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Noble Savages: Exposing the Worldview of Pornographers and Their War Against Christian Civilization
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Noble Savages: Exposing the Worldview of Pornographers and Their War Against Christian Civilization
Noble Savages: Exposing the Worldview of Pornographers and Their War Against Christian Civilization
by R. J. Rushdoony
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This $57 billion dollar industry is swallowing peoples worldwide as its revenues exceed that of professional football, baseball, and basketball combined. Statistics reveal that upwards of 40 million American adults regularly visit over 372 million published pornographic web pages. How did we get here?
In the "free love" decade of the 1960s, the New Left refashioned pornography into a new image - the symbol of moral freedom. What was once sold "under the counter" as filth was now celebrated as the literary symbol of liberation from God and His law-word. This refashioning was nothing new. It was but an echo of the liberation theology of the Marquis de Sade, the 19th century pervert de France (1740-1814).
In 1974, R. J. Rushdoony, wrote, "[T]his new pornography, first conceived by Sade - will not be eliminated by moral indignation or by legislation." Rushdoony recognized that the roots of pornography in modern culture are essentially religious and must be combated religiously.
In this powerful book Noble Savages (formerly The Politics of Pornography) Rushdoony demonstrates that in order for modern man to justify his perversion he must reject the Biblical doctrine of the fall of man. If there is no fall, the Marquis de Sade argued, then all that man does is normative. Rushdoony concluded, "[T]he world will soon catch up with Sade, unless it abandons its humanistic foundations."
In his conclusion Rushdoony wrote, "Symptoms are important and sometimes very serious, but it is very wrong and dangerous to treat symptoms rather than the underlying disease. Pornography is a symptom; it is not the problem." What is the problem? It's the philosophy behind pornography - the rejection of the fall of man that makes normative all that man does. Learn it all in this timeless classic.
186 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 28, 1974
11 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
About the author
Rousas John Rushdoony
137 books147 followersRousas John Rushdoony was a Calvinist philosopher, historian, and theologian and is widely credited as the father of both Christian Reconstructionism and the modern homeschool movement. His prolific writings have exerted considerable influence on the Christian right.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
November 30, 2018
Singular.
October 10, 2017
Fantástico. Publicado pela primeira vez em 1974, este livro não poderia ser mais atual.
July 20, 2016
Initial reaction:
Whew. So, Rushdoony's analysis of the philsophical/theological underpinnings of pornography and related depravities is brilliant, his work on the Marquis de Sade is very helpful, and I thoroughly appreciated all his remarkable insights. Now, where's the brain bleach?
A month later:
This book has really stuck with me, and the longer I think it over, the more thankful I am that I read it. We live in a society that has been going slowly insane for more than two centuries, and that has affected how all of us think about relationships between the sexes. Rushdoony defines the pornographic worldview as the quest for "the cosmic f---" in which pathetic self-deified man exploits the universe for his own gratification, leaving everyone (especially women) servile and slackjawed in admiration.
It's easy to say "This book is deeply convicting" but it's hard to say exactly how. For me, it directly confronts the things I'm sometimes tempted to find attractive in men, and reading this book was like installing an extra goad in my conscience. Yes, it was a deeply uncomfortable read, mostly because I just didn't want to know some of that data. But the grisly details have faded, and the conscience remains sharp.
Whew. So, Rushdoony's analysis of the philsophical/theological underpinnings of pornography and related depravities is brilliant, his work on the Marquis de Sade is very helpful, and I thoroughly appreciated all his remarkable insights. Now, where's the brain bleach?
A month later:
This book has really stuck with me, and the longer I think it over, the more thankful I am that I read it. We live in a society that has been going slowly insane for more than two centuries, and that has affected how all of us think about relationships between the sexes. Rushdoony defines the pornographic worldview as the quest for "the cosmic f---" in which pathetic self-deified man exploits the universe for his own gratification, leaving everyone (especially women) servile and slackjawed in admiration.
It's easy to say "This book is deeply convicting" but it's hard to say exactly how. For me, it directly confronts the things I'm sometimes tempted to find attractive in men, and reading this book was like installing an extra goad in my conscience. Yes, it was a deeply uncomfortable read, mostly because I just didn't want to know some of that data. But the grisly details have faded, and the conscience remains sharp.
February 16, 2022
Rushdoony does an incredible job exposing the underbelly of the pornographic industry. He shows it's not just a modern problem, but that it's been around for virtually all of human history. He does a tasteful job of revealing the disgusting perversions of the industry and calls for the Church to stand up against it enforcing the standard of God's law.
April 21, 2017
Very intereſtiŋ & illuminatiŋ, it actually touches on much more ðan its title ſuggeſts. While generally agreeiŋ wiþ ðe work, I do miß more & better references, as well as better development of ſeveral ideas.
February 16, 2019
Livro indispensável sobre a cosmovisão pornográfica de nossos tempos em antítese ao cristianismo. Uma obra que todo cristão deveria ler.
June 7, 2022
Pornography is not just a personal enslavement, but is part of a political vision that binds a people. Rushdoony helpfully traces this to the Marquis de Sade.
March 4, 2022
Definitely a book to come back to and work through slowly. I blazed through the audio book on a roadtrip. But as I continue to wrestle with and understand the sinful world of Pornography which poisoned my life over a decade ago it is helpful to see what the outcome of these things are. This is a philosophical work examining where our society has been going and where it is likely to go unless there is reformation and revival in our churches and country. Very sobering.
December 27, 2018
Entender a pornografia simplesmente como vídeos e livros pornôs, é olhar a consequência, obras da mesma que dantes tão repudiada pela cultura predominantemente cristã agora enraizada no coração da sociedade, substituindo o lugar de Deus nela, reduzindo o homem e mulher a meros objetos servos de seu desejos mais primitivos.Rushdoony é indescritível pois revela como a pornografia exerce uma completa rebeldia a Deus e sua lei, e que o fim é a destruição de tudo do cristianismo pois o homem se tornará deus para si.
May 26, 2019
A abordagem de Rushdoony impressiona quando ele mostra o quanto os ensinamentos do Marquês de Sade estão presentes em nossa sociedade. Negar o Deus bíblico, negar a queda, leva o homem a divinizar os seus desejos. Tudo o que o homem deseja passa a ser bom, e as pessoas são instrumentos utilizados para satisfação. Distorcendo a realidade, destrói-se a imagem de Deus.
Difícil é conseguir falar de todas as relações em que o autor propõe. Ótima leitura!
Difícil é conseguir falar de todas as relações em que o autor propõe. Ótima leitura!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 28, 2023
An insightful look into the worldview of pornographers and the users of pornography. Discusses the philosophy behind our over sexualized humanistic culture. It specifically discusses de Sade and his thought and how it’s influenced the world. He ties everything back to naturalism and how the evolutionary theory is based on the desire to overthrow God and has lead to the hatred of the image of God. Men oppress those under them and has resorted to the violent exploitation of the weak. Pornography is the desires of evolutionary man to rape and murder.
His definition of pornography was really interesting and I think correct. It’s the fictionalization of the violation of God’s image. This expands what would be thought of as “pornography” from beyond nudity and voyeurism to titillating images and descriptions as well as violent ones. Stories that glorify sex and violence are really stories glorifying the destruction of God’s image and are at heart rebellion against God.
The great down fall of Rushdoony’s thought is his high familocentrism and patriarchalism. He views the primary offense of pornography as not against God but against the family, and so lessens his overall argument. This philosophy of his ultimately elevated the father of a family to a place of societal authority based merely on his role as a father. This causes men to veer towards anarchy in all spheres as we have lone rangers defying the government in various ways as well as judging and overruling the authority of their ecclesiastical elders. This philosophy has had a continued bad effect on the church and contributes to the continued fracturing of the American churches as we descend into disunity and tribalism.
His definition of pornography was really interesting and I think correct. It’s the fictionalization of the violation of God’s image. This expands what would be thought of as “pornography” from beyond nudity and voyeurism to titillating images and descriptions as well as violent ones. Stories that glorify sex and violence are really stories glorifying the destruction of God’s image and are at heart rebellion against God.
The great down fall of Rushdoony’s thought is his high familocentrism and patriarchalism. He views the primary offense of pornography as not against God but against the family, and so lessens his overall argument. This philosophy of his ultimately elevated the father of a family to a place of societal authority based merely on his role as a father. This causes men to veer towards anarchy in all spheres as we have lone rangers defying the government in various ways as well as judging and overruling the authority of their ecclesiastical elders. This philosophy has had a continued bad effect on the church and contributes to the continued fracturing of the American churches as we descend into disunity and tribalism.
November 11, 2022
Rushdoony follows a very similar line of reasoning to Carl Trueman in 'The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self', though with a particular focus on where pornography comes from and how it functions in modern society. He states correctly that pornography is not something that will lead to societal ills so much as it is a societal ill, and evidence of our decay. If we will not have God and his law, then we will be our own gods; we will either retreat to the "underground" of our own imaginations, or violently impose our will upon reality, which involves dominating and abusing other bearers of God's image.
Contrary to the conventional wisdom about the Reconstructionists, Rushdoony does not see any legal solution to this problem that sidesteps the need for the gospel being preached, and responses of faith and repentance.
The subject matter necessarily made this a rather unpleasant and sobering read. I wonder if he might have gotten away with fewer explicit quotations from certain primary sources, as many of them were more shocking than illuminating.
Worth a read, but perhaps in small doses.
Contrary to the conventional wisdom about the Reconstructionists, Rushdoony does not see any legal solution to this problem that sidesteps the need for the gospel being preached, and responses of faith and repentance.
The subject matter necessarily made this a rather unpleasant and sobering read. I wonder if he might have gotten away with fewer explicit quotations from certain primary sources, as many of them were more shocking than illuminating.
Worth a read, but perhaps in small doses.
December 22, 2025
Rushdoony's analysis is really very good and he sees quite deep into the issues at hand, but the book (because of the nature of the content) was very explicit. It's almost impossible to discuss the subject in detail without feeling like you've spoiled your own hands in even bringing it to light.
June 24, 2024
Great guide to understanding the pornographic worldview, the ideologies undergirding it and the fruit it produces.
August 7, 2019
Em Agosto de 2012, uma febre literária tomou conta do mundo inteiro. A escritora E. L. James, conseguiu atingir a marca de U$ 40 milhões de dólares com um livro cuja história é mal construída, má escrita, com personagens sem profundidade, chegando a beira do clichê. Qual então foi o motivo do sucesso da trilogia dos 50 tons de Cinza? Sexo. Aliás, foi exatamente Hugh Hefner, criador da Playboy, que disse que “Sexo vende”. Por que o sexo vende tanto hoje em dia, se antigamente qualquer saída do padrão de normalidade era tratada com tanta oposição e até mesmo violência? Rousas J. Rushdoony buscou responder essa e outras perguntas relacionadas - que por questões de pudor é melhor não dizer aqui.
Rushdoony é exatamente aquele fundamentalista sem amor, que creria em coisas do tipo terra plana, que não demora em encontrar a raiz de todo o mal em pessoas ou idéias específicas: Darwin, Marx, Jacobus Arminius e alguns pentecostais, mas é o primeiro a revelar a sua hipocrisia ao adorar o racionalismo travestido de calvinismo ou algum messias político republicano norte americano. Apesar disso, o trabalho e as observações de Rushdoony não são descartáveis mas pontuais, indigestas e deixando as fontes criticadas falarem por si mesmas.
É praticamente impossível refutar Rushdoony na sua crítica à modernidade, pois embora haja na sociedade grande fascínio com Nietzsche, Sartre, Foucault, Simone de Beavouir e toda sorte de existencialistas e pós-estruturalistas, todos eles falham em um ponto: Não tiveram coragem suficiente de levar seus pressupostos filosóficos até a sua conclusão óbvia - a completa anarquia existencial. Rushdoony demonstra onde esteve a coragem nessa história toda: Marquês de Sade e Henry Miller. Foi justamente esses dois filósofos da pornografia que desenvolveram a mentalidade que assola desde adolescentes com acesso à internet que descobriram outra função fisiológica para seus genitais, até o poder judiciário, a política, a cultura com suas artes e expressões, os jornais, a Igreja e a própria família. É triste ter que reconhecer que Rushdoony não brinca em serviço ao demonstrar que o espírito da pornografia hoje opera fortemente em púlpitos, adorações e até em pais bem intencionados na criação de seus filhos. Chocante.
O livro é nojento pela denúncia escancarada de Rushdoony à essa cosmovisão, mentalidade, modo de ser e agir, em que toda lei natural, divina, moral, social é vista como opressão que nega a realidade existencial, experimental, primitiva, sexual, violenta do homem, que o faz viver toda a potencialidade do pecado como a tão venerada liberdade. O autor não busca demonstrar como vencer a pornografia por não ser um livro pastoral, mas que expõe os reais influenciadores da cultura decadente que encontramos lá fora e muitas vezes dentro de nós mesmos.
Por fim, Rushdoony demonstra como o pensamento pornográfico é o meio pelo qual a lógica do Louco que anunciou a morte de Deus [1] toma o caminho para a autodeterminação, encontra apenas solidão, ausência de significado e por fim, o peso da realidade é tão grande que o suicídio se torna “a única questão filosoficamente relevante” [2].
A solução proposta por Rushdoony é interessante, mas soa reacionária demais. Não é para menos, qualquer um que realmente se disponha a mergulhar no esgoto filosófico chamado Sadismo, Pós-Estruturalismo, Feminismo e Teoria Queer perceberá que são todos movimentos que anunciam a falência de uma sociedade Pós-Cristã, mas que são insuficientes para providenciar o que realmente se propõe: Tornar verdadeira a mensagem da Serpente no Éden “sereis deuses” e que terão uma realidade criada segundo o seu próprio conhecimento do que seria o bem e o mal. É exatamente por isso que essa praga não se criará por muito tempo.
[1] Nietzsche, A Gaia Ciência.
[2] Camus, A. O Mito de Sísifo.
Rushdoony é exatamente aquele fundamentalista sem amor, que creria em coisas do tipo terra plana, que não demora em encontrar a raiz de todo o mal em pessoas ou idéias específicas: Darwin, Marx, Jacobus Arminius e alguns pentecostais, mas é o primeiro a revelar a sua hipocrisia ao adorar o racionalismo travestido de calvinismo ou algum messias político republicano norte americano. Apesar disso, o trabalho e as observações de Rushdoony não são descartáveis mas pontuais, indigestas e deixando as fontes criticadas falarem por si mesmas.
É praticamente impossível refutar Rushdoony na sua crítica à modernidade, pois embora haja na sociedade grande fascínio com Nietzsche, Sartre, Foucault, Simone de Beavouir e toda sorte de existencialistas e pós-estruturalistas, todos eles falham em um ponto: Não tiveram coragem suficiente de levar seus pressupostos filosóficos até a sua conclusão óbvia - a completa anarquia existencial. Rushdoony demonstra onde esteve a coragem nessa história toda: Marquês de Sade e Henry Miller. Foi justamente esses dois filósofos da pornografia que desenvolveram a mentalidade que assola desde adolescentes com acesso à internet que descobriram outra função fisiológica para seus genitais, até o poder judiciário, a política, a cultura com suas artes e expressões, os jornais, a Igreja e a própria família. É triste ter que reconhecer que Rushdoony não brinca em serviço ao demonstrar que o espírito da pornografia hoje opera fortemente em púlpitos, adorações e até em pais bem intencionados na criação de seus filhos. Chocante.
O livro é nojento pela denúncia escancarada de Rushdoony à essa cosmovisão, mentalidade, modo de ser e agir, em que toda lei natural, divina, moral, social é vista como opressão que nega a realidade existencial, experimental, primitiva, sexual, violenta do homem, que o faz viver toda a potencialidade do pecado como a tão venerada liberdade. O autor não busca demonstrar como vencer a pornografia por não ser um livro pastoral, mas que expõe os reais influenciadores da cultura decadente que encontramos lá fora e muitas vezes dentro de nós mesmos.
Por fim, Rushdoony demonstra como o pensamento pornográfico é o meio pelo qual a lógica do Louco que anunciou a morte de Deus [1] toma o caminho para a autodeterminação, encontra apenas solidão, ausência de significado e por fim, o peso da realidade é tão grande que o suicídio se torna “a única questão filosoficamente relevante” [2].
A solução proposta por Rushdoony é interessante, mas soa reacionária demais. Não é para menos, qualquer um que realmente se disponha a mergulhar no esgoto filosófico chamado Sadismo, Pós-Estruturalismo, Feminismo e Teoria Queer perceberá que são todos movimentos que anunciam a falência de uma sociedade Pós-Cristã, mas que são insuficientes para providenciar o que realmente se propõe: Tornar verdadeira a mensagem da Serpente no Éden “sereis deuses” e que terão uma realidade criada segundo o seu próprio conhecimento do que seria o bem e o mal. É exatamente por isso que essa praga não se criará por muito tempo.
[1] Nietzsche, A Gaia Ciência.
[2] Camus, A. O Mito de Sísifo.
December 15, 2014
Difficult to read.
Rushdooney, if you aren't used to him, is very philosophical, and uses long words with ease and comfort. Reading his writing for the first time and trying to keep up with him can be mentally taxing to the unprepared.
The subject material is... well, I think "disgusting" is a fitting descriptor. Anybody who desires to discuss pornography in a straightforward and matter-of-fact manner will have their resolve tested, for the depravity of the human heart can turn the stomach.
All that said, Mr. Rushdooney makes excellent points and provides superb material for someone looking for a reasons to condemn pornography for the filth that it is.
Rushdooney, if you aren't used to him, is very philosophical, and uses long words with ease and comfort. Reading his writing for the first time and trying to keep up with him can be mentally taxing to the unprepared.
The subject material is... well, I think "disgusting" is a fitting descriptor. Anybody who desires to discuss pornography in a straightforward and matter-of-fact manner will have their resolve tested, for the depravity of the human heart can turn the stomach.
All that said, Mr. Rushdooney makes excellent points and provides superb material for someone looking for a reasons to condemn pornography for the filth that it is.
November 2, 2020
The smoking gun proving that QAnon conspiracy theories are neither a modern phenomenon, nor did they begin on the Internet. They have been a part of evangelical Conservatism since its resurgence under Barry Goldwater.
January 22, 2021
One of Rushdoony's better writings. Showing the dangerous worldview behind pornographers.
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