A.A. Hodge called Dabney the greatest theologian in America during the 1800s, and many have noted his prophetic insight. His rejection of the modernist theory known as the Social Contract merits renewed study since Social Justice is, in fact, a rebirth of this still-born idea.
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.
We cannot say that what is good for the individual or the community is devoid of moral content. And moral content is determined by God’s decree, be it a direct command from God, or an eternal decree regarding the purpose of man, which is to glorify God and enjoy Him for eternity.
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?
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.
History, no less than science and philosophy, must be done by the Christian sub specie aeternitatis — within view of eternity, and as always, coram Deo.
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