem, not an intellectual problem." (Pg. 114)
"I freely and happily confess that I am ignorant about many theologians, but I am not ignorant about God." (Pg. 198)
"Colonialism is another source of guilt trips.... all Europeans and whites are asked to see themselves as racists and exploiters, and therefore guilty." (Pg. 464)
"All men outside of Christ are guilty men, and guilty men are dominated by sado-masochistic activities." (pg. 603)
"Women have imitated men, and the feminist 'liberation' movement is a demand for irresponsibility, and hence its close ties to the sexual revolution and to the homosexual and lesbian causes." (pg. 685)
"If God is not the determiner of all things, there is no point in prayers to Him; if God does not hear and answer prayers, there is again no point to prayer. This involves a mystery, but life is full of mysteries." (Pg. 834)
"The new covenant is ... at one and the same time a covenant of grace and law, a covenant of works. WORKS belong to the covenant, irrevocably and fundamentally." (Pg. 884)
"The anti-Christianity of modern humanism has led to an hatred of both God and man, and a readiness to sacrifice man to nature.... The Bible separates man from the rest of creation because man is God's image-bearer and is called to exercise dominion. The environmentalists separate man from nature as the destroyer who must be restrained and suppressed in his dedication to dominion and development." (Pg. 957)
"The church at its worst has never equalled the modern state in its tyranny." (Pg. 1036)
"Secondary authorities are very real; they are God-ordained, and they are important." (Pg. 1177)

Interestingly (for one so designedly controversial), Rushdoony avoids several controversial issues, such as the validity of charismatic gifts (pg. 337), and the "real presence" of Christ in Lord's Supper ("I have no intention of entering into that dispute, nor any interest in doing so"; pg. 738).

I certainly would not recommend this book as a work of Christian Theology, or of Systematic Theology (stick with the classics, like Hodge, Strong, Berkhof, etc.); however, if one is interested in studying Rushdoony and his ideas, this book is definitely "essential reading."

Just like the theology fo work, of land, of time. This is very important subject I ever seen!