Theonomy

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1896 illustration depicting Moses receiving the Ten Commandments

Theonomy (from Greek Script error: No such module "Lang". Script error: No such module "Lang". 'god' and Script error: No such module "Lang". Script error: No such module "Lang". 'law') is a hypothetical Christian form of government in which divine law governs societies.[1] Theonomists hold that societies should observe divine law, particularly the Old Testament’s judicial laws.[2] The movement’s chief architects were Gary North, Greg Bahnsen, and R.J. Rushdoony.[3]

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").[4][5][6]

Theonomy is distinct from the "theonomous ethics" proposed by Paul Tillich.[3]

Origin

Thomas Aquinas held, "if a sovereign were to order these judicial precepts to be observed in his kingdom, he would not sin."[7] Some have mistakenly referred to that as "General Equity Theonomy"[8] 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.[9]

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.

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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,"[10]Template:Rp exclusion of non-Christians from voting and citizenship,[11]Template:Rp and the application of Biblical law by the state.[12]Template:Rp Under such a system of biblical law, homosexual acts,[13]Template:Rp adultery, witchcraft, and blasphemy[14]Template:Rp would be punishable by death. Propagation of idolatry or "false religions" would be illegal[15] and could also be punished by the death penalty.[16][17]

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.[18] Former pastor and theonomy critic, J.D. Hall, who debated McDurmon in 2015,[19] 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.[20]

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.[12]Template:R/superscript

Relation to Reformed theology

Some in modern Reformed churches criticize any relationship between the historical Reformed faith and theonomy,[21] but other Calvinists affirm that theonomy is consistent with the historic Reformed confessions.[22]

See also

Related topics in Christianity:

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Related topics in philosophy and other religions:

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References

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  1. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Jones, David W. (1 November 2013). An Introduction to Biblical Ethics. B&H Publishing Group. p. 209. ISBN 9781433680779.
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.English, Adam C. (2003). "Christian Reconstruction after Y2K". New Religious Movements and Religious Liberty in America. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press. pp. 113–114. Theonomy – A system of government characterized by being governed by divine law.
  3. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Neuhaus, Richard John (May 1990). "Why Wait for the Kingdom? The Theonomist Temptation". First Things. Archived from the original on 10 January 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Bahnsen, Greg (April 1994). "What Is "Theonomy"? PE180 New Horizons". Archived from the original on 2020-11-12.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Bahnsen, Greg L. (1991). No other standard : theonomy and its critics (PDF). Tyler, Tex.: Institute for Christian Economics. pp. 19–29. ISBN 0-930464-56-7. OCLC 23690584.
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Schwertley, Brian. "A Critique of a Critique of Theonomy: An Analysis of Matthew Winzer's Misrepresentations of Theonomy and the Confession of Faith" (PDF). p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-02-15. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  7. ^ Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 104, a. 3
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The General Equity of the Judicial Law". Reformed Books Online. 2016-07-16. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Chilton, David (1984). Paradise Restored: A Biblical Theology of Dominion. Dominion Press. ISBN 0-930462-52-1. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.North, Gary (1989). Political Polytheism. Institute for Christian Economics. ISBN 0-930464-32-X. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  12. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Bahnsen, Greg (1985). By This Standard: The Authority Of God's Law Today. Institute for Christian Economics. ISBN 0-930464-06-0. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.DeMar, Gary (1987). Ruler of the Nations. Dominion Press. ISBN 978-0-93046219-2. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.North, Gary (1988). Unconditional Surrender: God's Program for Victory. Institute for Christian Economics. ISBN 0-930464-12-5.
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."An Interview with Greg L. Bahnsen". Archived from the original on 2020-05-14. Retrieved 2007-12-12.
  16. ^ Rushdoony, R.J., 1973, The Institutes of Biblical Law, Nutley, NJ: Craig Press, pp. 38–39.
  17. ^ Schwertley, Brian M., "Political Polytheism" Script error: No such module "webarchive".
  18. ^ McDurmon, Joel. The Bounds of Love: An Introduction to God's Law of Liberty. American Vision Press, 2016.
  19. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.The American Vision (2015-02-27). The Theonomy Debate | Joel McDurmon vs. Jordan Hall. Retrieved 2025-06-07 – via YouTube.
  20. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hall, J.D. (2016-10-21). "On Joel McDurmon's Abandonment of Theonomy". Pulpit & Pen News. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
  21. ^ See, for instance, Theonomy: A Reformed Critique published by the faculty of Westminster Theological Seminary and Westminster Seminary California. Also "The Westminster Confession of Faith: A Theonomic Document?" by Ligon Duncan.
  22. ^ See Theonomic Ethics and the Westminster Confession Script error: No such module "webarchive". by Kenneth Gentry, The New Puritanism: A Preliminary Assessment of Christian Reconstruction by Robert Bowman, Jr., Theonomy and the Westminster Confession Script error: No such module "webarchive". by Martin Foulner, The Theonomic Precedent in the Theology of John Calvin by Christopher Strevel, and Calvinism and the Judicial Law of Moses Script error: No such module "webarchive". by James Jordan, and The Theonomic Thesis in Confessional and Historical Perspective Script error: No such module "webarchive". by Greg Bahnsen. Biblical Ethics and the Westminster Standards by Dr. W. Gary Crampton.

Further reading

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Primary sources by theonomists
Secondary sources and criticisms

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