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ISSN 0360-1420 VOL. Ill Win te r , 1976-77 No. 2 The Journal of Christian Reconstruction Symposium on the Millennium THE JOURNAL OF CHRISTIAN RECONSTRUCTION This journal is dedicated to the fulfilment of the cultural mandate of Genesis 1:28 and 9:1—to subdue the earth to the glory of God. It is published by the Chalcedon Foundation, an independent Christian edu­ cational organization (see inside back cover). The perspective of the journal is that of orthodox Christianity. It affirms the verbal, plenary inspiration of the original manuscripts (autographs) of the Bible and the full divinity and full humanity of Jesus Christ—two natures in union (but without intermixture) in one person. The editors are convinced that the Christian world is in need of a serious publication that bridges the gap between the newsletter-magazine and the scholarly academic journal. The editors are committed to Chris­ tian scholarship, but the journal is aimed at intelligent laymen, working pastors, and others who are interested in the reconstruction of all spheres of human existence in terms of the standards of the Old and New Testa­ ments. It is not intended to be another outlet for professors to professors, but rather a forum for serious discussion within Christian circles. The Marxists have been absolutely correct in their claim that theory must be united with practice, and for this reason they have been success­ ful in their attempt to erode the foundations of the non-communist world. The editors agree with the Marxists on this point, but instead of seeing in revolution the means of fusing theory and practice, we see the fusion in personal regeneration through God’s grace in Jesus Christ and in the extension of God’s kingdom. Good principles should be followed by good practice; eliminate either, and the movement falters. In the long run, it is the kingdom of God, not Marx’s “kingdom of freedom,” which shall reign triumphant. Christianity will emerge victorious, for only in Christ and His revelation can men find both the principles of conduct and the means of subduing the earth—the principles of Biblical law. The Journal of Christian Reconstruction is published twice a year, summer and winter. Each issue costs $5.00, and a full year costs $9.00. Subscription office and editorial office: P.O. Box 158, Vallecito, CA 95251. Copyright by Chalcedon, 1980. THE JOURNAL OF CHRISTIAN RECONSTRUCTION Vol. Ill Winter, 1976-77 No. 2 A CHALCEDON MINISTRY GARY NORTH Editor Table of Contents I. Symposium on the Millennium Editor’s Introduction ...................................................................... 1 Justice to Victory Norman Shepherd.................................................................................. 6 Common Grace, E schatology, and Biblical Law Gary N o r th ........................................................................................... 13 The Prima Facie Acceptability of Postmillennialism Greg L. B a h n sen................................................................................ 48 A Survey of Southern Presbyterian Millennial Views Before 1930 James B. Jordan .............................................................................. 106 Postmillennialism versus Impotent Religion Rousas John Rushdoony....................................................................122 II. Christian Reconstruction Biblical Law—The R econstruction of the Criminal Law: R etribution R evived John A. Sparks.................................................................................... 128 Biblical Preaching—The Prophetic Office and Public E xhortation: Amos and Hosea Simon Kistemaker.............................................................................. 139 The Industrial R evolution: Pro and Con Bruce Bartlett....................................................................................157 III. Defenders of the Faith Stonewall Jackson Douglas K e l l y ....................................................................................166 IV. Book Reviews The Puritan Hope: A Study in Revival and the Interpretation of Prophecy (by Iain H. Murray) Tommy W. Rogers, reviewer.............................................................. 178 My Years With Ludwig von Mises (by Margit von Mises) Gary North, review er................................................................. 182 Sane Asylum (by Charles Hampden-Tumer) Gary North, review er......................................................................... 187 Editor's Introduction The millennium. Secularists can hardly believe that anyone believes in such a thing. When President Carter was campaigning, he made the state­ ment that he supported Israel because Israel today is a fulfillment of bibli­ cal prophecy. Liberal commentators, always supporters of Israel, were disturbed. They liked his conclusion, but they did not understand his reasons for making the conclusion. Yet millions and millions of Americans agree with his reasons; and millions of people in the South elected him, in part, because he was willing to make such “outlandish” statements. Strictly speaking, the belief that modern Israel fulfills biblical prophecy is a theological aberration. Traditional postmillennialists, amillennialists, and premillennialists have never believed that national or geographical Israel is relevant this side of the rapture. Dispensational premillennialists also hold (officially) that the so-called “clock of prophecy” stopped tick­ ing long ago. Some believe it stopped ticking at the resurrection, and others (ultradispensationalists) believe it stopped ticking with the con­ version of Paul, while still others (hyper-ultradispensationalists?) believe it stopped ticking when Paul was imprisoned in Rome. But all of them say that the sixty-ninth week of Daniel ended in the first century, and that the seventieth week will begin only with the rapture, when the whole church will be caught up to Christ in the clouds. So, strictly speaking, nothing happening in Israel today can possibly be a fulfillment of prophecy. If it were, the clock of prophecy would be ticking again. At best, the events in Israel are mere “shadows” of fulfilled prophecy—events to be fulfilled after the rapture. The problem is, unfortunately, that practically nobody speaks strictly when it comes to theology these days, especially concerning the doctrine of eschatology: the last things (events). Everyone talks about eschatology, but almost nobody studies it very thoroughly. It is a very difficult topic, one which scared both Luther and Calvin away from commenting on the Book of Revelation. Both men had ideas about the millennium, but nei­ ther wrote a commentary on this forbidding book. Today, on the contrary, most fundamentalist Christians believe that they have very clear explana­ tions for the Book of Revelation, and prophecy conferences can still draw crowds a century after they began to be popular in the United States. Part of the reason why prophecy is popular today is that we are drawing near to the year 2000. According to Norman Cohn, whose book, The Pursuit of the Millennium, is a classic study of medieval prophetic tradi­ tions, the year 1000 did not have that much effect on the minds of medieval 1 2 JOURNAL OF CHRISTIAN RECONSTRUCTION Europeans. The years after 1100 did see the rise of interest in the millen­ nium, he says, but tales about the supposed belief in the imminent return of Christ in the years after 950 are largely mythical, concludes Cohn. But when they write up our era, they had better acknowledge that within a sig­ nificant substratum of American culture, concern with the year 2000 was important in this nation after 1950. The year 2000 has been important in the minds of secularists since the seventeenth century, a point emphasized by the sociologist, Robert A. Nisbet.1 There are a dozen recent secular books, at the minimum, about the year 2000. Herman Kahn’s book on the subject became a bestseller.2 But today the significance is only symbolic among secularists. A new cen­ tury, a new millennium, is thought by most people to begin in the year 2000. (Actually, the twenty-first century begins on January 1, 2001, but practically nobody understands this. In fact, I don’t understand it, but I’m reporting it anyway.) The term “millennium” means a thousand years. The thousand years are mentioned only in Revelation 20. Theologians have debated its mean­ ing and its application. Some millennialists have argued that the period of special blessings is indeterminate; it will last a long time, but not neces­ sarily exactly a thousand years. Amillennialists deny that the term is to be taken literally at all; there will be no period of external, cultural bless­ ings. Dispensationalists accept the thousand years as literal years. In short, there has been no agreement among Protestant circles over the years. Roman Catholics, since the time of Augustine, have generally been amillennial in outlook, and eschatological questions within Roman Catholic circles have been confined to the last days of individuals, not the last times of a culture. Death, rather than the millennium, has been the focus of Roman Catholic theological concern. How important is the question of eschatology? It is always important, since the Bible speaks about it. Historically, there have been periods in which the issue was more important than at other times. In the United States, eschatological or millennial issues were more central to the culture in 1640, 1740, and 1840 than in 1700, 1800, or 1900. There is no doubt that one’s

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