Theonomy: An Informed Response

by Gary North

Book by

Genres: Theology

395 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1991

About the author

Gary North received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside. He served on the Senior Staff of the Foundation for Economic Education, in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, and was the president of the Institute for Christian Economics. Dr. North’s essays and reviews have appeared in three dozen magazines and journals, including The Wall Street Journal, National Review, The American Spectator, and others.

Reviews

[Logan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Admittedly I just skimmed the articles by Bahnsen. Gentry's articles might have been fine but I appreciate Bahnsen's careful approach in everything.

There wasn't anything new here that I hadn't seen before, but it is clear that the theonomists thought that the "Theonomy: a Reformed Critique" was talking to straw men. And frankly I agree in large part. The issue isn't whether we can make America a Christian nation by changing all the laws and executing adulterers. Not at all! The issue is what standard are you going to hold to? And if you say there isn't a standard, it's all passed away and we just have a wishy-washy feely kind of morality that we loosely ground on moral law (instead of God's Word) then what we end up is situations where the church just throws up its hands and say "oh well, I disagree with how the state is behaving but I have no basis for saying it's wrong." This type of discussion is helpful and should be engaged in more often.

[Jake Litwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a collection of essays written by various authors responding to the book Theonomy: A Reformed Critique edited by Barker and Godfrey. Some essays are stronger than others. The first half of the book I thought made some good points about the standard of God’s character and justice but slowly did not feel the same weight towards the second half of the book. One major thing that is very clear from this work is how misrepresented the Reconstructionst camp is from the Westminster Seminary faculty. Disagreement on the exegesis is understandable but it was sad to see the assumptions the faculty made without even going to the original sources on Theonomy. There are still exegetical points that I need to work through and this book was helpful but I still have questions. The substitute of this book is: “An Informed Response” and I do believe they did just that. The response is very polemic so that will be up to you to decide whether this approach was fruitful or not.

I do want to mention one essay that I really enjoyed that ironically has nothing to do with Theonomy which was at the end of the book. Gary North includes a polemic essay on the dangers of seminary and the academy hurting the church instead of helping the church. Regardless of where you stand with North, he brings some powerful points on Calvinist being bought into wanting the accredited degrees that is approved by the world and simply how unnecessary 3 years of institutional seminary training that brings you into debt, takes much time away from family, and doesn’t equip you on how to interact with the world is not helpful at all. He says you can learn everything seminary gives you for free on CD (which today would be Youtube). Men who desire to be trained for the ministry should be under an apprentice (pastor), not high academia being trained by professors influenced by the humanistic structure of education. There is so much more to say on this topic alone but this essay obviously stood out to me more than some of the essays responding against the critiques of Theonomy.

Overall this is a book worth reading to get informed.

[Steven H · Rating 2 out of 5]

THE CHRISTIAN RECONSTRUCTIONIST RESPONSE TO WESTMINSTER'S "CRITIQUE"

Editor Gary North wrote in his Introduction to this 1991 book, "Readers who are looking forward to fiery polemics will be disappointed by most of this book. The chapters in "Theonomy: An Informed Response' are polite... even mine. I committed my traditional polemical offenses in 'Westminster's Confession: The Abandonment of Van Til's Legacy'; here, the style is subdued and scholarly... I strongly encourage you to buy and read 'Theonomy: A Reformed Critique' and then compare both the theological and intellectual quality of its essays with the essays in this book."

One essayist argues, "But how exactly should the Christian define 'justice' and 'righteousness'? Is it just and right to tax the citizenry in order to fulfill the general demands of justice and righteousness, say, in caring for the poor and educating the people through an educational system controlled by the state... By what standard are Christians required by God to decide these issues?" (Pg. 42)

Another argues, "Theonomists defend a biblically conceived religious toleration within the state which, just like our Reformed heritage, protects liberty of conscience for all religious perspectives and protects the practice of all denominational distinctives within the circle of Christian profession... Because of their advocacy of God's law as the standard (and limit) of political ethics, theonomists have a deserved reputation for advocating a SMALL area of legitimate civil government." (Pg. 98)

Another remarks, "(A) Calvinist who believes that the origin of the universe is chronologically indeterminate, and who also believes that the cultural failure of Christianity in history is eschatologically determined... is not in a strong position to lead Christians into battle for the minds of men in a time of crisis." (Pg. 345)

This is "must reading" for persons on any side of the Christian Reconstruction/Theonomy debate.

[Aurora Grace · Rating 1 out of 5]

A lot of theonomic writing was directed at other Christians. This set of essays defends it against the faculty of Westminster Theological Seminary

[Justin Lyttle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even if I dont necessarily agree with every theonomist on every point presented in this book, I found it very much worth the read. It's written in response to Theonomy an Informed Critique, and generally speaking this book far surpasses that one in readability and making actual arguments. Worth your time, especially if you disagree with theonomy, as I think the person who has only heard what others have told them will be surprised at what at least some in the camp actually say.

[Adam T. Calvert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought Greg Bahnsen answered pretty clearly the objections raised in Theonomy: A Reformed Critique with his work No Other Standard.

And I still think that’s the case. But this work edited by Gary North gives even more evidence that the contributors to Theonomy: A Reformed Critique, when they did present objections (not all of them really did), they either objected to strawmen arguments or their objections lacked Biblical support or logical consistency.

Yes this work was another response to Theonomy: A Reformed Critique. I had no idea there were three of them: Gary North’s Westminster’s Confession [still have yet to read], Greg Bahnsen’s No Other Standard, and then this one edited by North but with six contributors.

While I still think Bahnsen left no stone unturned in his individual work, this book provides more detail into the debate. It was also good to see a number of different contributors with their own styles and insights that they bring to the discussion.

Gary DeMar did an extraordinary job at showing theonomy as the logical conclusion of Reformed theology applied to the civil magistrate.

Greg Bahnsen was his usual self: scholarly, Biblical and theologically minded, with unrelenting logic dismantling political pluralism.

Kenneth Gentry did remarkable work on the discussion of civil and church sanctions in the New Testament and postmillenial hope of the church.

Ray Sutton gave a bulwark testimony to the true compassionate side of theonomy when it comes to Christian economics and social welfare.

Gary North did a noteworthy job in exegeting Leviticus 19:19. While I’m sure it didn’t answer all the questions one might have regarding the text (or one’s similar), it certainly passed the test set out by Vern Poythress in TARC.

John Maphet concluded the work with an insightful account of what misrepresentation and academic dishonesty will do in the church.


The whole of the issue was never that Theonomists have it all figured out; we all have homework to do. But the objections raised in TARC simply do not offer Biblically supported or logically consistent objections. After these now three refutations of TARC I would think there would be a little more discussion. Hopefully we’ll see some.

[On the one hand, this work was published in 1991, and so I don’t want to hold my breath. On the other, it took them 17 years to offer their first “response”, so perhaps they’re working on something as we speak…?]

Either way, this book did a great job of further refuting the “objections” raised in TARC, not in mean-spirited language, but by simply applying the Scripture with logical consistency to all areas of life. And for that, I recommend it!

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good points were made, some very compelling arguments. Overall, not entirely compelling. As usual with the theonomists, very condescending and ungracious tone from many of the contributors. The article on the diaconate was deeply interesting and quite compelling.