Easy Chair No. 153, September 4, 1987 - The Contemporary Influence of the Transcendentalists

Freedom and Responsibility

True freedom always carries responsibility and risk. When people refuse to govern themselves under God’s moral law, they invite control by bureaucracies that promise security but deliver slavery. A “risk-free” society is not a free one it replaces personal responsibility with regulation and substitutes state providence for God’s providence. Scripture links freedom to obedience, not license. God’s law requires accountability (as in safeguards that prevent harm), not bureaucratic micromanagement. When sin is excused and risk is treated as evil, freedom erodes, taxes multiply, and power shifts to unelected administrators. In rejecting God’s law, societies trade liberty for control and then complain about the chains they chose.

Easy Chair No. 153, September 4, 1987 - The Contemporary Influence of the Transcendentalists

Dr. Rushdoony and Otto Scott analyze modernism as a cultural and intellectual force rooted in the Transcendentalists, particularly Emerson and Frothingham, which rejects God and biblical authority in favor of the spirit of the age. Modernism elevates human impulses, experience, and cultural trends above objective moral standards, affecting education, art, literature, and politics. Scott emphasizes that liberalism, as the practical expression of modernism, erodes societal norms and weakens resistance to evil, while Rushdoony warns that liberal clergy spread this ideology within churches. Together, they conclude modernism functions as an anti-Christian force, dismantling Christian civilization and replacing divine order with human-centered, relativistic values.

Bread Upon the Waters

“Cast your bread upon the waters” is a call to faith that sacrifices the present for the sake of the future. Farmers understood it well: sowing their last grain meant hunger now but life later. Scripture condemns the mindset of living only for today, because nations that consume their future through debt, waste, and short-sighted planning destroy themselves. A healthy future requires biblical faith, free and provident farmers, and people with the character to delay gratification. Those willing to sow in tears today are the ones who will reap with joy tomorrow.

A Letter on Logic and Idolatry

In “A Letter on Logic and Idolatry,” Rushdoony argues that rationalistic apologetics, rooted in Greek philosophy, commit idolatry by treating abstract logic especially the law of noncontradiction as ultimate and even governing God Himself, rather than recognizing logic as a created and ordained aspect of God’s order. He contends that Greek thought made abstractions ultimate to avoid infinite regress, while modern rationalists repeat the error by placing Aristotle’s logic over God, rendering their systems both irrational and blasphemous. Apart from the Creator, Rushdoony insists, reality collapses into billions of chance-accidents far greater “miracles” than Scripture records and even Darwin admitted such explanations fail. True rationality begins not with autonomous logic but with the triune God, who alone is the source and governor of all reality, including the valid laws of logic themselves. #VanTil #Rushdoony #PresuppositionalApologetics #LogicAndIdolatry #ChristianPhilosophy #GodIsUltimate #FaithAndReason #BiblicalTheism #Chalcedon

God's Tax

The tithe is God’s tax, rooted in a simple truth: the earth belongs to the Lord. God, not the state, is the true owner, and the tithe is His rightful claim meant to be joined with justice, mercy, and faithful obedience. It does not belong automatically to the church, but to God Himself, and must be given in support of truly godly work. When men or governments seize what belongs to God, the result is tyranny and judgment; when God is honored, He promises blessing. The tithe stands as a public declaration that property is under God’s law, not man’s and that freedom itself depends on acknowledging His rightful ownership.