theonomy

{{Short description|Christian form of government in which society is ruled by divine law}}

{{About|biblical law within Christian reconstructionism|the Christian theo-political movement|Christian reconstructionism|the meta-ethical theory|divine command theory}}

Theonomy (from Greek theos "God" and nomos "law") is a hypothetical Christian form of government in which divine law governs societies.{{cite book|last=Jones|first=David W.|title=An Introduction to Biblical Ethics|date=1 November 2013|publisher=B&H Publishing Group|language=en|isbn=9781433680779|page=209}} Theonomists hold that societies should observe divine law, particularly the Old Testament’s judicial laws.{{cite book|title=New Religious Movements and Religious Liberty in America|last=English|first=Adam C.|chapter=Christian Reconstruction after Y2K|year=2003|publisher=Baylor University Press|location=Waco, TX|pages=113–114|quote=Theonomy – A system of government characterized by being governed by divine law.}} The movement’s chief architects were Gary North, Greg Bahnsen, and R.J. Rushdoony.

Theonomy presumes biblical Israel’s Old Covenant judicial laws have not been abrogated, and therefore all civil governments must enforce them (including the specific penalties). Theonomy holds that all civil governments must refrain from coercion if Scripture has not prescribed their intervention (the "regulative principle of the state").{{Cite web|last=Bahnsen|first=Greg|date=April 1994|title=What Is "Theonomy"? PE180 New Horizons|url=https://www.cmfnow.com/articles/pe180.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112050230/https://www.cmfnow.com/articles/pe180.htm |archive-date=2020-11-12}}{{Cite book|last=Bahnsen|first=Greg L.|url=http://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/docs/a_pdfs/gbno.pdf|title=No other standard : theonomy and its critics|date=1991|publisher=Institute for Christian Economics|isbn=0-930464-56-7|location=Tyler, Tex.|pages=19–29|oclc=23690584}}{{Cite web|last=Schwertley|first=Brian|title=A Critique of a Critique of Theonomy: An Analysis of Matthew Winzer's Misrepresentations of Theonomy and the Confession of Faith|url=http://www.reformedonline.com/uploads/1/5/0/3/15030584/winzer_a_critique_of_a_critique_of_theonomy.pdf|page=2|access-date=2021-04-09|archive-date=2022-02-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220215062247/http://www.reformedonline.com/uploads/1/5/0/3/15030584/winzer_a_critique_of_a_critique_of_theonomy.pdf|url-status=dead}}

Theonomy is distinct from the "theonomous ethics" proposed by Paul Tillich.{{cite journal|title = Why Wait for the Kingdom? The Theonomist Temptation|date = May 1990|url = http://www.firstthings.com/article/1990/05/002-why-wait-for-the-kingdom-the-theonomist-temptation|last = Neuhaus|first = Richard John|journal = First Things|access-date = 8 August 2013|archive-date = 10 January 2017|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170110120708/https://www.firstthings.com/article/1990/05/002-why-wait-for-the-kingdom-the-theonomist-temptation|url-status = dead}}

Origin

Thomas Aquinas held, "if a sovereign were to order these judicial precepts to be observed in his kingdom, he would not sin."[http://www.newadvent.org/summa/2104.htm Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 104, a. 3] Some have mistakenly referred to that as "General Equity Theonomy"Clausen, Mark A., Professor of History, Cedarville University "Theonomy in the Middle Ages". Paper presented at the 2005 annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Marriott Wardman Park, Omni Shoreham, Washington Hilton, Washington, DC. but it is in fact distinct from theonomy insofar as Aquinas believed the specifics of the Old Testament judicial laws were no longer binding. He instead taught that the judicial precepts contained varying degrees of universal principles of justice that reflected natural law.{{Cite web|last=|date=2016-07-16|title=The General Equity of the Judicial Law|url=https://reformedbooksonline.com/the-general-equity-of-the-judicial-law/|access-date=2021-04-09|website=Reformed Books Online|language=en-US}}

In Christian reconstructionism, theonomy is the idea that God provides the basis of both personal and social ethics in the Bible. Theonomic ethics asserts that the Bible has been given as the abiding standard for all human authority (individual, family, church, and civil) and that biblical law must be incorporated into a Christian theory of biblical ethics.

{{Quote|Theonomic ethics, to put it simply, represents a commitment to the necessity, sufficiency, and unity of Scripture. For an adequate and genuinely Christian ethic, we must have God's word, only God's word, and all of God's word. Nearly every critic of theonomic ethics will be found denying, in some way, one or more of these premises.|The Theonomic Antithesis to Other Law-Attitudes{{cite news | first=Greg | last=Bahnsen | author-link=Greg Bahnsen | title=The Theonomic Antithesis to Other Law-Attitudes | publisher=Covenant Media Foundation | url=http://www.cmfnow.com/articles/pe054.htm | access-date=2008-11-27 | archive-date=2009-05-21 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090521224329/http://www.cmfnow.com/articles/pe054.htm | url-status=dead }}}}

Critics{{who?|date=March 2021}} see theonomy as a significant form of dominion theology, which they define as a theocracy. Theonomy posits that the biblical law is applicable to civil law, and theonomists propose biblical law as the standard by which laws may be measured and to which they ought to be conformed.

Goals

Various theonomic authors have stated such goals as "the universal development of Biblical theocratic republics,"{{cite book |last=Chilton |first=David |author-link= David Chilton |title=Paradise Restored: A Biblical Theology of Dominion |publisher= Dominion Press |date=1984 |isbn=0-930462-52-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6_NmAAAACAAJ |access-date= March 26, 2021 }}{{rp|223–335}} exclusion of non-Christians from voting and citizenship,{{cite book |last=North |first= Gary |author-link=Gary North (economist) |title=Political Polytheism |publisher= Institute for Christian Economics |date= 1989 |isbn=0-930464-32-X |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ApfYAAAAMAAJ |access-date= March 26, 2021}}{{rp |87}} and the application of Biblical law by the state.{{cite book |last= Bahnsen |first= Greg |author-link= Greg Bahnsen |title=By This Standard: The Authority Of God's Law Today |publisher= Institute for Christian Economics |date= 1985 |isbn= 0-930464-06-0 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=jIbnzAEACAAJ |access-date= March 26, 2021}}{{rp |346–47}} Under such a system of biblical law, homosexual acts,{{cite book |last= DeMar |first=Gary |author-link=Gary DeMar |title= Ruler of the Nations |publisher= Dominion Press |date=1987 |isbn=978-0-93046219-2 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=EDC9AAAACAAJ |access-date=March 26, 2021}}{{rp |212}} adultery, witchcraft, and blasphemy{{cite book |last= North |first= Gary |author-link= Gary North (economist) |title=Unconditional Surrender: God's Program for Victory |publisher= Institute for Christian Economics |date=1988 |isbn= 0-930464-12-5}}{{rp |118}} would be punishable by death. Propagation of idolatry or "false religions" would be illegal{{Cite web |url= http://www.cmfnow.com/articles/pe179.htm |title=An Interview with Greg L. Bahnsen |access-date= 2007-12-12 |archive-date= 2020-05-14 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200514210715/http://www.cmfnow.com/articles/pe179.htm |url-status= dead }} and could also be punished by the death penalty.Rushdoony, R.J., 1973, The Institutes of Biblical Law, Nutley, NJ: Craig Press, pp. 38–39.Schwertley, Brian M., [http://www.reformedonline.com/uploads/1/5/0/3/15030584/webpolitical_polytheism.pdf "Political Polytheism"] {{Webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130515165305/http://www.reformedonline.com/uploads/1/5/0/3/15030584/webpolitical_polytheism.pdf |date=2013-05-15}}

More recent theonomic writers such as Joel McDurmon, former President of American Vision, have moved away from this position, stating that these death penalties are no longer binding in the new covenant.McDurmon, Joel. The Bounds of Love: An Introduction to God's Law of Liberty. American Vision Press, 2016. Former pastor and theonomy critic, JD Hall, who debated McDurmon in 2015,{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvCJEGM0WMw |title=The Theonomy Debate {{!}} Joel McDurmon vs. Jordan Hall |date=2015-02-27 |last=The American Vision |access-date=2025-06-07 |via=YouTube}} has argued that abandoning Mosaic penologies such as the death penalty means that McDurmon and others who hold similar positions cannot be said to hold to theonomy in any meaningful way.Hall, J.D. On Joel McDurmon’s Abandonment of Theonomy. (2016, October 22). Pulpit & Pen News. https://pulpitandpen.org/2016/10/21/on-joel-mcdurmons-abandonment-of-theonomy/

According to the theonomist Greg Bahnsen, the laws of God are the standard which Christian voters and officials ought to pursue. The civil law given to the nation of Israel, it is stated, is continuously binding, although apart from what he considers to be surrounding cultural connotations specific to this nation itself.{{r|bahnsen|}}

Relation to Reformed theology

Some in modern Reformed churches criticize any relationship between the historical Reformed faith and theonomy,See, for instance, Theonomy: A Reformed Critique published by the faculty of Westminster Theological Seminary and Westminster Seminary California. Also [http://www.providencepca.com/essays/theonomy.html "The Westminster Confession of Faith: A Theonomic Document?"] by Ligon Duncan. but other Calvinists affirm that theonomy is consistent with the historic Reformed confessions.See [http://www.cmfnow.com/articles/pe551.htm Theonomic Ethics and the Westminster Confession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627225735/http://www.cmfnow.com/articles/pe551.htm |date=2020-06-27 }} by Kenneth Gentry, The New Puritanism: A Preliminary Assessment of Christian Reconstruction by Robert Bowman, Jr., [http://chalcedon.org/resources/counsel-of-chalcedon-magazine/1997-issue-7/theonomy-and-the-westminster-confession-a-review-and-report Theonomy and the Westminster Confession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190903143204/http://chalcedon.org/resources/counsel-of-chalcedon-magazine/1997-issue-7/theonomy-and-the-westminster-confession-a-review-and-report |date=2019-09-03 }} by Martin Foulner, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080227084643/http://www.covenant-rpcus.org/images/calvintheonomy.pdf The Theonomic Precedent in the Theology of John Calvin] by Christopher Strevel, and [http://www.reformed.org/ethics/Jordan_judicial_laws_Moses.html Calvinism and the Judicial Law of Moses] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060526002401/http://www.reformed.org/ethics/Jordan_judicial_laws_Moses.html |date=2006-05-26 }} by James Jordan, and [http://www.cmfnow.com/articles/pe144.htm The Theonomic Thesis in Confessional and Historical Perspective] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514210635/http://www.cmfnow.com/articles/pe144.htm |date=2020-05-14 }} by Greg Bahnsen. [http://chalcedon.org/docs/counselpdf/2005_4%20Biblical%20Ethics%20and%20the%20Westminster%20Standards.pdf Biblical Ethics and the Westminster Standards] by Dr. W. Gary Crampton

References

External links

[https://chalcedon.edu/resources/videos/what-is-theonomy What is Theonomy?] by Chalcedon Foundation
[http://theonomyresources.blogspot.com/2015/03/proof-that-modern-theonomy-advocates.html Proof that Modern Theonomy Advocates the Historic Understanding of the Judicial Law]
[http://www.meredithkline.com/klines-works/articles-and-essays/comments-on-an-old-new-error/ Comments on an Old-New Error] by Meredith Kline
[http://www.frame-poythress.org/ebooks/the-shadow-of-christ-in-the-law-of-moses/ The Shadow of Christ in the Law of Moses] by Vern Poythress

Category:Far-right politics

Category:Christian reconstructionism

Category:Christian terminology

Category:Dominion theology

Category:Mosaic law in Christian theology

Category:Theocracy