Christian Reconstructionism is a twentieth-century theo-political movement whose influence—on the contemporary religious right, in particular—is little understood. Moreover, when Reconstructionism does come up in public conversation it is often in the context of some of its most extreme (and alarming) tenets: think biblical defense of slavery, the stoning of homosexuals.Some of the topics touched upon:
Julie Ingersoll‘s new book, Building God’s Kingdom, is a meticulous account of this movement’s history and its aims. Founded by Rousas John Rushdoony in the early 1970s, Reconstructionism asserts the primacy of the Bible from the home to local government to national political life. While Rushdoony’s views were as alienating to the right as to the left in some aspects, many of his ideas did find traction among Christian conservatives.
I began my conversation with Ingersoll last week by asking her to elaborate on the history of that influence.
- Spheres of government
- Dominionism "seek to bring the civil government under biblical authority. In fact, they seek the complete transformation of every aspect of culture to bring it into alignment with what they believe the Bible teaches."
- Reconstructionists "see a fundamental and inevitable conflict between a “biblical worldview” and “secular humanism” and this animated the battles over tax exemptions in the 1980s,,, these battles continue today—especially in the fights over marriage equality"
- Cornelius Van Til, who developed an idea known as presuppositionalism. For Reconstructionists there are only two possible foundations for knowledge: the revealed word of God or the (false) claim of the autonomy of human rationality.
- Operation Rescue and the rise of Quiverfull
See also:
Secrets of the extreme religious right: Inside the frightening world of Christian Reconstructionism
Perhaps the most radical definition of such freedom comes out of the relatively obscure tradition of Christian Reconstructionism, the subject of a new book by religious studies scholar Julie Ingersoll, “Building God’s Kingdom: Inside the World of Christian Reconstructionism.” As Ingersoll explains, Reconstructionists basically reject the entire framework of secular political thought in which individual rights have meaning, so “freedom” as most Americans understand the term is not the issue at all. Indeed, they argue that such “freedom” is actually slavery—slavery to sin, that is.
