SANCTIONS AND DOMINION - EntreWave

PREFACEThis sort of evasive scholarship reveals a deep-seated weakness of theamillennial position.11. For a detailed study of the eschatological and social implicationsof Isaiah 65:17-20, see Gary North, Millennialism and Social Theory(Tyler, Texas: Institute for Christian Economics, 1990), ch. 5.12. In the early church, the initial divisive issue was sovereignty: thedoctrine of God. This was settled by the great Trinitarian creeds of theearly church councils. It was the only issue that ever was settled. Thenthe debate moved to authority: church vs. State. The Eastern Churchplaced the State at the top of the hierarchy in history. The WesternChurch proclaimed the equal ultimacy of church and State under God.That issue came to the forefront in the West in 1076: the PapalRevolution. The next dividing issue in the West began immediately:the doctrine of law. The Scholastics attempted to fuse Roman law andcanon law into one theoretical system. They failed; the two legalorders separated: rational law (State) vs. spiritual law (church). Themodern world has inherited this ethical dualism.13. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.14. Israel Shahak, Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight ofThree Thousand Years (London: Pluto, 1994), pp. 54, 60-63.15. The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America("Covenanters") long resisted this, but how much of the older view isshared today in this tiny denomination is questionable. Much dependson the theological commitment of the faculty of its denominationalcollege, Geneva College.16. Gary Scott Smith, The Seeds of Secularization: Calvinism,Culture, and Pluralism in America, 1870-1915 (Grand Rapids,Michigan: Christian University Press, 1985). This publishing house isa subsidiary of William B. Eerdmans.17. Martin Luther, "Temporal Authority: To What Extent It ShouldBe Obeyed" (1523), in Luther's Works (Philadelphia: Fortress Press,1962), vol. XLV.18. Charles Trinkaus, "The Religious Foundations of Luther's SocialViews," in John H. Mundy, et al., Essays in Medieval Life (Cheshire,Connecticut: Biblo & Tannen, 1955), pp. 71-87.http://freebooks.commentary.net/freebooks/docs/html/gnsd/preface.htm (23 of 27) [5/26/2000 1:29:37 PM]