Series Overview: Our culture is the most law-saturated culture in history. Christians have often been at the forefront of law reform efforts, both at a general level and with specific moral issues. In these sessions we will wrestle with the proper relationship between God's law and American secular law. We will begin by developing a scriptural perspective on the role of secular law and by considering alternative approaches such as theonomy and the insights of Abraham Kuyper. We then will use these insights to explore abortion, gay marriage, gambling, corporate ethics and other current legal issues.
These sessions were taught as a Sunday School class at Tenth Presbyterian Church by members of Tenth who practice or teach law.
Session Overview: This session is an overview of the origins, history, and teachings of the theological position known variously as 'theonomy,' 'Christian reconstructionism,' and 'dominion theology.' There is a particular focus on the sources of theonomic thought, its exegetical and hermeneutical basis, and theonomy's popular appeal, as well as some critical reflections on its central claims. This lesson was presented by Dr. S. Joel Garver, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at La Salle University.
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“ Great Sermon! ” I am meeting more and more Christians who claim to be reformed who have bought into this biblical error. May God help us to be more discerning and keep in mind the centrality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the five solas of the Reformation!
A Listener (9/16/2005)
“ Great Sermon! ” I appreciate the speaker's commitment to the WCF. I think that a lot of problems in the theon/recon movement had a lot to do with a neglect of the first table of the law. Many in that camp jumped right into social activism without a commitment to WCF standards. And many folks have become disillusioned with theon since many of its adherents who they trusted have fallen into heresies such as Romanism, neo-orthodoxy, the Auburn Ave Theology, full preterism and white supremacy. And that has to do with many of these theonomists leaving church authority and going off on their own. People see these things and are not only turned off to a biblical nomology, but often the gospel in general. I am sad that many people who used to adhere to theon principles have been burned and have now reverted to pietism in the reformed camp or have even gone off the deep end into postmodern thought within evangelicalism. And we've seen heresies that have sprung from the non theonomic wing of reformdom as well. We are being challenged as reformed people to live for Christ and fight for the faith instead of merely enjoying the faith as an intellectual ivory tower. Heresies are not the Arminians' problem. They are the Church's and we need to get our hands dirty with the work of the gospel!
Dr. S. Joel Garver
Dr. S. Joel Garver is a deacon of Tenth Presbyterian Church, in Philadelphia, PA. He was received his BA from the University of Pennsylvania and PhD from Syracuse University. Dr. Garver is currently an assistant professor of philosophy at La Salle University in Philadelphia,...
