This article is about a movement that emerged in the early 21st century. For the Dutch Calvinist movement, see Neo-Calvinism.
New Calvinism, also known as the Young, Restless, and Reformed Movement,[1] is a movement within conservative Evangelicalism that reinterprets 16th century Calvinism under contemporary US values and ideologies. [2]
Rooted in the historical tradition of Calvinist theology, New Calvinists are united by their common doctrine. In a Christianity Today article, Collin Hansen describes the speakers of a Christian conference:
Each of the seven speakers holds to the five points of Calvinism. Yet none of them spoke of Calvinism unless I asked about it. They did express worry about perceived evangelical accommodation to postmodernism and criticized churches for applying business models to ministry. They mostly joked about their many differences on such historically difficult issues as baptism, church government, eschatology, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They drew unity as Calvinist evangelicals from their concerns: with seeker churches, Church Growth marketing, and manipulative revival techniques.[11]
— Hansen, 2006
As implied by the “New” designation, some differences have been observed between the New and Old schools. John Piper, for example, has identified what he considers to be 7 main differences between the two:[12]
J. Todd Billings, professor of Reformed Theology at Western Theological Seminary, argues that the New Calvinists "tend to obscure the fact that the Reformed tradition has a deeply catholic heritage, a Christ-centered sacramental practice and a wide-lens, kingdom vision for the Christian's vocation in the world."[14]
Between 2012 and 2013 numerous Southern Baptist Ministers responded to New Calvinism by affirming a "Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding".[15] The document was originally endorsed by six former SBC presidents: Morris Chapman, Jimmy Draper, Paige Patterson, Bailey Smith,[16]Bobby Welch, and Jerry Vines, two seminary presidents Chuck Kelley of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary,[17] and five state executive directors (Jim Futral of Mississippi,[18] David Hankins of Louisiana,[19] Mike Procter of Alaska,[20] John Sullivan of Florida, and Bob White of Georgia).[21][22] The statement includes a Preamble and 10 articles of affirmation and denial as it relates to Christian Soteriology.[15]
Traditional Reformed theologians criticize the selective and altered use of texts by Reformed classical authors, like Spurgeon in the publications of the New Calvinists without alerting their readers.[23][page needed]
^Elbert, Jon. Jesus Didn't Tap: A discourse analysis of the Christian MMA landscape. Master Thesis, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 2015, p.61.
^ Brad Vermurlen, Reformed Resurgence: The New Calvinist Movement and the Battle Over American Evangelicalism, Oxford University Press, USA, 2020, pp. 52, 129
^Beeke, Joel R., ed. Calvin for Today. Reformation Heritage Books, 2010.
