Revolt Against Maturity: A Biblical Psychology of Man
Overview
Revolt Against Maturity is a study of biblical psychology. Bible-based Christian psychology assumes that man is created in the image of God not indirectly shaped through theistic—or any other kind of—evolution. It believes that man has already been determined and defined by God. Rushdoony asserts that the central task of Christian psychology is to discern the mind and soul differences that exist between the regenerate and unregenerate man.
Man suffers when he abstracts God from reality. Since God created everything, nothing can be interpreted apart from God. When man attempts this impossibility, he suffers psychologically. Psychological damaging is inevitable for those in revolt against the maturity that the God of all life and all knowledge has purposed for man.
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- Studies biblical psychology
- Discusses the states of depravity and of grace
Top Highlights
“In speaking of the permanent in man, we must thus avoid the second myth about the nature of man, namely, that which sees him only in terms of the fall. The fall of man is an historical not an absolute reality. Man’s history has seen a fourfold condition: first, the state of innocence, before the fall; second, the state of depravity, after the fall; third, the state of grace, with and after redemption; and fourth, the state of glory, in heaven, and then in the new creation. The state of glory (and the state of reprobation) will be permanent, but in an historical sense, whereas the permanence of the image of God in man is ontological.” (Page 3)
“The unbeliever seeks gnosis, not epignosis; he seeks ‘knowledge in the abstract’, not knowledge in relationship to the object known. Abstract knowledge is the attempt to interpret all things without reference to God. God is abstracted from reality, and things are interpreted, not in terms of God, but in terms of themselves.” (Page 23)
“Thus, the real enticement is not a particular sin but the principle of sin, the desire for autonomy from God. Each man then, according to his taste, picks an area in which to assert an already claimed autonomy. The particular sins will be more readily surrendered than the principle of autonomy.” (Page 14)
“Fifth, man was created a mature being in terms of the sovereign purpose of God, so that the meaning of man’s life transcends man. Man can never be understood in terms of himself but only by reference to the sovereign purpose of God.” (Page 7)
“Third, by virtue of the fact of creation according to a pattern, the eternal purpose and counsel of God, (and in His image), man’s psychology is not an evolving fact but a fixed reality.” (Page 5)
- Title: Revolt Against Maturity: A Biblical Psychology of Man
- Author: Rousas John Rushdoony
- Publisher: Ross House Books
- Publication Date: 1987
- Pages: 334
Rousas John Rushdoony (1916–2001) was was a well-known American scholar, writer, and author of over thirty books. He earned degrees from the University of California, received theological training at the Pacific School of Religion, and received an honorary Doctorate from Valley Christian University for his book The Philosophy of the Christian Curriculum.
Rushdoony was an ordained minister and served as pastor at two California churches. He served for almost nine years as a missionary to the Shoshone and Paiute Indians in a remote area of Nevada. It was during this time as a missionary that Rushdoony began writing. The Institutes of Biblical Law and Commentary on the Pentateuch are just a few of the titles that Rushdoony has penned.
The Chalcedon Foundation, an educational organization devoted to research, publishing, and cogent communication of a distinctively Christian scholarship to the world at large, was founded by Rushdoony in 1965. He served as the editor of The Chalcedon Report, the monthly magazine of the Chalcedon Foundation.
Rushdoony also published the Journal of Christian Reconstruction and was an early board member of the Rutherford Institute which was founded by John W. Whitehead.