The Biblical Philosophy of History

by Rousas John Rushdoony

The Biblical Philosophy of History

Genres: Philosophy, History, Theology, Christianity, World History

140 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Rousas 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.

Reviews

[Jimmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chapter 1 was excellent! In that chapter, the author R.J. Rushdoony summarizes the biblical implication of a Christian worldview towards a philosophy of history. Rushdoony is not shy about applying His Christian belief towards the issue of the foundation of history, and bringing along his Calvinism to bear. He even discussed how God's eternal decree is important in one's philosophy of history and gave an important insight: "When man therefore denies the divine predestination, he denies God's eternal decree only to replace it with another decree." (45). This explains much about secular approach to history such as that of the Marxist who see history as determined by modes of production and offer that as an important motif in their outlook. The inevitable result of a non-personal determinism is an irrational Fatalism. Rushdoony's critique of other worldview and religion were not limited to Western thought but Eastern thought as well. Readers should not miss his discussion of Indian's doctrine of Maya in terms of it as monism which brings out the age old philosophical dilemma of the one and the many (22-23), karma and the desire to escape "cyclical history" by ceasing existence (40-41), Tibetan polyandry and the inability to maintain the "static" state of permanence that result in the sacrifice of the individual (58-59) and Ancestral worship idolizing and imprisoned by the past (59-60). Each of these beliefs carry devastating implications towards a philosophy of history. Rushdoony's work is worth the time and he clearly expands beyond what Van Til's snippets on a Christian view of philosophy of history. Readers should probably be aware that Rushdoony is Covenantal in his theology and Postmillennial in his eschatological outlook. I am aware that Rushdoony is a controversial figure (he has issue with the Holocaust, is Theonomic) but so much of this has colored people's preception of his larger corpus and contribution towards a Christian scholarship.

[Adam T. Calvert · Rating 4 out of 5]

If the title doesn't excite you then the book won't. Thankfully I found the title very interesting, and my read was very enjoyable.

Rushdoony takes the reader through philosophical concepts necessary for any framework of understanding history and shows how the Christian worldview alone is the only one that makes sense and the only one that gives mankind a sense of meaning, hope, and victory.

A very interesting read, but not something I would say is necessary for most people. Although...it would be nice if our history teachers who are Christians could articulate in some form some of the views presented by Rushdoony, in keeping with the idea that Christ is indeed the Lord of history.

[Vince · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most clear explanation of what history is and why it is so important. Rushdoony is making a good analysis of how time and history relate to each other under the total government and sovereignty of God.
There are a lot of teachers in Christian schools and homeschool families that have to have the understanding what the history is. In order parents to teach their children or students brought under their authority by their parents, we should never forget from where we are coming from, and why the world around us is up side down.
Psalm 88 states this very clearly:
Ps 88:12-13 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

[Wyatt Graham]

An odd but fascinating argument for "the" biblical philosophy of history. Rushdoony does not understand natural law, thinking to be something inherent in nature apart from God. But God's eternal law rules over all. Natural law, for the Christian, is the recognition that God made an ordered universe.

[Arlomisty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!!

[Gelu Timoficiuc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book. Without God, history has no meaning. Praise God that all things have meaning in Him.

Here are a few notable quotes from the book:

"The ground of history...is not in time, not in a total immersion in this moment, but in eternity" (4).

"Every non-biblical philosophy of history ends by destroying both man and history" (11).

"...men who are blind to history cannot write it, but they do become the victims of it" (90).

"'The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand for ever' (Isa. 40:6-8). That word of God gives meaning to every bird and every blade of grass, so that their appearance in time is purposive and predestined (Matt. 6:26-30). In a universe in which 'the very hairs of your head are all numbered' (Matt. 10:30), time has total meaning and total victory, because it is totally determined by the sovereign and triune God" (30).

[Chet Duke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fairly unimpressed with this work. For one, I question the author's knowledge of philosophy. Also, this book didn't fully reveal a clearly biblical approach to history. If anything it seemed like a paranoid attack on anything outside of his political/religious (which are interwoven) agenda. I'm no historian, but this was a really unusual interpretation of history. He is about as extreme a dominionist as anyone. This book is a poor representation of a biblical approach to history and politics.

[Joshua Horn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found that Rushdoony presents some really good and insightful thoughts on a Biblical interpretation of history. He explains in a clear and convincing way how history only makes sense and only has meaning though a Biblical worldview. An evolutionary world view history is just a random collection of events with no purpose, meaning, justice, victory or hope. It's only usefulness can be found as a social science - seeing history as a record of experiments run on humans in different environments. Seeing history as directed by divine providence overturns all of these.

I did, however, find this book a bit lacking. Rushdoony doesn't go beyond a very wide philosophical view of history. So while he tells you that history has meaning, which is great, he doesn't offer any advice of how to find that meaning in a particular era or event you may be studying. I also found it to be a bit disorganized and haphazard. The first half or so of the book I found to be helpful, the second half dragged a bit and seemed to be just repeating concepts I already got from the first half, or debunking various arguments from other authors that I didn't have the background knowledge of to really appreciate.

[Josiah Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly good and helpful. I remember speaking to a christian gentleman on the subject of mathematics and how the very basis by which we affirm that 1+1 =2 is predicated on the presupposition that God exists, and if He exists (and He does), then teaching mathematics outside of that starting point is to teach relativism and that leads directly to skepticism which leads to atheism. He couldn't see this as true and became quite irate. I mention this story to simply point out that we cannot escape the fundamental belief that God exists and that this necessarily affects all of life. In this work, Rushdoony applies the same truth to the subject of history - both American and world history - and argues that to study history is bound up in a Biblical philosophy.

[Ryan Watkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rushdoony is always a mixed bag. The main point of this book is spot on. He does a great job of showing the biblical philosophy of history in contrast to other worldviews. There are several points he gets pretty far off though. An example are his views on natural law. Another include is assessment of Edmund Burke and Russel Kirk which I’ll quote, “Kirk would not only have been a Tory in 1776, he would, if he were in the U.S.S.R in 1966, be an old-line Stalinist, and, in A.D. 20, he would have, in the name of “the principle of continuity,” joined the Sanhedrin in crucifying Christ, who openly denounced tradition in the name of truth.”

[William Schrecengost · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of Rushdoony's writing is pretty academic and more difficult to get through, this was one of them. He emphasizes God's sovereignty in all aspects of life. In this book, he discusses history and how an anti-God view of it can affect how you live, from your views on time to thought and society. He grounds it all back to the creation account and discusses how God's creative acts in Genesis institute his sovereignty over all creation and gives an inherent sovereignty over election and predestination. Very good

[Seth Goodale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very relevant to be written in 1969. Learned a lot about the importance of history and it’s implications. A distortion of history will lead to a distorted society. But a philosophy of history founded upon the Word of God will result in true wisdom and knowledge, being able, by God’s grace, to understand all the world’s history. Praise be to God.

[Peter Kiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first Rushdoony book, and man, he is smart. I think he's a little aggressive for me at times and maybe some of the stuff he said could be taken the wrong way, but overall, a fantastic work on how removing the author of history makes it unintelligble.

[Jason Sixsmith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit dry and academic. It covers a lot of ground, addressing the philosophical and religious worldviews of pagans, juxtapositional to a Christian world view. Quotable at times, and for that I’d say it’s worth the purchase.

[Sean Kewley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rushdoony dukes it out with the heavyweights in this short book and proclaims the light of Christ among the darkness of humanistic philosophy as pertains to history.

[Micah Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book with a well developed, explained, and applied argument.

[Jared Lovell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pure gold for any Christian aspiring to teach history.

[Rachaad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! It shows that history is His Story of victory.