Why Modern Man Desires Chaos
Modern society’s attraction to change traces back to ancient beliefs and Darwin’s theory that change is essential for evolution. This perspective has led to viewing some chaotic acts as regenerative. While many see all change as positive, others argue for discernment between beneficial and detrimental changes based on their worldviews.
- Mark R. Rushdoony
One of the reasons why change appeals to the modern man is actually a very ancient one that was revived by Charles Darwin, and that is the belief in our origins and chaos. And Darwin revived this ancient idea, and the ancient idea was that the cosmos had come out of chaos, and periodically you would have celebrations like Saturnalia, where they would return intentionally to chaos for a brief period of time, because they said that was a dynamic that regenerated society and its institutions. They believed in destruction and that some good could come out of chaos.
Well, Darwin said the same thing. He said, biologically, anything that does not change is therefore not evolving, therefore, it will not be capable of survival. And we have adopted an evolutionary view, not just biologically, but we've adopted an evolutionary view of society, of law, of culture. And so modern society will look at what we are doing, and they say, well, Christianity is old. It is based upon ideas that are thousands of years old. It's stagnant. And if we stick with these Christian values and Christian traditions, we are not evolving forward. Darwin assumed positive development. He talked about evolution, never devolution. So the assumption is that chaos is regenerative.
So when we look at our world today, we say, some things just don't make sense. How could they do this? Why are they destroying, for instance, not too long ago, people were destroying Seattle, Portland, other cities, and authorities were very hesitant to interfere. Why, culturally, do we see value in destruction, value in chaos, values in things that we normally would say don't make any sense whatsoever.
It's because of this belief that chaos is actually regenerative. We have a very different worldview than modern man. Modern man actually believes any change is positive. The Christian says, well, a lot of change is not, a lot of change is actually degenerative. And so we have a standard, and that's why we stand for something called reconstruction. Something positive, we're moving forward. Personally, we believe in sanctification, a personal growth in grace and development. And so why do we believe in change? And what type of change do we believe in is very different depending upon our worldviews.
- Mark R. Rushdoony
Mark R. Rushdoony graduated from Los Angeles Baptist College (now The Master’s College) with a B.A. in history in 1975 and was ordained to the ministry in 1995.
He taught junior and senior high classes in history, Bible, civics and economics at a Christian school in Virginia for three years before joining the staff of Chalcedon in 1978. He was the Director of Chalcedon Christian School for 14 years while teaching full time. He also helped tutor all of his children through high school.
In 1998, he became the President of Chalcedon and Ross House Books, and, more recently another publishing arm, Storehouse Press. Chalcedon and its subsidiaries publish many titles plus CDs, mp3s, and an extensive online archive at www.chalcedon.edu. His biography of his father will be published later this year (2024).
He has written scores of articles for Chalcedon’s publications, both the Chalcedon Report and Faith for all of Life. He was a contributing author to The Great Christian Revolution (1991). He has spoken at numerous conferences and churches in the U.S. and abroad.
Mark Rushdoony has lived in Vallecito, California, since 1978. His wife, Darlene, and he have been married since 1976. His youngest son still resides with him. He has three married children and nine grandchildren.