Biblical Faith, Medicine, and the State
January-February 2016
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This year marks the centennial of the birth of my father, Rousas John Rushdoony. I thought it appropriate to use the occasion as an appropriate one to describe something of the context of his own history and that of his ministry.
This is the twelfth in a series of articles about addiction treatment pioneer Dr. Punyamurtula S. Kishore and his ongoing battle with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which shuttered his fifty-two clinics in late 2011, dramatically increasing the state’s death tolls due to opioid addiction.
With the publication of R.J. Rushdoony’s The Institutes of Biblical Law in 1973, the nature of the debate about God’s law changed. The dramatic change is in the number of the laws that might still be applicable today. When it is said that all the laws of the Old Testament are applicable today, what does that mean? Was Dr. Rushdoony advocating a return to 100 percent of the Old Testament laws? Perhaps not, and here’s why.
The only time I have had a black eye was in 1991 during my second-degree brown belt promotion test in Kenpo Karate. These rights of passage included a vigorous two-plus-hour ordeal where the candidate for advancement had to demonstrate proficiency in the various moves from previous belt levels. Additionally, one also had to withstand simulated attacks from the men who were black belts who ran the test. My “shiner” resulted when I did not deflect an incoming punch in a timely manner.
How we view the world around us, what we believe, or fear, or hope for, what we think is good or bad, what we desire or detest, love or hate—all of this takes an outward form, which is our culture. And at the same time, as we absorb our culture by taking part in it, the culture influences what’s inside our minds and incessantly preaches to our souls.
Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book won the highest award you can win for children’s fiction: the John Newbery Medal “for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.” And I’d be willing to bet that Gaiman, a Briton, is the only living author who has won the Newbery, the Nebula (for best science fiction published in the U.S.A.), and the Hugo Award (best science fiction published anywhere). He has enjoyed just about all the success that can come to an author.