Publishing Update: Mark Rushdoony’s Biography of His Father

Typically, a biography is penned by an outsider because publishers want an “objective” look at an individual, but since Rushdoony’s views are commonly misconstrued, one can only imagine a journalist or writer trying to address Rushdoony’s personal history and thought while being unfamiliar with either. An attempt was made by Michael McVicar in his Christian Reconstruction: R. J. Rushdoony and American Religious Conservatism (2015), but it’s no easy task. Covering Rushdoony is not like covering a politician or celebrity. There is so much to understand about his faith and doctrine in order to make sense of his personal history—or at least convey the story in a way that doesn’t fit a pre-conceived narrative.

That’s why there’s room for Mark Rushdoony to put together a biography of his father that doesn’t require delving deeply into doctrine because the reader already understands a great deal of that and is more interested in an insider’s look at the personal history of R. J. Rushdoony’s life and ministry. Not only is Mark knowledgeable in his family’s history, he’s the one that harvested, organized, and pored over his father’s journals and correspondence. For a lot of their father’s history, Mark and his siblings were present long before the launch of the Chalcedon Foundation. In short, this biography is personal, and it’s intended to inform and encourage those who admire and respect the life and work of R. J. Rushdoony.

We’re finalizing the edits to the text—after the initial page layout—and then the book will be indexed. As a biography, the index will be simple but thorough, and the book will contain over eighty photos that will follow each chapter so you can review the images in relation to each part of the story. Please continue to pray for our progress, and remember that your financial support is what makes all of this happen!