10.05.2021

more on sphere sovereignty

Here I am discussing societal sphere sovereignty with Jacob Winograd of the Daniel 3: Biblical Anarchy podcast.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCDyfRIH-_c


     1:05 beginning
     3:10 about Gregory
     6:40 becoming anarchist
   13:36 helpful arguments
   17:03 sphere sovereignty intro
   18:44 historical background
   30:45 sphere sovereignty explained
   55:31 Summary
1:03:44 What is civil governance?
1:32:12 sphere sovereignty related to 'spontaneous order'
1:44:03 Can we know God is real?

1:05 beginning
https://daniel318.com/

3:10 about Gregory
        profile: https://sites.google.com/site/ideolog/
        previous appearance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm_wh1ndsxw

6:40 becoming anarchist
        Foundations of Libertarian Ethics: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZo7TOFxgEMP4iRDHidY_PR7AKwwfQO4g
        and https://mises.org/library/foundations-libertarian-ethics

13:36 helpful arguments
https://mereliberty.com/romans13
https://libertarianchristians.com/2018/02/21/anarchism-minarchism-legitimacy-civil-governance/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemo_iudex_in_causa_sua

17:03 sphere sovereignty intro
        + Christian theory, not exegesis

18:44 historical background
        + basic definition: a view of the normative arrangement among and relations between different kinds of societal communities

        + Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer (1801 - 1876) introduced the phrase 'sovereignty within one's own sphere/circle'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Groen_van_Prinsterer
        part of the European Calvinist revival (Réveil) of 1820s

        + Abraham Kuyper (1837 - 1920) developed the idea further
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Kuyper
        1880 lecture on Sphere Sovereignty: https://sources.neocalvinism.org/kuyper/?ka_num=1993.02

        + Herman Dooyeweerd (1894 - 1977) refined it philosophically
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Dooyeweerd
        More on Dooyeweerd and his philosophy: https://thelaymenslounge.com/you-should-know-dooyeweerd/

        other predecessors
        + Althusius (1557 - 1638)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Althusius
        + Alsted (1588 - 1638)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Heinrich_Alsted

        + arose in terms of the questions of the relation between church and state (and properly defining and limiting their respective powers) after the medieval period

        + Reformed political resistance theology
https://tinyurl.com/RefoPoliResistBib

        + like a kind of 'division of labor' among communities

30:45 sphere sovereignty explained
        + What Is Reformed Anarchism statement: https://tinyurl.com/refoanarchism
        See especially part 2 on What is society?

        + Scriptural teaching about basic diversity of created reality ('each according to its own kind')

        + Kuyper's 1869 article "Uniformity: the curse of modern life"; about the dreary artificial sameness imposed on things in the statist/collectivistic mindset: https://sources.neocalvinism.org/kuyper/?ka_num=1869.14

        + Scriptural 'organic' metaphor about differentiated functions coordinated variously

        + society is not a single whole, rather it is several different kinds of relations involving both individuals and groups; neither is more basic or has their origin in the other

        + community is not just individuals (or inter-individual relation), rather it is relatively more enduring and involves authority arrangements

        + individuals are not mere parts of communities, but wholes in themselves

        + each kind of community is distinguished from other kinds by its own intrinsic nature, differently characterized in its organization and purpose, governed by its own God-given norms

        + no single kind of community properly encompasses or regulates all the others. Nor does any particular community of a given kind properly encompass or regulate all the others of that same kind

        + not a collectivistic view of so-called ‘subsidiarity,’ which, while seeking to be bottom-up, affirming that the lowest level of organization has original jurisdiction, nevertheless subsumes all societal communities (as so-called ‘mediating institutions’) under an all-encompassing state

55:31 Summary:
        1. real communities; distinct kinds
        2. each kind of community (sphere) has its own directly God-normed intrinsic nature, scope of activity, competence, and limited authority
        3. society not a single whole merely decentralized or bottom-up (not hierarchically arranged 'subsidiarity')
        4. within a given sphere, no particular community encompasses or regulates others of the same kind

        + a state’s monopoly is in principle totalitarian, and always increasingly tends toward totalitarianism in practice

1:03:44 What is civil governance?
        
(see part 3 of What is Reformed Anarchism statement)

        + Only God in Christ is absolutely sovereign; this biblical teaching entails that no mere human authority is properly total (and so the monopoly state is inherently antinormative)

        + Gregory's paper on sphere sovereignty: https://www.academia.edu/32356017
        2008 conference presentation: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL083BD24DE7A4559E

        + even Christians are sinners who might sinfully seek to justify abuse by appeal to authority; total depravity is REAL
https://libertarianchristians.com/2018/03/28/sinful-nature-question-states-necessity/
        Sproul on 'total depravity':
        a. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvUpyxnqAow
        b. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPVkhssUv5I

        + response to theonomy
        Kline's article on theocracy: https://meredithkline.com/klines-works/articles-and-essays/the-relevance-of-the-theocracy/
        Lee Irons' article: https://www.the-highway.com/theonomy-hermeneutic_Irons.html
        Lane Tipton's article: https://www.kerux.com/doc/1501A1.asp
        T. David Gordon's article: https://web.archive.org/web/20200718055717/http://tdgordon.net/theology/theonomy.pdf

        + Upper Register podcast
https://www.youtube.com/user/IronsLee
https://upperregister.podbean.com/
        Lee Irons' website: https://upper-register.com
        series on covenantal history: https://upper-register.com/mp3s.html#unfolding

        + seeking to coercively enforce moral law (beyond proper civil-justicial rights) outside the old covenant is a usurping of God's sole prerogative, and amounts to statist pagan idolatry

1:32:12 sphere sovereignty related to 'spontaneous order'
        See Reformed Anarchism statement, especially 2.c (and following) on Polycentric and Emergent Order
https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/liggio-literature-of-liberty-summer-1982-vol-5-no-2/

        + the broader 'polycentric societal complex' is coordinated emergently, through the self-governance of each instance of the varieties of relations and each particular community of the several distinct kinds

        +by God’s creational design, a dynamic societal harmonization comes about cumulatively through the varieties of normative human action, but apart from any human individual’s or community’s specific intention or attempt at comprehensive coercive regulation

        + Also see a summary of spontaneous order in this 9th vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQhkrYqA7S4&list=PLwrDNUO5MDu95jfsFdfN2oe8vXQ6Cma-h&index=9

        + particular endeavors require planning, but society overall, and any sphere, is far too complex to be planned or coercively regulated; any attempt at such coercive regulation is inherently antinormative resulting in severe distortion

1:44:03 Can we know God is real?
https://www.allofliferedeemed.co.uk/Clouser/CanWeKnow.pdf
        See also "Knowing With The Heart": https://www.amazon.com/dp/1556354320
        and "The Myth Of Religious Neutrality" (which also deals with sphere sovereignty): https://www.amazon.com/dp/0268023662

        + teaser: "proof" (inference) is not the only means of rationally justifying a belief


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