Rushdoony in Africa

A number of writers have drawn up exposes of the “theocratic” agenda of evangelical Republicans over the past two years, and many find the darkly Armenian figure of RJ Rushdoony lurking behind every legislative proposal and protest march.

They don’t know the half of it.

By Philip Jenkins’s description ( The New Faces of Christianity , 2006), there’s an awful lot of theonomy going on in Africa. Africans love the OT, some still keep dietary laws and maintain other aspects of the Levitical system, and many don’t believe they can separate faith from politics, or that they should try.

But the connections are actually more direct. One of the key mediators of Rushdoony to Africa is charismatic leader Derek Prince (1915-2003), a charismatic leader with a significant ministry in West Africa. Prince joined with other charismatics in publishing New Wine magazine, and the group was influenced by Rushdoony, especially his postmillennial vision.

Suspicious leftists think Rushdoony took over the Republican Party. How they underestimated the man: Rushdoony’s real coup is to take over Africa.