Talk:Dominion Theology

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It is good to mention (as the article in its current form does) that this is not a mainstream viewpoint in the evangelical Christian community, it part due to its extremely radical nature, and it part due to strong theological differences with mainstream evangelicalism. Perhaps the article should note that many U.S. political conservatives do not endorse or agree with this movement, seeing it as radical, not conservative, in that it seeks to expand the pervasiveness of government and is not based on the idea of a political system founded on the Constitution of the United States. This article still strikes me as being an attempt to "expose", rather than to "explain", this theology, and it still needs some rewriting, but I will defer putting it on cleanup for now. Rlquall 01:36, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Why I rewrote this page

I am a critic of Dominionism, but this page was way over the top in terms of violating NPOV. Dominionism, Dominion Theology, and Christian Reconstructionism are not the same thing. A subset chart would look like this:

Triumphalism

Dominionism

Dominion Theology

Christian Reconstructionism

The specific meanings are different in important ways. Some national Republican political figures are Dominionist, but few are believers in Dominion Theology, and I can't think of any who are actually Christian Reconstructionist, although it is possible one or two are. --Cberlet 15:13, 28 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Although these terms are descriptive enough, I'm not sure they really identify subsets. As we've worked through some of the issues on the Dominionism page, for example, we've done so in terms of the "theology" of so-called Dominionists. I would think this page would provide more detail about the theology of dominion, rather than try to distinguish "Dominionism" from "Dominion Theology". Mkmcconn (Talk) 19:11, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The problem is that a lot of critics make no distinction between generic "soft" Dominionism and the harder forms of Dominion Theology of which Christian Reconstructionism is but one example. Also, some critics have written that Christian Reconstructionism is the same thing as Dominion Theology, or even claimed that Christian Reconstructionism, Dominion Theology, and Dominionism are all ways to describe Christian Reconstructionism. So this page serves as an educational placekeeper to help folks sort this out in a more accurate way. Understand that I am a critic of Christian Reconstructionism, Dominion Theology, and Dominionism, but I think it is important to recognize that when Diamond and Clarkson and others write about these tendencies, they are making distinctions that get lost if the terms are used as synonymns.--Cberlet 20:55, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I agree with you, that distinctions are important. The problem is that, these terms are creating artificial distinctions (apparently for academic purposes), that are not meaningful inside of the debate. Moreover, it seems that the actual "theology" of Dominion theology, is not of interest.

Within my circles, for example, which might be called the birthplace of Christian Reconstructionism, there is a variety of theological perspectives concerning how a Christian should conduct himself in the public sphere - ranging from withdrawal, to immersion. Within that theological arena, "Dominionism" and "Dominion theology" are precisely the same thing, and describe fairly narrowly one of the theological and intellectual influences of Christian Reconstructionism. But, behind it, is an idea that's borrowed from continental Reformed theology, especially what is called the "reformational", or "calvinian" movement. Abraham Kuyper, the chief articulator of that perspective, expressed its main principle in this confessional form: there is not a thumb-breadth of the universe about which Christ does not say, "It is mine" If you put that phrase in the mouth of a "reformational" Christian, it means something sharply at odds with what it means in the mouth of a Reconstructionist. The difference between these two ideas (which are based on identical interpretations of Genesis 1:26-28, by the way) is a difference in their theology of stewardship (dominion). Both understand the dominion mandate to be applicable to all of life (not just to taking care of animals). But Kuyper's approach led to pluralism, Rushdoony led the way to Theonomy: opposite ends of a political spectrum. Mkmcconn (Talk) \

Furthermore, there are other theological sources behind these two schools of thought, which branch out in further diversity, which is very wide indeed. Mkmcconn (Talk) \

Now, to me, it would seem that an article entitled "Dominion theology" should have some reference to the original context in which these terms originated. Strangely, it does not; and, after all, even if it did, it really can't be discussed here, anyway. Wikipedia is not a theological journal. Where does that leave me? It leaves me in the position of trying to contribute to a outsider's view from the outside, when I could contribute an insider's view, but it doesn't seem relevant. Very odd position to be in. I hope that you can sympathize. Mkmcconn (Talk) 00:14, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

What do you think about the change to the introduction? I'm not entirely happy with how relative it renders the term, but I'm at a loss for how else to approach this. If the quoted writers are actually dictating how the terminology is being used, and especially if their work has become influential, and they are the creators of the categories (like "Hard", "Soft", "Dominionist vs Dominion Theology", etc.), then it seems that there is no choice but to constrain the article to the terms as they use them. Mkmcconn (Talk) 01:27, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

To a sociologist, what matters is when a group of people become a collective self-aware movement. To a sociologist of religion, there is a difference between a theological debate, and the development of a group of people who have embraced a particular theological sect. But in part, this page exists to make people pay attention to some distinctions that are relatively opaque to folks not conversant in theological debates. All over the internet are claims that go like this:

The Christian Right is Dominionist, and Dominionism is the same thing as Dominion Theology, and Dominon Theology is the same thing as Christian Reconstructionism, and Christian Reconstructionism is the same thing as theocratic neofascism, and since theocratic neofascism is just a fancy word for a type of fascism...therefore the Christian Right is fascist.

So this page exists to help folks sort out why that type of thinking is simply invalid logically and in terms of analytical content.--Cberlet 16:17, 26 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Nested chart

Reconstructionists call themselves theonomic, so I swapped them in the chart. Restored Triumphalism as well. Helps reader see the flow. --Cberlet 13:51, 22 May 2006 (UTC)