Theonomy

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Theonomy (from Greek theos "God" and nomos "law") is a hypothetical Christian form of government in which divine law governs societies.<ref name="Jones2013">Template:Cite book</ref> Theonomists hold that societies should observe divine law, particularly the Old Testament’s judicial laws.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The movement’s chief architects were Gary North, Greg Bahnsen, and R.J. Rushdoony.<ref name="Neuhaus1990" />

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").<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Theonomy is distinct from the "theonomous ethics" proposed by Paul Tillich.<ref name="Neuhaus1990">Template:Cite journal</ref>

OriginEdit

Thomas Aquinas held, "if a sovereign were to order these judicial precepts to be observed in his kingdom, he would not sin."<ref>Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 104, a. 3</ref> Some have mistakenly referred to that as "General Equity Theonomy"<ref>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.</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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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CriticsTemplate:Who? 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.

GoalsEdit

Various theonomic authors have stated such goals as "the universal development of Biblical theocratic republics,"<ref name= "chilton">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp exclusion of non-Christians from voting and citizenship,<ref name= "north">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp and the application of Biblical law by the state.<ref name="bahnsen">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Under such a system of biblical law, homosexual acts,<ref name= "demar">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp adultery, witchcraft, and blasphemy<ref name="north2">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp would be punishable by death. Propagation of idolatry or "false religions" would be illegal<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and could also be punished by the death penalty.<ref>Rushdoony, R.J., 1973, The Institutes of Biblical Law, Nutley, NJ: Craig Press, pp. 38–39.</ref><ref>Schwertley, Brian M., "Political Polytheism" Template:Webarchive</ref>

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.<ref>Joel McDurmon, The Bounds of Love (2016).</ref> Former pastor and theonomy critic, JD Hall, who debated McDurmon in 2015,<ref>The Theonomy Debate | Joel McDurmon vs. Jordan Hall</ref> 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.<ref>Hall, J.D., "On Joel McDurmon’s Abandonment of Theonomy"</ref>

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.Template:R