The Quiet Dominionists

https://churchandfamilylife.com/events/69c40801815349696337c4c8

This conference brochure arrived in my inbox and I was taken aback by the notion that these people think they're pursuing quiet lives. They haven't released the speaker list yet but based on what I've seen in the past it's mostly dominated by Theonomic Postmillennial types - which would include Scott Brown, the head of the organisation. Under normal circumstances they despise those who seek to live quiet obedient lives. They sneer and call it pietism, defeatism, apathy, and as of late I keep hearing the charge of cowardice.

I was struck again by how the marketing makes it all look innocent and attractive, even meek. That's not what these people are about. They're all for Christians engaging in military life, the banking sector, politics, and the like. And speaking of finances, they may lead a 'quiet life' playing gentleman farmer somewhere in North Carolina or Tennessee but if they're invested in the stock market - their money is not being quiet. It's tearing the world apart and breaking people in order to produce the dividends that line their pockets. I suppose a Dominionist would have no problem with that. What a strange thing - how in this case they fixate on Biblical obedience even while so much of what they care about and give themselves to is in opposition to New Testament teaching.

The other thing I find strange and even bizarre is that this group is basically comprised of Baptists. Their whole notion of a Christian Family is something of an oxymoron. Relying on conversion theology and a conversion-based soteriology they can't really view their children as being part of the faith until they make their decision. Even Presbyterians are less than clear on this point, however they do at least acknowledge that in some capacity (even if it's just formal) their children are part of the church community.

Note the sacralist tendency in these circles to equate eating (or often 'feasting') as an act of worship. Indeed, we honour God with all aspects of how we live but these things are not worship in the proper sense. Dominionism seeks to sanctify (and thus in some sense sacramentalize) everything. And what's the consequence? After awhile nothing is sacred any more. It only has meaning when there's a distinction between the holy and the common. They reject the notion of the common or profane - even though it's taught over and over again in the Scripture. The consequence is there's confusion with regard to the Church's identity and as far as the Kingdom - they categorically reject it's holy and covenantal nature rooted in the presence of the Spirit. The Spirit for them is everywhere and (almost) in everything. At times their thinking does stray into what could be described as a type of indulgent pantheism.

Also, the language and categories - the priorities so to speak, smack of middle class affluence. They want dreamy wedding ceremonies with great feasts and the like. The small town working class American model of a simple wedding with a glorified pot-luck reception at the local fire-hall is not what they have in mind. For me, even that was too much. We spent nothing on our wedding, got married in my sister-in-law's front parlour, and had no honeymoon. We had to drive hundreds of miles back to the Carolinas where I lived at the time. I had to be at work on Monday morning.

I'm not saying it's sinful to have a big wedding but for a lot of people (us included) even if we had wanted to (which we didn't), it wasn't a possibility. I could say the same about their attitudes concerning economic 'wisdom' and things like home ownership. It's hard for the cult of domesticity to function without an owned middle-class-style home. Their vision doesn't work for retail workers living in rental duplexes or city-dwellers in apartments.

That said, there's much I appreciate and agree with in terms of education, gender roles, and more. But it's all off, skewed, and out of focus - corrupted through and through by Dominionist categories and thinking.

Over twenty years ago we became aware of the Patriarch group and a community connected with RC Sproul Jr. based in Virginia. We were interested in trying to live a more deliberate kind of life. We had young children then and it all looked very appealing - the prospect of living with other family-oriented 'all in' Christians. But there was always something 'off' that kept us away. We finally grasped what it was - it was all about Dominionism. We never relocated to Virginia and we're thankful for that as none of these stories ended well. I will grant the Scott Brown approach has worked better - depending on how you would measure that. At best I have mixed feelings about it.

I see they are not pushing the 'family-integrated worship' model like they used to. It's still there but I'm going to guess he found out that too many people absolutized it and it became a mark of the Church or even the gospel and proved harmful. I certainly saw that first hand as I have reported elsewhere. That said, I still agree with the notion - in part because the whole Sunday School model is problematic anyway. But again, I can effectively argue as to why my young children (who are now adults) were in the worship service. Why? Because even as infants, they were Christians. A Baptist like Brown cannot say that, let alone acknowledge that they were Christians due to their baptism.

It will be interesting to see where there is all headed and where it lands in another decade or so. They don't put the political and Right-wing stuff at the forefront. It's not in their brochures or literature, but it's there and as such it will also result in the same rotten harvest.

If you listen to their podcasts and partake of their other materials you'll start hearing appeals to Rushdoony and the like. That's what they're all about. This is but one of the many groups that emerged in the early 2000's. Rushdoony died in 2001 and some spoke of Theonomy's end. Like a hydra, it never died. It simply fragmented and permutated. The form has changed and many variations emerged but the substance is the same. It's not only alive and well - it's become the functional orthodoxy for much of the Evangelical and Confession world.

Looking at this brochure, it's all obvious to me but I can also see how someone unfamiliar with these groups and how they work might be completely taken in.