Christian Reconstruction

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326 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 11 halftones, notes, bibl., index

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4696-2274-3
Published: April 2015
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4696-2275-0
Published: April 2015

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Audio Interview

This is the first critical history of Christian Reconstruction and its founder and champion, theologian and activist Rousas John Rushdoony (1916–2001). Drawing on exclusive access to Rushdoony's personal papers and extensive correspondence, Michael J. McVicar demonstrates the considerable role Reconstructionism played in the development of the radical Christian Right and an American theocratic agenda. As a religious movement, Reconstructionism aims at nothing less than "reconstructing" individuals through a form of Christian governance that, if implemented in the lives of U.S. citizens, would fundamentally alter the shape of American society.

McVicar examines Rushdoony's career and traces Reconstructionism as it grew from a grassroots, populist movement in the 1960s to its height of popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. He reveals the movement's galvanizing role in the development of political conspiracy theories and survivalism, libertarianism and antistatism, and educational reform and homeschooling. The book demonstrates how these issues have retained and in many cases gained potency for conservative Christians to the present day, despite the decline of the movement itself beginning in the 1990s. McVicar contends that Christian Reconstruction has contributed significantly to how certain forms of religiosity have become central, and now familiar, aspects of an often controversial conservative revolution in America.

About the Author

Michael J. McVicar is assistant professor of religion at Florida State University.
For more information about Michael J. McVicar, visit the Author Page.

Reviews

“McVicar . . . has produced a landmark work describing the rise and eventual fall of Reconstructionist thought. This fine work is highly recommended.”--Publishers Weekly, starred review

“An extensively researched and critical yet balanced history of the Christian Reconstruction movement and its founder, R.J. Rushdoony. . . . Specialists in religion, politics, sociology, history, and cultural analysis, as well as the general public, can find rich reflection herein no matter their personal, political, or religious persuasions.”--Library Journal

"Intimate and richly contextualized….Will inspire future chroniclers to grant Rushdoony a wider berth."--Journal of American History

“The prose is engaging, and McVicar manages to clearly explain the theological, institutional, and social history of Christian Reconstruction.”--American Historical Review

"Buy it. Read it. Critique it. Learn from it.” --Faith for All of Life

"McVicar is a careful writer. . . . He goes out of his way to place the radicalism of the Reconstructionists in context."--Books & Culture