Ep 17: David VanDrunen’s View Of Civil Government, with Taylor Drummond

July 18, 2024
Reformed Libertarians Podcast

Summary – David VanDrunen’s View Of Civil Government, with Taylor Drummond

An interview with Pastor Taylor Drummond about his article “Fool’s Gold?: A libertarian analysis of VanDrunen’s account of state legitimacy,” which appreciatively, but critically, examines arguments in the book Politics After Christendom by Dr. David VanDrunen. Pastor Drummond introduces himself and recounts how he became a confessional, Calvinistic Baptist, and a libertarian-anarchist. He speaks about how VanDrunen’s biblical arguments for the legitimacy of the state fail his own standard for justifying the state. Drummond also explains how VanDrunen’s theoretical argument is at odds with his own view of law, justice, and rights, and is in tension with many of his economic and theological insights. [Direct mp3 download]

https://reformedlibertarians.com/017

View transcript

Main Points of Discussion

00:00	Introduction
00:32	Episode description
01:50	About Pastor Drummond
06:54	VanDrunen’s brief biblical arguments and Drummond’s response
17:22	Monopoly, Noahic covenant, and negative natural rights
24:26	VanDrunen’s view of customary legal order
27:50	Drummond’s response on law and rights
34:44	Need for clearly distinguishing just and unjust coercion
38:56	Protectionism, sin, politicization, and inefficiency
47:29	Concluding thoughts

Additional Resources

Article discussed: “Fool’s Gold?: A libertarian analysis of VanDrunen’s account of state legitimacy,” by Taylor Drummond: https://libertarianchristians.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CLR-5-Drummond.pdf
Politics After Christendom by David VanDrunen: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0310108845/
Taylor Drummond
congregation: Grace Community Church, Allentown PA https://gracecommunityallentown.org/

Politics substack: https://thearchy.substack.com/
Theology site: https://servantofthesovereign.wordpress.com/
Some other books mentioned:
The Road To Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek: https://mises.org/library/book/road-serfdom
The Law by Frederic Bastiat: https://mises.org/library/book/law
Foundations of Economics: A Christian View by Shawn Ritenour: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1556357249/
The Conservative Mind by Russell Kirk: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0895261715/
For A New Liberty by Murray Rothbard: https://mises.org/library/book/new-liberty-libertarian-manifesto
Christian Libertarian Review call for papers 2024: https://libertarianchristians.com/2024/02/03/call-for-papers-2024-volume/

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