My Auto University

Thirty-three years ago, when my husband and I began supporting Chalcedon, our appetite for Rushdoony’s materials was voracious. A good amount of our budget went to purchasing his many books and acquiring cassette tapes of his sermons and lectures. His daughter, who used to run the tape ministry, was surprised when she finally met us in person. She was convinced that only old people were interested in listening to her dad. From then on, she jokingly called me “Old Lady Schwartz.”

When I was homeschooling my three children, our car was equipped to play cassette tapes. Many trips included listening to Rushdoony’s A Christian Survey of World History, or American History to 1865. We also heard his many Easy Chair conversations. When CDs became the standard in cars and it was time to purchase a new one, I told my husband that I needed a car that could play both cassettes and CDs, since I had too many tapes I still intended to hear. Today, the car I drive does not have a CD player (let alone a cassette player), but because of the ability to listen online, I can connect my smartphone via Bluetooth and listen to the lectures straight from Chalcedon’s website, or download them to a USB drive. In other words, after over the thirty-three years of sitting under the teaching of Rush, I am still matriculating at my “autouniversity.”

Even though it has been seventeen years since Rush went to his reward, there is a comfort in listening to his voice and hearing his unswerving commitment to the fact that the Christian faith is a faith for all of life. Running errands, trips to the gym, and extended rides to see family and friends become opportunities for me to continue to learn on the go. I am grateful that I can be a forever student!