Flight from Humanity: A Study of the Effect of Neoplatonism on Christianity
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
In this text Rushdoony argues that one of the most neglected but pervasive threats to the Christian worldview is that of Neoplatonism. He suggests that basing Christianity on this false Neoplatonic idea will always shift the faith away from the biblical perspective, leading Christians to believe they can escape sin if they can escape the material world. But Scripture says all of man fell into sin, not just his flesh. The text looks at the nature and effect of Neoplatonism on contemporary Christian thought.
For the entire set, see R.J. Rushdoony Culture and Ethics Collection (7 vols.).
Key Features
- Argues that Neoplatonism is a pervasive and neglected threat to Christianity
- Shows how Neoplatonic presuppositions shift one’s faith away from biblical Christianity
- Warns Christians that escaping the material world is not the cure for sin
Top Highlights
“Payne tells us that Marx’s body was for twenty years of his life covered with ulcerous boils and carbuncles, ‘exuding a stench which drove people away.’” (Page 63)
“In the biblical perspective, man’s mind and body are simply two aspects of his created being, no more at war with each other than his two hands are at war with one another. It is as absurd to say that man’s right hand and left hand are at war with one another, by nature in contradiction, as it is to say that his mind and body are in natural contradiction. Man’s war is with God, and its name is sin, his desire to be his own god and to determine good and evil in terms of his own fiat will (Gen. 3:5). Man suppresses the fact of this war against God, because it means his moral guiltiness and his liability to punishment as a capital offender. Instead, he seeks to convert his moral failure into a metaphysical fact: ‘I was made that way.’” (Pages 32–33)
“Man’s problem is moral or ethical, not metaphysical” (Page 14)
About Rousas John Rushdoony
Rousas John Rushdoony (1916–2001) was the author of more than 30 books. He earned his BA and MA from the University of California, Berkeley, and received his theological training at the Pacific School of Religion. An ordained minister, he worked as a missionary among Paiute and Shoshone Indians and as a pastor to two California churches. In 1965, he founded the Chalcedon Foundation, a Christian Reconstructionist organization.