Theonomy
Encyclopedia
Theonomy is a theory in Christian theology
that God
is the sole source of human ethics. The word theonomy derives from the Greek
words “theos” God, and “nomos” law
. Cornelius Van Til
argued that there "is no alternative but that of theonomy or autonomy
" (Christian Theistic Ethics p. 134). Among Reformed Christians, John Calvin
, the Continental Reformers, the Westminster Divines
and other Puritan
s, and Christian Reconstructionists
have developed similar ethical perspectives, but the term is not limited to the Reformed.
The non-Reformed theologian Paul Tillich
used the term "theonomy" to describe his ethical perspectives, albeit in a manner diametrically opposed to its use by Reformed writers in the Christian Reconstructionist movement. Between the views of the Reformed and Tillich are found various Evangelical, Dispensationalist (usually not mentioned outside systematic theology texts) and Roman Catholic theonomies.
, a perspective that claims to be a faithful revival of the historic Protestant view of the Old Testament law
as espoused by many Europe
an Reformers and Puritans. Some in the modern Reformed churches
are critical of this understanding, while other Calvinists affirm Theonomy.
explains that when he wrote outlining the ethical perspective of Christian reconstruction and called his book Theonomy in Christian Ethics he had:
"...no thought of generating a label for a distinctive school of thought or "movement." (Indeed, it was the opponents of the viewpoint presented in the book who first took it upon themselves to refer to others as "theonomists.") Quite simply, the title was chosen to describe the subject matter taken up in the book: namely, the place or function of God's law in the moral philosophy of the Christian...today" [giving] "special attention was given to the difficult question (on which I had written my masters thesis in theology [in 1973]) of whether "secular" civil magistrates stood under obligation to the relevant portions of the Old Testament law, for instance, the stipulations as to what punishment crimes deserve.
"The term "theonomy" was attractive because it nicely contrasted with certain opposing lines of thought which also contained the word nomos in their designations: positions like "autonomy," "cosmonomic" philosophy, and "antinomianism
." Moreover, far from being an esoteric term, it had been commonly used in moral theology for an approach to ethics which submits to divine revelation."
The Calvinistic ethicist, Willem Geesink, wrote in his book, Reformed Ethics:
In the terminology of Christian Reconstructionism
, theonomy is the idea that, in the Bible, God provides the basis of both personal and social ethics. In that context, the term is always used in antithesis to autonomy, which is the idea that Self provides the basis of ethics. Theonomic ethics asserts that the Bible has been given as the abiding standard for all human government — individual, family, church, and civil; and that Biblical Law must be incorporated into a Christian theory of Biblical ethics.
Critics see theonomy as a significant form of Dominion theology
, which they define as a type of theocracy
. Theonomy posits that the Biblical Law is applicable to civil law, and theonomists propose Biblical law as the standard by which the laws of nations may be measured, and to which they ought to be conformed.
in which it is embedded. The Reformed wing of the Reformation
showed a strong interest in Biblical law, and this was especially so in Britain where there was a tradition of Biblical law going back into the Middle Ages. The development of a clear bi-covenantal system of theology provided a framework to support theonomy. Covenant theology
holds that there are two fundamental covenants between God and man. The first is the Covenant of Works, made with Adam, the covenant representative of all humanity and thus binding on all of humanity. The other covenant is the Covenant of Grace, made with Christ and his church. By 1787, when John Brown's Compendious View of Natural and Revealed Religion was published, Biblical law was a major division of systematic theology. Brown gives it fifty pages. One type of theonomy, as taught by Greg Bahnsen
is a development of this bi-covenantal type of theology.
An additional contribution by the Reformation, especially in its Scottish-Presbyterian expression, to Bahnsenian theonomy is the Regulative Principle of Worship. This holds that we may only worship God in the manner that God has commanded. These commands are to be found in the Bible and those in the Old Testament are still binding, except where they have been modified by direct commandment, example, or the logical implication of these in the New Testament. This same interpretive principle was applied first by Rushdoony and then by Greg Bahnsen to ethics as well as to worship. There is, therefore, standing law from the Old Testament, found in its greatest detail in the law of Moses
, that still binds today, except where it has been overturned by the commands of the New Testament, apostolic example in the New Testament, and what these logically imply.
A more moderate and traditional type of Reconstructionist theonomy was followed by some writers associated with the Institute for Christian Economics in Tyler, Texas (which also published some of Bahnsen's works). These writers, especially James B. Jordan
, argued that the Mosaic revelation is Torah, meaning Teaching/Instruction and did not contain a law code as such. Biblical Instruction was still seen as important for all of life, but understood as Teaching rather than as timeless Law.
There are types of theonomy separate from Christian Reconstruction. John Robbins, an acerbic critic of Christian Reconstruction, launched his Trinity Review with an article "The Christian and the Law" by Gordon Clark
in which Clark argues that "good and evil are defined only by the law of God." Carl F. H. Henry
, who was strongly influenced by Clark, also published a defense of divine command ethics. Evangelical theologian Walter Kaiser, Jr.
wrote extensively on theonomic ethics, placing it within his own Promise theology, but interacting with the ideas of Bahnsen and Jordan, whose work he found especially helpful.
(1973, The Institutes of Biblical Law), and Greg Bahnsen
(1977, Theonomy in Christian Ethics) revived these sentiments. These two works, together with other writings, influenced a number of Christian political activists and prolific writers, who proposed their own elaborations of the idea, developing specific answers to contemporary social, political and economic issues, on the basis of their understandings of Biblical Law.
Rousas John Rushdoony writes that "the god of a culture can be located by fixing its source of law. If the source of law is the ontological Trinity of Christian revelation, then that Trinity is the God of that culture. If the source of law rests in the people, then the voice of the people is the voice of God (vox populi, vox dei), and that voice finds expression and incarnation either in a leader, a legislative body, or a supreme court, depending on which gains the ascendency. The highest point in the processes of law is the god of that system." (1978, The Politics of Guilt and Pity)
Theonomists support public policy changes in accord with Biblical principles, but see those changes as coming about as a result of, and not the cause of, conversions to Christianity. Many seek a future earthly "Kingdom of God" in which much of the world is converted to Christianity. They cite the numerous scripture passages referring to God's collective judgment upon unrighteous nations and God's blessing upon those rulers and societies heeding His Word as evidence that the presence or absence of Christian values may profoundly influence the rise and fall of nations.
Although theonomic writers may not always agree on specific policy matters, goals often cited include:
Various theonomic authors have stated such goals as "the universal development of Biblical theocratic republics", exclusion of non-Christians from voting and citizenship, and the application of Biblical law by the state. Under such a system of Biblical law, homosexual acts, adultery, witchcraft, and blasphemy would be punishable by death. Propagation of idolatry or "false religions" would be illegal and could also be punished by the death penalty.
In Bahnsen's view he clarifies that the laws of God are not to be imposed by force upon society. Rather, they are the standard which Christian voters and officials ought to pursue. Nor are civil officials constrained to literally enforce every Biblical law, such as one-time localized imperatives, certain administrative details, typological foreshadows, or those against envy and unbelief. "Rulers should enforce only those laws for which God revealed social sanctions to be imposed"
Christian theology
- Divisions of Christian theology :There are many methods of categorizing different approaches to Christian theology. For a historical analysis, see the main article on the History of Christian theology.- Sub-disciplines :...
that God
God in Christianity
In Christianity, God is the eternal being that created and preserves the universe. God is believed by most Christians to be immanent , while others believe the plan of redemption show he will be immanent later...
is the sole source of human ethics. The word theonomy derives from the Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
words “theos” God, and “nomos” law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
. Cornelius Van Til
Cornelius Van Til
Cornelius Van Til , born in Grootegast, the Netherlands, was a Christian philosopher, Reformed theologian, and presuppositional apologist.-Biography:...
argued that there "is no alternative but that of theonomy or autonomy
Autonomy
Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...
" (Christian Theistic Ethics p. 134). Among Reformed Christians, John Calvin
John Calvin
John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
, the Continental Reformers, the Westminster Divines
Westminster Assembly
The Westminster Assembly of Divines was appointed by the Long Parliament to restructure the Church of England. It also included representatives of religious leaders from Scotland...
and other Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
s, and Christian Reconstructionists
Christian Reconstructionism
Christian Reconstructionism is a religious and theological movement within Evangelical Christianity that calls for Christians to put their faith into action in all areas of life, within the private sphere of life and the public and political sphere as well...
have developed similar ethical perspectives, but the term is not limited to the Reformed.
The non-Reformed theologian Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich
Paul Johannes Tillich was a German-American theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher. Tillich was one of the most influential Protestant theologians of the 20th century...
used the term "theonomy" to describe his ethical perspectives, albeit in a manner diametrically opposed to its use by Reformed writers in the Christian Reconstructionist movement. Between the views of the Reformed and Tillich are found various Evangelical, Dispensationalist (usually not mentioned outside systematic theology texts) and Roman Catholic theonomies.
Christian Reconstructionism
Since the mid-1970s, theonomy has been most often used in Protestant circles to specifically label the ethical perspective of Christian ReconstructionismChristian Reconstructionism
Christian Reconstructionism is a religious and theological movement within Evangelical Christianity that calls for Christians to put their faith into action in all areas of life, within the private sphere of life and the public and political sphere as well...
, a perspective that claims to be a faithful revival of the historic Protestant view of the Old Testament law
Biblical law in Christianity
Christian views of the Old Covenant have been central to Christian theology and practice since the circumcision controversy in Early Christianity. There are differing views about the applicability of the Old Covenant among Christian denominations...
as espoused by many Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an Reformers and Puritans. Some in the modern Reformed churches
Reformed churches
The Reformed churches are a group of Protestant denominations characterized by Calvinist doctrines. They are descended from the Swiss Reformation inaugurated by Huldrych Zwingli but developed more coherently by Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger and especially John Calvin...
are critical of this understanding, while other Calvinists affirm Theonomy.
Origin of modern theonomy
Greg BahnsenGreg Bahnsen
Greg L. Bahnsen was an influential Calvinist philosopher, apologist, and debater. He was an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and a full time Scholar in Residence for the Southern California Center for Christian Studies.-Early life and education:He was the first born of two...
explains that when he wrote outlining the ethical perspective of Christian reconstruction and called his book Theonomy in Christian Ethics he had:
"...no thought of generating a label for a distinctive school of thought or "movement." (Indeed, it was the opponents of the viewpoint presented in the book who first took it upon themselves to refer to others as "theonomists.") Quite simply, the title was chosen to describe the subject matter taken up in the book: namely, the place or function of God's law in the moral philosophy of the Christian...today" [giving] "special attention was given to the difficult question (on which I had written my masters thesis in theology [in 1973]) of whether "secular" civil magistrates stood under obligation to the relevant portions of the Old Testament law, for instance, the stipulations as to what punishment crimes deserve.
"The term "theonomy" was attractive because it nicely contrasted with certain opposing lines of thought which also contained the word nomos in their designations: positions like "autonomy," "cosmonomic" philosophy, and "antinomianism
Antinomianism
Antinomianism is defined as holding that, under the gospel dispensation of grace, moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation....
." Moreover, far from being an esoteric term, it had been commonly used in moral theology for an approach to ethics which submits to divine revelation."
The Calvinistic ethicist, Willem Geesink, wrote in his book, Reformed Ethics:
In the terminology of Christian Reconstructionism
Christian Reconstructionism
Christian Reconstructionism is a religious and theological movement within Evangelical Christianity that calls for Christians to put their faith into action in all areas of life, within the private sphere of life and the public and political sphere as well...
, theonomy is the idea that, in the Bible, God provides the basis of both personal and social ethics. In that context, the term is always used in antithesis to autonomy, which is the idea that Self provides the basis of ethics. Theonomic ethics asserts that the Bible has been given as the abiding standard for all human government — individual, family, church, and civil; and that Biblical Law must be incorporated into a Christian theory of Biblical ethics.
Critics see theonomy as a significant form of Dominion theology
Dominion Theology
Dominion Theology is seen by some as a subset of Dominionism, a term used by some social scientists and journalists to describe a theological form of political ideology, which they claim has broadly influenced the Christian Right in the United States, Canada, and Europe, within Protestant...
, which they define as a type of theocracy
Theocracy
Theocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....
. Theonomy posits that the Biblical Law is applicable to civil law, and theonomists propose Biblical law as the standard by which the laws of nations may be measured, and to which they ought to be conformed.
Theological background
The type of theonomic ethics depends on the Covenant theologyCovenant Theology
Covenant theology is a conceptual overview and interpretive framework for understanding the overall flow of the Bible...
in which it is embedded. The Reformed wing of the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
showed a strong interest in Biblical law, and this was especially so in Britain where there was a tradition of Biblical law going back into the Middle Ages. The development of a clear bi-covenantal system of theology provided a framework to support theonomy. Covenant theology
Covenant Theology
Covenant theology is a conceptual overview and interpretive framework for understanding the overall flow of the Bible...
holds that there are two fundamental covenants between God and man. The first is the Covenant of Works, made with Adam, the covenant representative of all humanity and thus binding on all of humanity. The other covenant is the Covenant of Grace, made with Christ and his church. By 1787, when John Brown's Compendious View of Natural and Revealed Religion was published, Biblical law was a major division of systematic theology. Brown gives it fifty pages. One type of theonomy, as taught by Greg Bahnsen
Greg Bahnsen
Greg L. Bahnsen was an influential Calvinist philosopher, apologist, and debater. He was an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and a full time Scholar in Residence for the Southern California Center for Christian Studies.-Early life and education:He was the first born of two...
is a development of this bi-covenantal type of theology.
An additional contribution by the Reformation, especially in its Scottish-Presbyterian expression, to Bahnsenian theonomy is the Regulative Principle of Worship. This holds that we may only worship God in the manner that God has commanded. These commands are to be found in the Bible and those in the Old Testament are still binding, except where they have been modified by direct commandment, example, or the logical implication of these in the New Testament. This same interpretive principle was applied first by Rushdoony and then by Greg Bahnsen to ethics as well as to worship. There is, therefore, standing law from the Old Testament, found in its greatest detail in the law of Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
, that still binds today, except where it has been overturned by the commands of the New Testament, apostolic example in the New Testament, and what these logically imply.
A more moderate and traditional type of Reconstructionist theonomy was followed by some writers associated with the Institute for Christian Economics in Tyler, Texas (which also published some of Bahnsen's works). These writers, especially James B. Jordan
James B. Jordan
James B. Jordan is a Protestant theologian and author. He is director of Biblical Horizons ministries, a think tank in Niceville, Florida that publishes books, essays and other media dealing with Bible commentary, Biblical Theology, and liturgy.-Education:Jordan attended the University of Georgia,...
, argued that the Mosaic revelation is Torah, meaning Teaching/Instruction and did not contain a law code as such. Biblical Instruction was still seen as important for all of life, but understood as Teaching rather than as timeless Law.
There are types of theonomy separate from Christian Reconstruction. John Robbins, an acerbic critic of Christian Reconstruction, launched his Trinity Review with an article "The Christian and the Law" by Gordon Clark
Gordon Clark
Gordon Haddon Clark was an American philosopher and Calvinist theologian. He was a primary advocate for the idea of presuppositional apologetics and was chairman of the Philosophy Department at Butler University for 28 years...
in which Clark argues that "good and evil are defined only by the law of God." Carl F. H. Henry
Carl F. H. Henry
Carl Ferdinand Howard Henry was an American evangelical Christian theologian who served as the first editor-in-chief of the magazine Christianity Today, established to serve as a scholarly voice for evangelical Christianity and a challenge to the liberal Christian Century.-Early Years and...
, who was strongly influenced by Clark, also published a defense of divine command ethics. Evangelical theologian Walter Kaiser, Jr.
Walter Kaiser, Jr.
Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. is an American evangelical Old Testament scholar, writer, public speaker, and educator. Kaiser is the Colman M. Mockler distinguished Professor of Old Testament and former President of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, retired June 30, 2006...
wrote extensively on theonomic ethics, placing it within his own Promise theology, but interacting with the ideas of Bahnsen and Jordan, whose work he found especially helpful.
Development
The presuppositions and the outline of theonomy's proposals appeared in the 17th century in the New England colonies. In the 1970s, in the works of Rousas John RushdoonyRousas John Rushdoony
Rousas John Rushdoony was a Calvinist philosopher, historian, and theologian and is widely credited as the father of Christian Reconstructionism and an inspiration for the modern Christian homeschool movement...
(1973, The Institutes of Biblical Law), and Greg Bahnsen
Greg Bahnsen
Greg L. Bahnsen was an influential Calvinist philosopher, apologist, and debater. He was an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and a full time Scholar in Residence for the Southern California Center for Christian Studies.-Early life and education:He was the first born of two...
(1977, Theonomy in Christian Ethics) revived these sentiments. These two works, together with other writings, influenced a number of Christian political activists and prolific writers, who proposed their own elaborations of the idea, developing specific answers to contemporary social, political and economic issues, on the basis of their understandings of Biblical Law.
Rousas John Rushdoony writes that "the god of a culture can be located by fixing its source of law. If the source of law is the ontological Trinity of Christian revelation, then that Trinity is the God of that culture. If the source of law rests in the people, then the voice of the people is the voice of God (vox populi, vox dei), and that voice finds expression and incarnation either in a leader, a legislative body, or a supreme court, depending on which gains the ascendency. The highest point in the processes of law is the god of that system." (1978, The Politics of Guilt and Pity)
Goals
Theonomists support the applicability of Biblical principles to four spheres of government; self-government or self control, family government, church government, and state or civil government. Jay Rogers in Theofaq states that Theonomists believe "that civil government is only one sphere of government. In fact, it is not even the most important one. We advocate regeneration first and only then reconstruction. We do not advocate revolution."Theonomists support public policy changes in accord with Biblical principles, but see those changes as coming about as a result of, and not the cause of, conversions to Christianity. Many seek a future earthly "Kingdom of God" in which much of the world is converted to Christianity. They cite the numerous scripture passages referring to God's collective judgment upon unrighteous nations and God's blessing upon those rulers and societies heeding His Word as evidence that the presence or absence of Christian values may profoundly influence the rise and fall of nations.
Although theonomic writers may not always agree on specific policy matters, goals often cited include:
- Elevation of the importance of Biblical case law in the judicial system.
- Importance of civic rule by believers.
- Recovery of a more public and formalized acknowledgment of the sovereignty of God over human government, as they argue was predominant in the American Founding Era.
Various theonomic authors have stated such goals as "the universal development of Biblical theocratic republics", exclusion of non-Christians from voting and citizenship, and the application of Biblical law by the state. Under such a system of Biblical law, homosexual acts, adultery, witchcraft, and blasphemy would be punishable by death. Propagation of idolatry or "false religions" would be illegal and could also be punished by the death penalty.
In Bahnsen's view he clarifies that the laws of God are not to be imposed by force upon society. Rather, they are the standard which Christian voters and officials ought to pursue. Nor are civil officials constrained to literally enforce every Biblical law, such as one-time localized imperatives, certain administrative details, typological foreshadows, or those against envy and unbelief. "Rulers should enforce only those laws for which God revealed social sanctions to be imposed"
See also
- Biblical law in ChristianityBiblical law in ChristianityChristian views of the Old Covenant have been central to Christian theology and practice since the circumcision controversy in Early Christianity. There are differing views about the applicability of the Old Covenant among Christian denominations...
- CalvinismCalvinismCalvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
- Christian anarchismChristian anarchismChristian anarchism is a movement in political theology that combines anarchism and Christianity. It is the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answerable, the authority of God as embodied in the teachings of Jesus...
- Christian ReconstructionismChristian ReconstructionismChristian Reconstructionism is a religious and theological movement within Evangelical Christianity that calls for Christians to put their faith into action in all areas of life, within the private sphere of life and the public and political sphere as well...
- DominionismDominionismDominionism is a term used to describe politically active conservative Christians that are believed to conspire and seek influence or control over secular civil government through political action, especially in the United States, with the goal of either a nation governed by Christians, or a nation...
- Dominion TheologyDominion TheologyDominion Theology is seen by some as a subset of Dominionism, a term used by some social scientists and journalists to describe a theological form of political ideology, which they claim has broadly influenced the Christian Right in the United States, Canada, and Europe, within Protestant...
- Law in Christianity
- Neo-CalvinismNeo-CalvinismNeo-Calvinism, a form of Dutch Calvinism, is the movement initiated by the theologian and former Dutch prime minister Abraham Kuyper.- Introduction :...
- PostmillennialismPostmillennialismIn Christian end-times theology, , postmillennialism is an interpretation of chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation which sees Christ's second coming as occurring after the "Millennium", a Golden Age in which Christian ethics prosper...
- TheocracyTheocracyTheocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....
- TheodicyTheodicyTheodicy is a theological and philosophical study which attempts to prove God's intrinsic or foundational nature of omnibenevolence , omniscience , and omnipotence . Theodicy is usually concerned with the God of the Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, due to the relevant...
- Divine command theoryDivine command theoryDivine command theory is the meta-ethical view about the semantics or meaning of ethical sentences, which claims that ethical sentences express propositions, some of which are true, about the attitudes of God...
External links
- Position Papers on Theonomy from the Presbyterian Church in AmericaPresbyterian Church in AmericaThe Presbyterian Church in America is an evangelical Protestant Christian denomination, the second largest Presbyterian church body in the United States after the Presbyterian Church . The PCA professes a strong commitment to evangelism, missionary work, and Christian education...
- "Theonomy: What It Is, What It Is Not" by Mark Duncan
- "The Westminster Confession of Faith: A Theonomic Document?" by J. Ligon Duncan
- "Penultimate Thoughts on Theonomy" by John Frame
- What Is "Theonomy"? by Greg Bahnsen