The Chalcedon Foundation is a Christian Reconstructionist organization founded by Rousas John Rushdoony. Named for the Council of Chalcedon,[1] it has also included well-known theologians such as Gary North, who later founded his own organization, the Institute for Christian Economics.
The Chalcedon Foundation was officially founded by R. J. Rushdoony in the summer of 1965. In 1971, Gary North was hired part time, and two years later North was hired full-time while Greg Bahnsen was also hired. Rushdoony founded Ross House Books in 1976, the same year in which North and Bahnsen left the Foundation to pursue careers elsewhere. In 1977, the Foundation's first office building was built. A decade later, the organization's Newsletter became a magazine, the Chalcedon Report. On February 8, 2001, founder R. J. Rushdoony died. He was succeeded by his son Mark Rushdoony, who continues to run the organization. In 2004, Ross House Books merged with Chalcedon, and in 2005, the Chalcedon Report was renamed Faith for All of Life.
In presenting a theonomic view of biblical law, the foundation is often referred to as promoting theocracy and dominionism. According to the group's web site:
We believe that the whole Word of God must be applied to all of life. It is not only our duty as individuals, families and churches to be Christian, but it is also the duty of the state, the school, the arts and sciences, law, economics, and every other sphere to be under Christ the King. Nothing is exempt from His dominion. We must live by His Word, not our own.
The Chalcedon Foundation has been listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.[2]