"The first want of our day is a return to the old, simple and sharply-cut doctrines of our fathers" JC Ryle
Over the last 20 years there has been a shift in confessional reformed churches. It is sometimes hard to put our finger on the issue. The tone and tenor of churches have changed. Fixed points, theological moorings, agreed points of theology all seem up for grabs. Often it is subtle, but the message is clear: our forefathers were simple men but we are sophisticated and clever. Culture, DNA and pragmatism have become king. Adherence to historical confessional standards have become looser and more relaxed. Ordination vows have become muddled. Ministers and office bearers seem confused about what they have actually subscribed to. The role of pastor has become a master of ceremonies rather than one ordained to lead worship and preach. Worship must be bright and breezy and we must embrace the modern Christian music industrial complex. The order, reverence, simplicity, structure and spirituality of reformed worship has been replaced with the latest worship music and practices. We sing heresy long before we believe heresy and the signs are not encouraging.
How are we to understand these changes? Why has the 'cultural context' become so important? At least part of the answer is the rise of a new kind of Calvinism. As one theologian has said: 'With the New Calvinism, the dynamics change and Calvin becomes but a dim shadow. Instead, there is a curious mixture of the Five Points, 16th century Anabaptism, 18th century revivalism, 20th century Pentecostalism, sophisticated marketing, the latest technology, and high-decibel music.' New Calvinism offers us a smorgasbord of worship and practice. Contradictory positions, radically different worship strains and the profound and the superficial exist side by side.
Biblical truth, rediscovered in historical Calvinism, humbles man and exalts God. It takes God's word seriously. It covers the whole of life. It is not loose and pragmatic but careful and systematic. Abraham Kuyper said: 'The special trait of Calvinism is that it placed the believer before the face of God, not only in the Church, but also in his personal, family, social and political life. The majesty of God, and the authority of God press upon the Calvinist in the whole of his human existence.' I have republished some of my late fathers convictions on what we mean by Calvinism and what it means to be reformed. So how are we to understand this New Calvinism?
Below is an article by Rev Jeremy Walker who has written a more extensive book The New Calvinism Considered which we would highly recommend. This article was written 10 years ago but it is very helpful for us to understand the context we find ourselves in today. You can read more articles from Rev Walker on his blog.
If you are in evangelical and Reformed circles in the UK, it is almost certain that you, or someone you know, has been influenced by what has become known as the new Calvinism. The name is loosely applied to a group of individuals (think John Piper, Don Carson, the late Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll, Mark Dever, Al Mohler, Kevin DeYoung, Wayne Grudem) and networks, and networks of networks (think Together for the Gospel, The Gospel Coalition, Acts 29), who generally avow a more or less Calvinistic soteriology. However, their embrace of a more full-orbed Reformed principle, practice and polity is extremely varied. Although its fullest expressions remain largely American, it leaves a strong impress elsewhere. In the UK, its commitments and influences are more or less evident in such places and institutions as the Porterbrook Network, the Proclamation Trust, WEST, the FIEC, Affinity, Acts 29 Europe, and New Frontiers. The movement as a whole is evolving and nebulous, its boundary porous. Criticisms issued about definitions of the new Calvinism rarely take account of the fact that – almost by definition – it resists definition. It is more of a permeating flavour than a definite bloc.
Many assessments of the new Calvinism err in missing or dismissing the fact that the new Calvinism is a spectrum. The assessor either visits a certain conference or hears a certain preacher and declares the whole movement fundamentally sound and heading in a good direction, or hears some of the worst horror stories and imputes what is stated or implied to others without distinction. Each of us tends to be coloured by that to which we have been exposed. We must not presume that any one individual is a spokesman for all, however convenient that might be.
Taking into account the inherent difficulties of definition and assessment, any consideration should take account of two competing forces: the desire to exalt God and the tendency to exalt man. If we are honest, these are pressures with which every Christian and every church contends, and which each of us should assess in ourselves. However, in the case of the new Calvinism, these tensions are woven into the very being of the movement – they belong to its nature and cannot be separated from it.
At its best, the new Calvinism sets out to be and often succeeds in being a God-centred movement. It strikes many of the notes of historic and orthodox Christianity, though often with a distinctive flavour of our time and place. You might read books, or great sections of books, with which you almost entirely agree. You might hear a keynote sermon and offer your hearty and sincere, “Amen!” You might read blog posts and be ready to sigh in happy agreement. There will be much that deliberately sets out to exalt Christ and honour God; a determination to make much of God’s grace in Christ Jesus; a desire to make Christ known in all the earth; a general commitment to the preaching of the Word of God; a robust defence of manhood and womanhood as creatures made in God’s image but with their own distinctive roles in home, church and society; and, an eager and inventive embrace of new tools to propagate the gospel.
At its worst, the new Calvinism can seem or be thoroughly man-centred. Too many have adopted a carnal pragmatism and commercialism in seeking to advance the kingdom of God (often some man’s empire seems to be the more pressing concern). An unbalanced view of culture as a neutral vehicle readily available for transformation and easy triumphs permeates the movement. These two elements often bleed together into the life of the local church, including some profoundly unhealthy and even explicitly carnal expressions of worship, together with an unholy contextualization when it comes to the proclamation of the gospel. Intramural debates continue about the origins, nature, motives and standards of holiness in a believer. While a few voices call men back to the best expressions of orthodoxy, certain expressions of so-called (with capitals!) New Covenant Theology tend to dominate, together with the nascent antinomianism often bound up in such a theology. A careless ecumenism is evident, in which boundaries that need to be drawn fail to be drawn – men are lauded while mutual basking in reflected human glory beckons, but silence falls when the same men go off the rails theologically. There is a widespread acceptance of charismatic conviction and practice, the general attitude suggesting that such things are neither here nor there. And there is, in some, a distasteful triumphalism and aggressive brashness that exalts the new and the gaudy at the expense of the proven and the faithful. In various ways and at particular points the new Calvinism panders too much to the world, to the fallen culture, to the academy. There are indications of concern for human approval, reliance on worldly means and principles, embrace of worldly models, and subsequent departure from or woolliness on historic orthodox Christianity at various important points. These features make some manifestations of new Calvinism a matter of concern or even outright danger. Because of the nature of the associations that bind many new Calvinists together, there appears a willingness to overlook what ought to be addressed and an unwillingness to reject what ought to be plainly and publicly exposed.
Both strengths and weaknesses are often (though not always) so thoroughly embedded in the same people, churches, organisations and institutions as to make them almost impossible to divide from one another. In many instances, you must take the whole package. I find too much of man’s appetite and glory and wisdom in too many expressions of the new Calvinism for me to be comfortable with the movement as a whole. Too much falls in the gaps with regard to holiness, worship, ecclesiology and polity, too many connections that are not yet being made, or made only by a few brave souls. Every church must consider whether or not we fall into the same traps.
Not everyone who calls himself or is called a new Calvinist is everything that this movement might be, for better or for worse. To be sure, there will be some who are or will soon be asking, “What next?” – seeking a newer wave or the next fad. They pursue not substance but novelty, pandering to their own appetites. But many are or will soon be asking, with a humble sincerity, “What more?” In dealing with such true and earnest brothers in Christ, treat them as I hope you would wish to be treated. Pursue the reputation and the relationships that allow you to speak into such lives with gospel credibility.
To do this we need to be anchored to the truth of Scripture and the church of Christ. Without such anchor points, we have nowhere firm to stand and nothing to offer. An intelligent and wholehearted commitment to a more comprehensive, tried-and-tested expression of scriptural truth provides a buffer against the kind of shocks that drive men and churches off their feet. Adherence to an historic and full-orbed confession of faith is not a panacea, as history proves. Nevertheless, we need to set our feet upon a doctrinal rock where others have shown that a saint can safely stand when buffeted by the winds and waves of falsehood. The preparation for the downgrade of Spurgeon’s day was made by those men who resisted a more complete and binding declaration of the things clearly expressed in and surely believed from the Bible, and who settled instead for a sort of gentleman’s agreement on the sentiments usually denominated evangelical.
In addition, we need to operate within the scripturally-appointed bounds of the local, visible church. It is within the orbit of the local congregation under the care of spiritually qualified, identifiably competent and genuinely accountable men that the saints will best grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. The surest foundation for present and future faithfulness and fruitfulness will be a robustly confessional ecclesiology and a well-grounded churchmanship not subject to the currents of the age or the whims of the demagogues.
I closed The New Calvinism Considered with this counsel, and I stand by it: “be Calvinists. Do not panic blindly. Do not capitulate foolishly. Do not strike wildly. Live before God and be determined to learn of Christ in dependence on the Holy Spirit. Love and serve the triune God above all, and be ready to love and serve his saints wherever you find them, and however your supreme attachment to the Lord of glory demands it.”
Tim Challies has also written a helpful article here.
Aaron Renn has also made a helpful contribution here.
