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The Liberal-Fundamentalist Controversy

Even as the Second World War raged around the globe, the American religious landscape began shifting. The National Association of Evangelicals set a new course in the early 1940s between Protestant liberals on the one side and fundamentalists on the other. Carl F. H. Henry rallied evangelicals to engage politics, academia, and other cultural spheres with The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism in 1947. He delivered a stinging rebuke to fundamentalists who had withdrawn from these public arenas that so recently became inhospitable to Bible believers.

After years of tension, Billy Graham delivered the decisive break between evangelicals and fundamentalists in 1957. Graham turned down invitations to preach in New York City under the sponsorship of fundamentalist churches before accepting one from the liberal Protestant Council. Fundamentalists have never let Graham or his evangelical sympathizers forget the snub.

Fundamentalist Shift

Fundamentalists have at times focused their critique on Calvinists. They have accused Reformed believers of manipulating Scripture and undermining biblical authority with rationalism. That argument is alive but not so well these days, as seen in response to a recent fundamentalist diatribe against John Piper, C. J. Mahaney, and several other leading Calvinists. While intending to rally like-minded pastors against this threat, the message actually drew out the growing network of young adults who have abandoned fundamentalism for the Calvinist ranks.

Since I wrote Young, Restless, Reformed, several students have contacted me to say they have been expelled from fundamentalist schools for embracing Calvinism. I have met many other students training for academic and pastoral work who started at fundamentalist schools but migrated toward seminaries where prominent Calvinists teach. Their stories often bear striking resemblance to one another. While appreciating the godly legacy of their parents, these students have read Piper and experienced refreshing delight evoked by a vision of God’s glory as revealed by the grace of Jesus Christ.

Fundamentalist Defense

Even some older fundamentalists have stepped in to defend Piper and those who love him. Kevin Bauder serves as president of Central Baptist Theological Seminary, which trains fundamentalist pastors in the same Minneapolis/St. Paul region where Piper lives. His response marginalizes fundamentalists who caricature Calvinism. But Bauder’s defense also points toward the possibility that the growing Calvinist influence on evangelicals could help heal their decades-long dispute with fundamentalists.

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Gospel, Word!

Walking to my seat for the opening night of the New Attitude conference, an unexpected sound boomed over the convention center speakers. Could it be? Nah. Hip hop? Here? With this crowd? At least the lyrics sounded about right for New Attitude, a yearly conference now called Next that attracts thousands of young adults. “Grace—unmerited favor toward those who deserve wrath,” Curtis Allen rapped. “Grace—is salvation from predestination. Christ gave his life to change our destination.”

Lyrical Theology

I approached Allen between sessions and asked him about a phenomenon I never anticipated writing about: Reformed rap. Allen, who raps under the name “Voice,” belongs to a small group of hip-hop artists who employ Calvinist theology in their lyrics. Shai Linne argues that hip-hop might be a superior musical form for conveying theology because of the sheer word count. “The power of hip-hop is because it’s primarily a lyrical medium,” said Linne, who attends Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia, an Acts 29 church. “It has the ability to communicate large amounts of information at one time. When you’re able to do that, you’re able to transmit a worldview.”

Secular Slavery

The Reformed worldview isn’t always welcome in African American churches. Thabiti Anyabwile has documented the decline of African American theology from biblical faith to cultural captivity. Anyabwile, who once served on the Capitol Hill Baptist Church staff with Together for the Gospel founder Mark Dever, argues that the theological basis for African American activism has given way to secularism.

Theological Freedom

“Disentangled from its evangelical and Reformed theological upbringing, the church became motivated by a quest for justice for justice’s sake rather than by the call and mandate of God as expressed in more biblical understandings of Christianity,” Anyabwile writes. Perhaps Calvinists will be used by God to restore this theological richness that once sustained slaves enduring unspeakable evil.

To be continued.

Resurgence Literature

Re:Lit is a ministry of Resurgence. There you will find a growing line of books to help guide the resurgence of the new reformed. Find out more.

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Tim Keller did not follow the time-tested path to evangelical prominence. Sure, he published his first book, Ministries of Mercy, before he had even moved to Manhattan and planted Redeemer Presbyterian Church. But then he waited more than 20 years before publishing again. Boy, was he worth the wait. The Reason for God cracked The New York Times bestseller list in 2008. D. A. Carson, with whom Keller conceived The Gospel Coalition, has called The Reason for God the most significant apologetics work since C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity.

Street Cred

Conversing with skeptics in Manhattan has honed Keller’s skills. With offices on Broadway a mere five blocks from Times Square, Redeemer now welcomes nearly 6,000 to weekly services. Even before his writing career took off, Keller had fascinated church planters who wanted to learn the secret of his success in some of America’s toughest terrain for evangelicals. The Redeemer Church Planting Network now seeks to launch hundreds of new churches in the largest cities around the world.

New Urban Christians

Such aggressive evangelistic initiatives are not exactly typical of Redeemer’s denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America. But under Keller’s progressive influence, that reputation is changing. A denomination based largely in the South, renowned for its Reformed precision, has now developed some of the most dynamic young church leaders who want to reach cities with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christianity Today has noted that 50 years from now, “if evangelical Christians are widely known for their love of cities, their commitment to mercy and justice, and their love of their neighbors, Tim Keller will be remembered as a pioneer of the new urban Christians.”

To be continued.

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C. J. Mahaney gave me the most difficult interview of my career thus far. I have endured hostile subjects, awful conditions, and ill-informed answers. But I could not prepare for how Mahaney treated me. He wouldn’t stop asking me questions. He seemed to genuinely care about getting to know me. Mostly we laughed together and enjoyed each other’s company. Mahaney, the founding pastor of Covenant Life Church in suburban Maryland, has that effect on most people he meets. The only physical feature that stands out more than his shiny bald head is his wide, ever-present smile.

Charismatic Calvinists

Finally I dragged Mahaney into discussing my one big question. How in the world does he explain the anomalous blend of charismatic practice and Calvinist soteriology found in the international network of Sovereign Grace churches he now oversees? “This could be the fruit of my pre-conversion drug-induced state,” Mahaney responded, some kidding aside. To the point, he explained, “We don’t see the inconsistencies.”

Charismatic Gifts

The lack of clear historic precedent may give Mahaney pause. But he does not think Scripture leaves us guessing about tongues. Christians may speak in tongues today, he believes, just as they did on Pentecost. The same biblical study that leads Mahaney toward Reformed conclusions guides his embrace of charismatic gifts. He takes 1 Corinthians 14 at face value. This chapter, where the apostle Paul teaches the Corinthians about orderly worship, probably came up at least five times during the three hours I spoke with Mahaney.

Charismatic with a Seat Belt

Along with like-minded theologians such as Wayne Grudem and Sam Storms, Mahaney has led the way for many Calvinists to abandon their traditional cessationism. These Calvinists profess to be “charismatics wearing seat belts,” to borrow Mark Driscoll’s phrase. Their numbers will likely increase as Calvinists encounter Majority World believers, who typically assume the New Testament gifts of tongues and prophecy continue today.

To be continued.

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Young and Bold

R. Albert Mohler Jr. was too young to head the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He thought so. Everyone thought so. But the board was impressed by his youthful vigor and clear plan to restore the seminary’s confessional identity. He was only 33 years old when he assumed the presidency in 1993. Soon thereafter at least 96 percent of the faculty of the largest Protestant denomination’s flagship seminary left. Not that the faculty’s many liberals and moderates had much of a choice. Mohler had the audacity to enforce Southern’s Abstract of Principles, derived via the Second London Confession from that landmark Reformed document, the Westminster Confession.

Strong Showing

More than 15 years later, Mohler has attracted one of the strongest evangelical faculties in the country. Enrollment has surged to more than 4,300 students—which makes Southern the largest Southern Baptist seminary, and likely the largest U.S. seminary overall. Southern’s success story has made Mohler a big target for Baptists who don’t appreciate this return to the convention’s Reformed roots. Yet Mohler is more likely to bemoan the sad state of American culture on his daily radio program or while appearing on CNN than he is to fly the flag for Calvinism.

“My Agenda Is the Gospel”

“When I say that my agenda is not Calvinism, I say that with unfeigned honesty, with undiluted candor,” Mohler told me. “My agenda is the gospel. And I refuse to limit that to a label, but I am also very honest to say, yes, that means that I am a five-point Calvinist. If you’re counting points, here I am.”

Calvinist Identity

Nevertheless, this issue may still come to a head in the notoriously contentious SBC. While only 10 percent of SBC pastors describe themselves as five-point Calvinists, a 2007 Lifeway study indicates that 30 percent of recent convention seminary graduates self-identify this way. Don’t expect demographics to deter non-Calvinists who continue to insist that a belief in predestination precludes evangelism.

To be continued.

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An Uncharacteristic Megachurch

Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis is neither fashionable like Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church in Orange County, California, nor sprawling like Bill Hybels’s Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago. Embedded downtown near the Metrodome, Bethlehem lacks that most characteristic megachurch feature: ample parking. The Saturday evening service I visited felt surprisingly casual. Then again, Minnesota’s Scandinavian culture eschews formality and downplays controversy—two reasons I’ve always been surprised an intense, controversial Southerner like John Piper settled here. It would be an understatement to describe Piper as animated in the pulpit. His gestures match his theology. Piper lifts the gaze of his audience toward a mighty, transcendent God.

Passionate Piper

At 63 years old, Piper is the chief spokesman for the Calvinist resurgence. Several bestselling books, particularly Desiring God, and a rigorous speaking schedule have endeared him to younger generations. “John has the gift of catching the attention of young thinking people, and getting them excited about thinking as an exercise, because he himself does it so passionately,” J. I. Packer told me. “He gives them the sense that passionate thinking is at the essence of real life.”

Affections Are Central

Piper’s rigorous eloquence wins larger crowds wherever he travels. But you’ve missed his point if you hear him speak and walk away marveling at anything but the source of his renowned passion. “My whole project theologically is to say that God is more God-centered than any other being in the universe, and then to back that up with dozens of texts that say God does everything for his glory,” Piper explained to me. “God is most glorified when we’re most satisfied in him. Affections are central—not just marginal—and it’s okay to be happy in God.”

More than the five points of Calvinism, this is what Piper wants you to understand. But without Piper’s infusion of God-given zeal, I doubt Calvinism would have recaptured the affection of young evangelicals. Like his hero, Jonathan Edwards, Piper invigorates Calvinism with a passion for piety.

To be continued.

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Not long after I began working as an editor for Christianity Today in 2004, the emerging church began to sweep through evangelicalism. Our editorial staff tended to view this youthful stirring with appropriate skepticism, wondering about the implications of altering theology to reach postmodern cultures. Still, writers such as Brian McLaren sold thousands of books packed with provocative critiques of modern evangelicalism. It was clear that McLaren and others had struck a nerve.

Relativistic Breakdown

But as a recent college graduate, I didn’t know anyone who was reading McLaren, even though my friends and I had recently experienced the fruits of postmodern relativism. We witnessed the complete breakdown of moral authority and heard apathetic responses to Christian truth claims when we shared the gospel. Yet we attributed these reactions not to problems with Christianity but to sinners who reject God’s grace shown through Jesus Christ.

Reformation Fever

If anything, in my limited sphere, I had seen a return to traditional Reformed theology. My friends read John Piper’s book Desiring God and learned from Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology. They wanted to study at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and sent each other e-mails when they saw good sales for the five-volume set of Charles Spurgeon sermons. Maybe that was just our little clique in Campus Crusade for Christ at Northwestern University.

Or was it? I started thinking about leading seminaries in the United States and noticed a number of Calvinists in leadership positions. I considered millions of books sold by Piper and yearly appearances he made for the popular Passion conference. Yale University Press had just released a major biography of Jonathan Edwards. Reformed theology had recently become a major point of contention in the nation’s largest Protestant body, the Southern Baptist Convention. Maybe it wasn’t just our group.

Reformed Resurgence

So I embarked on a nearly two-year journey to discover whether my experiences had been unusual or a sign of something bigger. In locales as diverse as Birmingham, Alabama, and Seattle, Washington, I visited trend-setting churches and asked young evangelicals what makes them tick. These travels provided fodder for my book Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists. I saw how these churches faithfully proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, week after week, through tragedy and triumph. Culture has conspired to give their message a wider audience. Desire for transcendence, tradition, and transformation among young evangelicals has contributed to a Reformed resurgence

To be continued.

Pastor Dad

Every dad is a pastor. The important thing is that he cares for his flock well. Pastor Mark Driscoll's new eBook offers spiritual insights on fatherhood. Get it here.