All Things Rushdoony
I love posting old articles and letters from R. J. Rushdoony. His archives are endless, and often yield precious material that is delightful to those who know his work. This particular letter was the second newsletter he sent to his small group of supporters after he founded the Chalcedon Foundation in 1965. He was 49 years of age at the time (what's your excuse?).
I left in the portion at the end where he describes his activities just for the month of October, and they included: 28 speaking engagements in 4 cities (From CA to MI), two articles for the Freedom Press, two chapters for one of his books, and an article of his appeared of his in the Creation Research Society Quarterly.
In the following years he would also publish his personal reading totals in the year-end issue of the Chalcedon Report. There would usually be between 300-350 titles read, marked, and personally indexed. And his critics, both Christian and not, refer to him as a lunatic, wacko, nut job, and extremist. Well, let's take a cursory glance at his life:
Here's the actual letter that is featured below. Click on the image to view a larger version.
October 31, 1965, Newsletter 2: R. J. Rushdoony
During this past month, in the course of my travels, I spent several hours visiting with an outstanding conservative leader, a man who is a major force in one of our most notable anti-communist organizations. In the first few minutes, he raised the question: "Do you see any hope?" Many ask this same question. I am reminded of the question asked of Adoniram Judson (1788-1850), pioneer American Baptist missionary in Burma. Hostile forces soon succeeded in destroying Judson's mission, his converts, printing press, and his possessions. Judson himself was thrown into a filthy Burmese prison, and, with arrogant humor, asked by a captor, "how are your prospects now?" "As bright as the promises of God," responded Judson, who lived to see those promises fulfilled in the success of his mission. Our prospects are also as bright, if our confidence is in the same omnipotent God.
The revolution of our day rests on certain anti-Christian premises: First, it is held that anything goes, because there is no God. No God means no law, and no law means that nothing is a crime, and hence all acts are equally valid. Second, by "outlawing" God and declaring Him to be non-existent, the revolutionaries outlaw the idea of good and evil. They are supposedly beyond good and evil. If good is mythical, then evil is also, and man cannot be evil! Therefore, whatever the world-planners do cannot be evil, because evil does not exist: it is simply either a successful scientific experiment, or it is a failure. Third, because God is abolished as a myth, the approach to man's problems must be scientific, that is, experimental, and man is thus the prime laboratory test animal. In school, your children are to be objects of experimentation, even as you are also by means of every communication media. There is no evil in such experimentation, since there is no God, but only success or failure. Fourth, every experiment to be valid, requires total control of all factors. Hence, the scientific society must be totalitarian to the full measure, or it will not work.
The various phases of this vast attempt to turn the world from God's creation to the scientific planners' re-creation can be documented in detail. It has been done by the volume. The answer, however, is not in facts and knowledge but in a restoration of Christian faith.
Because God is God, and because He will not allow Himself to be dethroned, the scientific planners are doomed. This judgement is a certainty because God cannot allow sin to go unpunished. All sin is either atoned for, or punished. The question is whether we will be among those judged, or among those, the saved remnant, who shall undertake even now the task of reconstruction.
And now a summary of October's activities: I spoke a total of 28 times to groups ranging in number from about 20 to well over 950. In some instances., many listeners were not of our persuasion. Speaking engagements outside the southern Califomia area included Chicago, Grand Rapids, and Detroit, and Menlo Park, California. Two columns were written for THE FREEDOM PRESS ("Ideas Examined") and two chapters written for current studies in progress. The CREATION RESEARCH SOCIETY QUARTERLY, Vol.2, no. 2, appeared, with my article, "The Premises of Evolutionary Thought."
I left in the portion at the end where he describes his activities just for the month of October, and they included: 28 speaking engagements in 4 cities (From CA to MI), two articles for the Freedom Press, two chapters for one of his books, and an article of his appeared of his in the Creation Research Society Quarterly.
In the following years he would also publish his personal reading totals in the year-end issue of the Chalcedon Report. There would usually be between 300-350 titles read, marked, and personally indexed. And his critics, both Christian and not, refer to him as a lunatic, wacko, nut job, and extremist. Well, let's take a cursory glance at his life:
- He raised 5 godly children
- Served as a missionary to the Indians
- Pastored several churches
- Created an international Christian movement that influenced both leaders and laity
- Personally mentored some of the most significant Christian thinkers of his generation
- Read a book a day on average from every field of study throughout his adult life
- Accumulated a 40,000+ volume library
- Wrote 30+ books, and hundreds of articles and essays
- Left hundreds of recorded lectures and sermons
- Appeared in countless trials as an expert witness, and successfully defended persecuted Christian academies and homeschooling families
- Appeared in numerous television and radio broadcasts, and left thousands of people with nothing but admiration and respect
- Passes away yet his opponents still wrestle with him
- And much, much, more
Here's the actual letter that is featured below. Click on the image to view a larger version.
October 31, 1965, Newsletter 2: R. J. Rushdoony
During this past month, in the course of my travels, I spent several hours visiting with an outstanding conservative leader, a man who is a major force in one of our most notable anti-communist organizations. In the first few minutes, he raised the question: "Do you see any hope?" Many ask this same question. I am reminded of the question asked of Adoniram Judson (1788-1850), pioneer American Baptist missionary in Burma. Hostile forces soon succeeded in destroying Judson's mission, his converts, printing press, and his possessions. Judson himself was thrown into a filthy Burmese prison, and, with arrogant humor, asked by a captor, "how are your prospects now?" "As bright as the promises of God," responded Judson, who lived to see those promises fulfilled in the success of his mission. Our prospects are also as bright, if our confidence is in the same omnipotent God.
The revolution of our day rests on certain anti-Christian premises: First, it is held that anything goes, because there is no God. No God means no law, and no law means that nothing is a crime, and hence all acts are equally valid. Second, by "outlawing" God and declaring Him to be non-existent, the revolutionaries outlaw the idea of good and evil. They are supposedly beyond good and evil. If good is mythical, then evil is also, and man cannot be evil! Therefore, whatever the world-planners do cannot be evil, because evil does not exist: it is simply either a successful scientific experiment, or it is a failure. Third, because God is abolished as a myth, the approach to man's problems must be scientific, that is, experimental, and man is thus the prime laboratory test animal. In school, your children are to be objects of experimentation, even as you are also by means of every communication media. There is no evil in such experimentation, since there is no God, but only success or failure. Fourth, every experiment to be valid, requires total control of all factors. Hence, the scientific society must be totalitarian to the full measure, or it will not work.
The various phases of this vast attempt to turn the world from God's creation to the scientific planners' re-creation can be documented in detail. It has been done by the volume. The answer, however, is not in facts and knowledge but in a restoration of Christian faith.
Because God is God, and because He will not allow Himself to be dethroned, the scientific planners are doomed. This judgement is a certainty because God cannot allow sin to go unpunished. All sin is either atoned for, or punished. The question is whether we will be among those judged, or among those, the saved remnant, who shall undertake even now the task of reconstruction.
And now a summary of October's activities: I spoke a total of 28 times to groups ranging in number from about 20 to well over 950. In some instances., many listeners were not of our persuasion. Speaking engagements outside the southern Califomia area included Chicago, Grand Rapids, and Detroit, and Menlo Park, California. Two columns were written for THE FREEDOM PRESS ("Ideas Examined") and two chapters written for current studies in progress. The CREATION RESEARCH SOCIETY QUARTERLY, Vol.2, no. 2, appeared, with my article, "The Premises of Evolutionary Thought."
