Chalcedon Turning 60

The year 2025 marks six decades of teaching and promoting the great mission of Christian Reconstruction. Have recent events altered that mission, or are we looking at the greatest opportunity to communicate the only solution to man’s social and political crises?

In a recent episode of the Chalcedon Podcast, Mark Rushdoony made some salient comments on our times that had an almost prophetic ring to them:

And when I see things in the world, that’s what I sometimes ask myself, “How long will this go on?” Is this near the end, or will this terrible situation stagnate as is for many years before there’s a resolution? Unless we are defeatist in our eschatology, which we’re not, then we have to say that something good is going to come of this, and God will put an end to it.

There’s an expression in Scripture that’s used repeatedly in the Old and New Testament, the day of the Lord, and the day of the Lord is when God cuts people off at the knees and says, “Enough of that, now things are going to be different,” and history can change very quickly, and it will be changed when the Holy Spirit decides it’s going to change.

We don’t know what the future holds, but we see all the things in play that could lead to very dramatic changes in the world, so the future is going to get really interesting in the next 50 to 75 years.1

We recorded this podcast episode a few days before the recent presidential election, and no doubt great and sudden changes have developed since then. In fact, much more has likely developed by the time you’re reading this newsletter, but do current events alter the message and mission of Chalcedon and Christian Reconstruction?

An End-Point in History

Mark elucidated his father’s eschatology and R. J. Rushdoony highlighted this idea of the day of the Lord as an ongoing event in history:

Both Testaments speak of “the day of the Lord,” and the day of the Lord, His judgment, has been a continuous and constant factor in history; it will culminate in the final and great day of the Lord, the final judgment. In the Bible, the eschaton is both an end-point which is repeatedly and constantly an historical fact, and also the end-time. We cannot limit to the one meaning only the Biblical eschaton.2

Might we be witnessing an “end-point” at this time? Has the Holy Spirit said, “Enough of that, now things are going to be different?” As Mark said, “We don’t know what the future holds, but we see all the things in play that could lead to very dramatic changes in the world.” Should we even be thinking this way, or are we so accustomed to defeat? R. J. Rushdoony taught that a victorious eschatology prepares us for godly action:

Thus, God declares that eschatological knowledge is knowledge necessary for godly action, because it declares God’s purpose, and it establishes our role therein.3

Since 1965, the Chalcedon Foundation has promoted the single message of godly action and Christian responsibility, and until now, getting that message out has not been easy.

However, times are changing as more people throughout America and the world are awakening to the menace of statism. They are awakening to the collusion of the state, corporate interests, and the media to undermine liberty itself. We are witnessing a “day of the Lord” of sorts as light is now exposing the machinations of institutional evil.

The tide started to turn back in 2020 with the Covid lockdowns when the numbers of homeschooling families doubled in just one year. Corresponding with that was the controversy over strict vaccination requirements resulting in more citizens feeling that their institutions were at war with them.

Fast forward to the recent U.S. presidential election, and that growing distrust of the state delivered a national mandate to the Trump administration to root out the dark players and restore a civil government that resembles more the founders’ intent. Although the results will be seen socially and politically, the real revolution is happening within the minds of the population, which is advantageous for us who proclaim a message of personal responsibility and godly action. Mark Rushdoony continues:

We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. We don’t know the timing of the Holy Spirit of when things will break. But we do appear to be in what my father called the end of the era of humanism. How long that end lasts, and how far we degrade, is impossible for us to foresee, but we see things are falling apart. We also see people are increasingly dissatisfied with things as they are, and so the world, particularly in the West, is ripe for doing things a different way. What we’re talking about in Christian Reconstruction is seeing things in a different way.4

It requires significant changes in society for people to question the culture, leaders, and institutions that surround them, and it seems we’re reaching a tipping point in that regard. The ability to control information—and propaganda—is weakening, and every conceivable idea, whether conspiracy theory or theology, is now reaching people via social media. In this new wild west of information, there are new opportunities for Chalcedon and the mission of Christian Reconstruction.

Restoring Spiritual Capital

For the most part, Christian Reconstruction is still viewed by its opponents as a political movement, and the main reason for that is because those who oppose it are themselves a political movement. In other words, because the main tenets of humanistic morality can only be imposed by the power of the state, they assume all opposition is seeking the same coercive power of civil government. However, Christian Reconstruction presents a faith for all of life, and to limit it to one sphere, politics, is to gut it of its essential meaning.

Yes, Christian Reconstruction is Christian theocracy, but a truly Biblical theocracy is God’s rule in the heart and mind of man and then extended out into every sphere of life. In the New Testament, God writes His law upon the heart and mind (Heb. 8:10), and therefore, God’s law cannot make men good as an exterior, coercive force. Its purpose is to equip all men and society to restrain evil, but it cannot save man. Salvation is the purpose of the Gospel.

Since 1965, this has been the mission and message of the Chalcedon Foundation, and as we look towards the upcoming year(s), we can see new opportunities to communicate our message to those looking for new solutions to the crises of our times. Hopefully, they will learn that you cannot make America great again without restoring the spiritual capital of faith and character that built this country. That should be plain to see at this point, but it was equally plain in 1967 when Rushdoony wrote the following:

This letter is written by one who believes intensely in orthodox Christianity and in our historic Christian American liberties and heritage. It is my purpose to promote the basic capitalization of society, out of which all else flows, spiritual capital. Without the spiritual capital of a God-centered and Biblical faith, we are spiritually and materially bankrupt.5

As much as political victories can bring great opportunity, the essential problem remains the same:

Capitalization does not depend on winning elections, important as elections are.6

Therefore, how does one recapitalize society?

[C]apitalization depends, in its best and clearest form, on that character produced by Biblical Christianity, by the regeneration of man through Jesus Christ. This means that we must begin afresh to establish truly Christian churches, to establish Christian schools and colleges, to promote Christian learning as the foundation of Christian character.7

As sure as young revolutionaries are manufactured on university campuses, so Christian education is a sure way to recapitalize civilization by our working with churches, schools, colleges, and online education.

As an example, the Mises Institute has long offered a “shadow university” for enthusiasts of Austrian economics whereby students studying economics in existing universities can augment their studies with explicitly Austrian thought. This is basically how Christian Reconstruction influenced the church. There are no reconstructionist denominations, schools, or universities. The writings of R. J. Rushdoony, as well as others, served to augment the Christian study of those throughout society, and there is no reason to change that essential approach. 

Are We in the Last Days?

 As of today, the church is still not optimistic, and without such optimism, finding the ambition for social change is difficult. Obviously, last days hysteria is still with us, and that is partly due to the fact that the moral, political, and economic declines have continued unabated. How is it that we can have a plethora of churches, ministry organizations, Christian publishers, and countless media outlets and still have such a dramatic moral decline? Surely, it must be because we’re in the last days. Granted, we might be at an end, but it’s not the end of history. Since the founding of Chalcedon, Rushdoony saw the coming end to the age of humanism, and beyond that he saw a reason for hope: 

We are moving into difficult times. The age of humanistic statism is winding down; its economics, politics, schools, and more are in decay. In the late 1960s, one of the more important Americans of this century told me that he expected about two hundred years of tyranny and a truly dark age before the rebirth of civilization. I have never believed that. I believe that this is the great hour of opportunity for Christianity. I expect the Lord to accomplish great things in the years ahead; man’s way shall fail, and God’s Kingdom shall triumph.8

It’s not the end of history that we’re witnessing. It’s the winding down of humanism, which means that God is at work to bring about an end-point to the city of man while preparing His people to govern in the years ahead.

Do we believe that God’s Kingdom will triumph, and are we working in terms of that victory, or are we anticipating a dark age before things get better? If our minds are soaked in the Scriptures, and we understand the power of the Holy Spirit, then we should both expect and work for change, and that is precisely the view of Chalcedon.

The Mission Doesn’t Change

How can such an optimistic eschatology be such a hard sell for Chalcedon? After 60 years of labor, why is it that Chalcedon’s remains a relatively small ministry? Where is our sprawling campus or 24/7 television station? Why is it that a small band of faithful supporters are still the main force that keeps this ministry alive? Will there ever come a time when men will covet the type of theology offered by Chalcedon?

We believe the time will come when Christians will seek out Christian Reconstruction whether they use the terminology or not. The pessimism of modern man only grew because he so greatly discounted God’s victorious Kingdom, but as we witness the times changing we can see new opportunities opening up to reach more people with this message.

Our message and mission have not changed, and they will not change. We’ll continue the great work of publishing and promoting Christian Reconstruction to those whom God has prepared.

1. Taken from the Chalcedon Podcast, Episode 50, “Great and False Expectations.” https://tinyurl.com/ChalcedonPodcastEp50

2. R. J. Rushdoony, Systematic Theology in Two Volumes (Vallecito, CA: Ross House Books, 1994), p. 785f.

3. Ibid., p. 789.

4. Chalcedon Podcast, Episode 50.

5. R. J. Rushdoony, Faith & Action: The Collected Articles of R. J. Rushdoony from the Chalcedon Report, 1965-2004, Volume 2 (Vallecito, CA: Chalcedon/Ross House Books, 2018), p. 690.

6. Ibid., p. 689.

7. Ibid.

8. Ministry letter by R. J. Rushdoony to the Friends of Chalcedon, June 1991.