R. J. Rushdoony
From The Institutes of Biblical
Law.
1. Vice Regents of God:
"The earth thus was created
to be God's kingdom, and man was created in God's image to be
God's vice-regent over that realm under God."
2. Dominionism is a Cultural
Mandate:
"The cultural mandate is
thus the obligation of covenant man to subdue the earth and to
exercise dominion over it under God (Gen. 1:26-28) …All
enemies of Christ in this fallen world must be conquered."
3. Submit or Be Crushed:
"If men are not regenerated
by Christ, and if they will not submit to His calling, to the
cultural mandate, they will be crushed by His power."
4. Biblical Law, Dominion
A Basic Urge of Man's Nature:
"The purpose of regeneration
is to re-establish man in his creation mandate, to exercise dominion
and to subdue the earth. The purpose of the law is to give man
the God-appointed way to dominion. The purpose of the call to
obedience is to exercise dominion....Man was created to exercise
dominion under God and as God's appointed vice-regent over the
earth. Dominion is thus a basic urge of man's nature."
5. Submit and Inherit the
Earth:
"The purpose of the new
Adam is to undo the work of the fall, restore man as covenant
keeper, make of man again a faithful citizen of the Kingdom of
God, and enable man again to fulfill his calling to subdue the
earth under God and to restore all things to God's law and dominion.
Those who submit to this calling and dominion inherit the earth
(Matt. 5:5) “The meek are the redeemed whom God has burdened,
oppressed, and broken to harness, so that they are tamed and
workable. (Emphasis added.)
6. Tangible Assets are an
Aspect of Dominion:
"It is very necessary therefore
to recognize that the urge to dominion is God-given and is basic
to the nature of man. An aspect of this dominion is property…The
Scripture, however, places property in the hands of the family,
not the state. It gives property to man as an aspect of his dominion,
as a part of his godly subduing of the earth."
The Institutes of Biblical Law, by R. J. Rushdoony, Nutley, NJ: Craig
Press, 1973.