The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews reminds Christians that they are surrounded by a great “cloud of witnesses.” (NRSVA) That “cloud” has continued to grow in size since then. In this monthly column we will be thinking about some of the people and events, over the past 2000 years, that have helped make up this “cloud.” People and events that have helped build the community of the Christian church as it exists today.
In January 2025, the US Senate confirmed Fox News host and military veteran Pete Hegseth to be Donald Trump’s US Secretary of Defense, after a tie-breaking vote had to be cast by vice-president JD Vance. Hegseth’s appointment was controversial for several reasons, one of them being that he had been accused of personal misconduct. All these allegations he has denied, but they made his confirmation a heated process.
However, theology was also in the mix of accusations levelled against the person who will now oversee the US federal government’s largest agency. Critics accused him of endorsing the theocratic doctrine of ‘sphere sovereignty’ in a series of podcasts – a worldview connected to the related belief called ‘Christian Reconstructionism.’
The same critics also drew attention to alleged tattoos carried by Hegseth, which they claimed include symbols that are embraced by US Christian nationalists. These, we are told, include the words “Deus Vult” (God wills it) tattooed on his biceps. This phrase is historically associated with the First Crusade (1096) and while it has been deployed by a wide range of groups over the centuries, it is now also used by Christian Nationalists and Christian far-Right groups. There is no suggestion that Mr Hegseth is affiliated with the far-Right and his defenders have accused critics of “anti-Christian bigotry”.
While critics and defenders of Hegseth will disagree over the occurrence and meaning of his tattoos and the significance of his comments on the podcasts, the whole episode raises interesting questions about some of the beliefs that can be found within areas of the modern US evangelical church. Readers will have to make up their own minds on Hegseth, but the question for many will be: what is the history, nature and significance of these beliefs that are currently under the microscope?
A brief history of ‘Christian Reconstructionism’
‘Christian Reconstructionism’ in its present form emerged in the late-1950s as developed by the Presbyterian minister Rousas John (RJ) Rushdoony. It led to the establishment of the Chalcedon Foundation in 1965 to promote these ideas. As with all ideological and theological movements it had its backstory, but much of its recognisable modern shape can be traced to his influence, and those around him.
The movement generally envisages the complete transformation of every aspect of society and culture to bring it under the authority of biblical law. It should be noted that there are different currents of opinion within the movement, but this would, for many, mean the implementation of Old Testament legal structures and punishments in twenty-first century nations.
This aim is often described using the term ‘theonomy,’ meaning ‘God-law’, which argues that scriptural judicial law and punishment constitutes the law of God that is universally binding; modern civil law should follow the civil and judicial law of ancient Israel; Christians should aim to implement these Old Testament laws across society as the basis for a transformed legal structure.
This is often accompanied by a ‘post-millennial’ outlook. This envisages that massive revivals will occur before the second coming of Christ and that these will result in a global population that is largely Christian, and which is governed by legal frameworks derived from scripture. Since there is no New Testament legal structure, this means the implementation of Old Testament judicial law in all its aspects.
While the current manifestation of these ideas can be traced to the 1950s, they have an American context which can be traced to the Puritan founders of the New England colonies, in the seventeenth century. Many of them felt they were called to establish theocratic self-governing communities in North America – a ‘New Israel’ in the ‘New World.’ In the absence of New Testament judicial law codes, they tended to look to Old Testament legal structures in the building of this ‘New Israel.’ These theocratic experiments were ended by the British crown in 1691, when the colonies were brought fully under royal control. But the memory lingered and Christian Reconstructionism, since the 1950s, echoes this earlier ideology. Particularly as Christian cultural influence has diminished in the US.
What is interesting is that while this outlook resonates with something deep within North American Christian history, most other fellowships within US evangelicalism have moved away from key aspects of Reconstructionist theology. While ‘post-millennialism’ continued as a prominent outlook until the early nineteenth century, it has gone into steep decline since the 1840s. Today, most US evangelical churches adopt a ‘pre-millennial’ position (believing Christ will return and then establish a thousand-year reign on the earth) and are ‘pre-tribulation dispensational’ (believing in the removal of the church through the ‘rapture,’ before a time of upheaval preceding the return of Christ).
‘Sphere sovereignty’ and ‘dominionism’
Reconstructionist thought involves ‘sphere sovereignty,’ by which God ordains authority to the family, the church, and the civil government.
Since economic activity and education are considered to be within the family’s ‘dominion,’ any involvement of government in these areas is considered tyrannical over-reach. Hence the promotion of totally autonomous Christian schools and homeschooling.
The ‘dominion’ of the church involves discipleship, in order to perfect the application of biblical law to all of life, via a system of church courts.
The ‘dominion’ of civil government lies in the protection of private property and the punishment of evildoers (as defined by biblical law). Modern taxation, to fund other aspects of government, is regarded as theft.
Aspects of this agenda – which includes the apparent paradox of advocating both limited government and ‘theonomy’ – chime with the agendas of both the modern US evangelical right and also libertarianism.
Similar views can also be found within the so-called ‘Seven Mountains Movement’ (SMM) which emerged in the mid-1970s. Though charismatic and pre-millennialist (in contrast with Reconstructionist beliefs) the proposal that there are seven ‘mountains’ that Christians must control in order to establish a global Christian theocracy and prepare the world for Jesus’ return – government, education, media, arts and entertainment, religion, family, and business – have similarities to Reconstructionist thought.
Where the rubber hits the road
The key question is: what impact does Christian Reconstructionism actually have in 2025? On one hand, subscribers constitute a small minority within the mainstream evangelical movement in the US. Some have withdrawn into like-minded communities (notably located in the Pacific north-west). Such communities resist the impact of secular modern life; and aim to weather the breakdown of society that they believe to be the impending fate of the USA. This defensive outlook has led to areas into which Reconstructionists have emigrated, being termed the ‘American Redoubt.’ This includes Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and the eastern parts of Washington state and Oregon. However, it should be noted that this does not mean that such believers constitute a majority in such areas.
In their outlook, they have much in common with other ‘survivalist’ groups in the US (and elsewhere) who plan to survive a coming apocalypse and emerge as the dominant force in the society that emerges from the wreckage. However, unlike these secular ‘survivalist’ groups which grew up during the nuclear threat of the Cold War (1945–1991), the Christian Reconstructionist expectation is not to forcefully dominate what is left of a devastated society but, instead, to organically model and grow the kind of community which will eventually (by God’s providence) spread across the US (and the globe). There is, therefore, a notable tension between withdrawal from society and far-reaching hopes for what they regard to be national renewal.
In the meantime, the more ambitious Reconstructionists model their social outlook in their communities. For example, studies have indicated that the community in Moscow, Idaho, openly talks of making it a ‘Christian town.’ However, what that means in practice would, undoubtedly, not gain unqualified acceptance even among conservative Christians. Kingdom-building – when seen as a civic, rather than a personal transformation – is far from straightforward.
Alongside this is something even more complex. Through active publishing, promoting a homeschooling curriculum, and establishing educational institutions, Reconstructionists have built alliances with members of the numerically much larger evangelical Right whose eschatology is very different to theirs. However, while beliefs may conflict over the end-times timetable and the likelihood of society willingly (without coercion) coming under ‘theonomy’ (‘God-law’), much agreement exists – at the level of policy and law-making – over matters such as abortion, education, gender issues, and sexual behaviour, because all participants share a traditional conservative view of these areas.
‘Christian Nationalism’ and ideas of ‘American Exceptionalism’ can also be common ingredients in the mix, along with a determination to bring modern society into line. This all makes for quite a complex cocktail and has real political impact within the current US. Some find its promise invigorating and transformative; others fear that proximity to power creates intoxicating intolerance among those who imbibe it; sterner critics consider it a toxic mixture that has strayed far from the New Testament model.
Which raises the matter of compulsion. Can the kingdom of God be imposed on a recalcitrant society? Can a modern secular nation be brought under an Old-Testament-style theocracy? Members of the Reconstructionist movement tend to avoid that term. In the 1970s and 80s, Rushdoony voiced concerns that the (more numerous) religious Right focuses too much on political power, rather than on spiritual regeneration. This is because, for many US evangelicals, imposition via state power forms part of a resistance to antichristian forces, rather than the start of a rosy millennial future on earth (willingly entered into by participants) and preceding Christ’s return.
However, despite Reconstructionist arguments to the contrary, ‘theonomy’ in theory can sound like it would be ‘theocracy’ in practice. Can Christians in political power do ‘theocracy’ (or ‘theonomy’) with grace? Theocracies tend to end up more like Iran than the ‘New Jerusalem.’ This is because some people (maybe a lot of people) choose not to live within the moral and ethical boundaries that Christians espouse. What happens then, especially if Old Testament judicial codes were enforced? Would gay people really be executed? Would coerced marriage occur as redress for rape? And would slavery be defended, as some extreme Reconstructionists allegedly have suggested? Would a rigid patriarchal authority be imposed? What happens to the idea of Christ as the fulfilment of the Old Testament law? What happens to grace? These are big questions.
Critics of Reconstructionism argue that the New Testament envisages a radical minority, modelling love, and being under no illusion that it will (or should) impose itself via judicial means, and certainly not by establishing Old Testament penal codes.
This goes to the heart of a major Christian issue: what is the relationship of Christianity to the use of secular power? What does the kingdom of God look like on earth? What relationship does it have with the eschatological hope?
Revelation 11:15 promises:
“Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in
heaven, saying,
‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord
and of his Messiah,
and he will reign for ever and ever'” (NRSVA).
Is this something that can only happen at the return of Christ? Or can it occur through human agency before this? Can it be expected on earth without an accompanying cosmic transformation? These are not easy questions to answer.
Martyn Whittock is a historian, writer and Licensed Lay Minister in the Church of England. His recent books include: Daughters of Eve (2021), Jesus the Unauthorized Biography (2021), The End Times, Again? (2021), The Story of the Cross (2021), Apocalyptic Politics (2022) and American Vikings: How the Norse Sailed into the Lands and Imaginations of America (2023). Exploration of the history and impact of the evangelical community in the USA was the subject of his co-written book Trump and the Puritans (2020).
