Contra Omnia Adversa
Capital Punishment Defended
This article gives a Biblical case favoring capital punishment with a response to three of the most utilized arguments against the doctrine of capital punishment.
How Does The Bible Define Freedom?
The God-given ontological framework for all reality is designed so that obedience to God’s law is the only way to escape slavery to the arbitrary authority of men and the bondage of sin and any false freedom from Christ ends only in death and destruction.
Society’s Proper Foundation: Love
No pre-society civilization ever existed. All sentient moral beings are by definition relational. Therefore, man’s desire to love and be loved is the cause of civilization.
Was F.J. Stahl a Relativist?
There is a developing renaissance of historic conservatism, in part due to many recent translations, among which is the nineteenth century German legal theorist Friedrich J. Stahl.
The Dark Side of Feminism
“The nuclear family must be destroyed…whatever its ultimate meaning, the break-up of families now is an objectively revolutionary process,” hailed Linda Gordon. Is Feminism the right answer?
The Case For Fusionism
Since the early days of the conservative movement, conservatives and…
The Authority of the State
In our efforts to shape culture according to an Authority in which the world does not believe, too many Christians have it backwards. We ask others to submit to God while rebelling ourselves.
Who are “The Least of These?”
“Truly, I say to you, as you did it to…
Rawls, Neutrality, and Public Reason
Should public discourse be neutral in regards to religion? Read more about neutrality and John Rawls’ use of comprehensive doctrines and public reason.
Groen’s Conservative Political Theory
Forsaking the supremacy of the divine, transcendent moral order as authoritative standard for societal and political arrangements in favor of the supremacy of man conflicts with divine ordinances and leads to anarchy from which government tyranny alone offers liberation.
Gun Rights, Protestant History, and Modern Research
Protestants have generally held a pro-life position. It is impracticable and infeasible to protect life when you are unarmed and helpless.
Patriotism vs Nationalism
Patriotism is loyalty to one’s nation. It is the love of a place, fellow countrymen, and local practices. Nationalism, on the other hand, can be understood as a belligerent and perverted form of patriotism.
Psychology of Political Witch Hunts
Political witch-hunts follow a basic pattern. Random violence, false accusations, and crimes against a vague collective. These witch-hunts drive the cultural revolution, propelling the injustice of social justice.
Thomas Sowell on “Atomistic” Libertarians
Libertarians, ironically, tend to feed modern secularism. Libertarianism fails to balance the individual and the collective.
Statism
Throughout the history of the Christian church, Christianity has always stood over against all forms of statism.
Conservatism and the Reformed Doctrine of Covenant
Conservatism and Covenantal theology both have a place for the family and of the families’ education as a principle mechanism of the conservation of the good and the transmission of knowledge.
The Power and Beauty of Shame
We often think of shame as being excited by guilt, but that is not often the case. Society rejects shame – a God-given mechanism for our good – as detrimental to self-esteem. Is shame really so bad?
Augustine as Common-Law Conservative
Liberals and Conservative want to claim Augustine as their own. With the doctrine of precedent, we explore his views on law, justice, and equality.
Solution to the Revolution
What is capable of guaranteeing the social order after the great masses have reconsidered its foundations? What is the solution to our revolution?
An Empty Quiver
On earth, the only truest wealth is life; a quiver of life. What price can be put on the joy of familial ties, paternal affection, or loyal and proud legacies?
The Restless Heart of Public Education
“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our…
Alexandr Dugin’s Fourth Political Theory
I’ve recently read through the Russian philosopher Alexandr Dugin’s The…
Is Oikophilia Biblical?
“Love of home” is central to conservative political philosophy. We at the Reformed Conservative contend that Oikophilia is a biblical concept.
Social Justice and Early Christianity
Augustine held that God can command the rich to give to the poor. The poor can never demand from the rich; generosity is never owed.
6 Fallacies of Liberalism
As unbridled optimism sweeps the nation, there are six fallacies of liberalism that conservatives should be aware of. Philosopher, Sir Roger Scruton documents these six fallacies in his book, “The Uses of Pessimism.” Learn these fallacies and they will be spotted everywhere.
What is Critical Theory?
Critical theory seeks to obliterate differences of status and power since all differences are purely and artificially constructed not by God, but by man. The question remains, “Can critical theory escape its own claims?”
Reparations and Ezra 6
Should Christians support reparations for American slavery? Some evangelicals believe so. Some have even attempted to make a biblical argument for reparations.
Correcting John Rawls’s Social Justice
Conservative Christians must know John Rawls. His philosophy has bled into our theology and is in the church. Is justice without social justice possible?
Race Counseling in the Early Church
To employ the vocabulary of the modernists, the early church seemed to suffer from a classic case of xenophobia and privilege. Successful evangelical work on the part of the Church in and around Jerusalem had brought members from two diverse groups of distant brothers back into closer proximity than they had been for centuries and problems were bound to arise.
By the time of Acts chapter six, dissension had arisen between the Hellenists and the Hebraics. The accusation was favoritism.
Stahl’s Reformed Theory of Freedom
The difference between liberty and license was prominent in Stahl’s view of freedom. Building explicitly on an Augustinian conception of ethics and freedom, Stahl articulates a counterintuitive view of political freedom we need to hear today.
Principle of Variegated Distribution
Different roles, different jobs, produce different rewards; Christ’s reward is His Bride and no one else’s. To attempt to redistribute rewards goes against justice as the Godhead understands it.
Disobedience as Ritual Magic
Man, being now in a fallen state, is at enmity with this natural order of things and seeks to suppress the glory of God. In his rebellious state man seeks unnatural means to an unnatural end. But since this world belongs to God, He alone may determine the terms of its right and proper use.
Groen’s Fight For Christian Education
Groen van Prinsterer’s battle for Christian education in the Netherlands…
Are Calvinists “Nice?”
Christians mistake difference of etiquette for gracelessness. Does being nice equal love? Should Calvinists sacrifice genuine unity for short-term accord?
Abortion & Historical Theology
Christians humility builds on the wisdom of the church, the wisdom of two millennia. Historically, the church has rejected abortion. Why should only those who walk around on two feet have the right to share their wisdom?
Dabney on Education as a Religious Task
Dabney’s prophetic voice has rung true in many areas, perhaps most of all in education and the secularization of American schools.
Distributive Justice and the Book of Job
Because evangelical social liberals are inattentive to important distinctions within the notion of justice, many of their appeals to biblical uses of “justice” are compromised.
Divine Concurrence and Moral Responsibility
To be human is to be a responsible agent, accountable before the face of God. Paganism and secularism alike seek to deny that responsibility — either by denying God or by denying culpability.
Three Reasons Against Cloning
Leon Kass, author of the essay, The Wisdom of Repugnance, gives three arguments used to defend cloning. These three arguments are: the Argument of Technology, the Liberal Argument, and the Meliorist Argument.
Liberation Theology: A History
A key to understanding the present social justice theology is understanding liberation theology, and the key to understanding that is by understanding its history.
Libertarians And The Eternal Contract
Conservatism and libertarianism, at heart, are at odds. Conservatives hold that society is no mere temporary contrivance, but based on ‘Eternal Contract,’ as it were.
Calvin’s Political Theology
The Calvinistic confession of the sovereignty of God holds good for all the world, is true for all nations, and is of force in all authority which man exercises over man.