Episode 17: 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 argument for the legitimacy of the state fails 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.

https://reformedlibertarians.com/017

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/

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/

The Reformed Libertarians Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute: https://libertarianchristians.com/ and a member of the Christians for Liberty Network: https://christiansforliberty.net

Audio Production by Podsworth Media - https://podsworth.com