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Daniel Ritchie · #6 (**permalink**) 03-29-2008, 07:40 PM

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Originally Posted by Thomas2007

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Originally Posted by Daniel Ritchie

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Originally Posted by Ivanhoe

I read Brian Walsh's transforming vision, which was good except for his horrendous appeals to Ron Sider. He came out with a commentary on Colossians which highlights the anti-Caesar cult in Paul's theology (which would be helpful for a church coming under persecution for not participating in Caesar Worship).

And then someone recommended a work on Genesis 1 that also had a similar thrust:

Amazon.com: Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire: Brian J. Walsh,Sylvia C. Keesmaat: Books

Amazon.com: The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1: J. Richard Middleton: Books

Christianity versus Statism. The totalitarian state - all throughout Scripture - is presented as the church's primary earthly enemy. IMHO This is something which we in the Reformed faith have neglected.

See chapter 5 of A Conquered Kingdom: Biblical Civil Government for more on this theme.

I agree - however, faithfulness in carrying out the Reformed faith necessitates working toward a eschatological realization of it which is anti-statist in it's scope. I would be interested in your opinion as to what is the main reason for the decline of Reformed Christians failure or neglect in this area? We certainly don't find this to be the case during the era of orthodoxy in England or in the establishment of the United States.

I tend to agree with R.J. Rushdoony that the Reformers were so suspicious of the ecclesiastical megalomania of the Roman Catholic "Church" that they were not as wary of state power as they should have been. Thus many Protestant churches were Erastian, and even Calvin's commentary on Isa. 49:23 is basically a Christian Welfare Statist manifesto (though I agree with him about church establishment).