Young, Restless, and Reformed — Five Years Later

Five years ago this month journalist Collin Hansen published his first book: Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists (Crossway, 2008). True to its title, the book is a travelogue of Collin’s journey across the country documenting a surging movement called New Calvinism by some, and Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR) by others, a title he coined himself. Collin’s hunches about the new movement were confirmed in 2009 when Time Magazine named “New Calvinism” as one of its “10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now.”

But it’s been five years since the release of his book, and YRR has undergone quite a lot of change in those years. What have been the biggest changes and the biggest surprises? Where is the movement now? And what dangers lie ahead?

We put Collin Hansen on the line to ask him those questions and more. He lives in Birmingham and serves as the editorial director for The Gospel Coalition. In the midst of preparing for the TGC National Conference in Orlando this month, he took time for this 30-minute interview.

To listen to our conversation, subscribe to the Authors on the Line podcast in iTunes here. Download the mp3 here (21.9 MB). Or listen from the resource page through the following link:

Young, Restless, and Reformed Five Years Later: An Interview with Collin Hansen (30 Minutes)   HT: Desiring God

How to Win the Public on Homosexuality

President Obama's support for same-sex marriage is making headlines but not news. That's probably because he was in favor of same-sex marriage before he was against it and now in favor of it again. Campaigning in 1996 for state senate in Illinois, Obama said in a typed statement, "I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages." Running for statewide and then national office apparently changed his perspective, at least temporarily.

But there's another reason much of the country has shrugged off no-news headlines about the culmination of President Obama's "evolution": 50 percent of Americans now agree with him. In the last 16 years, support for same-sex marriage has nearly doubled. Gallup shows an increase in support from just 27 percent in 1996 to a high of 53 percent in 2011 and now 50 percent in 2012. Since 1996, Christians have debated homosexuality almost non-stop, and several Protestant denominations have reached the same conclusion as Obama. He told ABC's Robin Roberts today:

In the end the values that I care most deeply about, and [Michelle Obama] cares most deeply about, is how we treat other people and, you know, I, you know, we are both practicing Christians, and obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others but, you know, when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it's also the Golden Rule, you know, treat others the way you would want to be treated.  Continue at Collin Hansen

SEE ALSO:

The President and Gay Marriage: The Truth at Last 

President Obama’s Scriptural Defense of Gay Marriage

 

 

The Nameless One

Over the last few months, I have been asked in numerous contexts what I think about the young, restless and reformed (YRR) movement(s) described in Collin Hansen's book of the same name.  I did do a quasi -review of this book some time ago, in which I argued that the existence of the movement seemed to indicate that all the hype surrounding the emergent business was probably overwrought and that there was no need for complete panic in Reformed circles.
 
In retrospect, however, there are a number of things which should give some cause for critical reflection on this new interest in Reformed theology.  Let me preface this by saying that the more people reading the Bible, the better, as far as I am concerned; the more people going to church and hearing the gospel preached, the more we should all be rejoicing; and the more people studying the writings of  Calvin, Owen and company, the happier we should all be.  Only the modern day equivalents of the Scottish Moderates of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries would grumble and complain that more people are spending more time hearing more sermons, reading more scripture and studying more classic Christian literature.  But just because a movement has good effects does not mean that we should be blind to its shortcomings and potential pitfalls.

One striking and worrying aspect of the movement is how personality oriented it is.  It is identified with certain big names, rather than creeds, confessions, denominations, or even local congregations.    Such has always been the way with Christianity to some extent.  Luther was a hero, both in his own time and for subsequent generations, and he is hardly alone.  The names of Owen, Edwards, and Spurgeon, to list but three, also have great cachet; and, if we are honest, there are things which we all find in their writing which are scarcely unique to them but which we are inclined to take more seriously because it is these men who wrote the words on the page.  Continue at Carl Trueman

Warning Passages Ahead

The Book of Hebrews daunts even the most gifted preachers and scholars. For one thing, we don't know the author. He quotes the Old Testament at length and repeatedly, but his method of interpreting these passages doesn't always make sense to readers. His arguments about angels, Moses, and the temple require more than cursory understanding of the Hebrew Bible.

And then there are the so-called warning passages. It might be hard at first to grasp the significance of the priest Melchizedek, but many Christians viscerally understand the practical importance of these warnings. Can I lose my faith? What if I doubt? Fail to overcome sin?

To answer these questions and more, I turned to the acclaimed scholar Peter O'Brien, professor emeritus at Moore College in Sydney, Australia. Many who have studied Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians have benefited from his rich, insightful, and faithful commentaries. He has also written an immensely helpful commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews. He draws on some of that study to help us understand the famous warning passages in their immediate and canonical context.

Some Reformed teachers find it hard to teach the five warning passages of Hebrews (2:1-4; 3:7-4:13; 5:11-6:12; 10:19-39; 12:14-29). How do we reconcile our theology with what appears to many to be the plain meaning of these passages, that believers can lose their faith?  Keep Reading >>>

Whither YRR?

Tis the end of the year, the time to reflect on what has been and what may be. For several months I’ve been pondering a post on this thing that’s been called Young, Restless, and Reformed. What’s good? What’s bad? What needs to be celebrated? What needs to addressed?

For starters, it may be time to retire the name. As you may know, “Young, Restless, Reformed” was the title Collin Hansen gave to his Christianity Today article on the first Together for the Gospel conference in 2006. Subsequently, Collin penned a fine book with the same title. I stole the title for my blog (because “DeYoung” fit so nicely into his phrase). To this day I meet people who swear that I wrote the book Young, Restless, and Reformed. Even when I promise them I didn’t, they insist that I must have. Sorry Collin.

I think the phrase was quite clever. It had alliteration. It played off of pop culture (The Young and the Restless). And it captured a mood: young Christians eager to embrace this new found wonder of deep theology about a big, sovereign God. But, over time, people have wondered whether the young are getting older, whether the restless should settle down, and whether Calvinist soteriology is the same as Reformed. So the name doesn’t work for everyone.  Keep Reading >>>

See also: The New Calvinism Considered

Mission Critical

Your church cannot do everything that everyone wants it to do. Some requests are simply impossible to fulfill; others would be inappropriate. Church leaders turn to God's Word as our guide in prioritizing how we spend limited time, treasure, and talent.

This is some of what I've learned while discussing these issues with Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert, authors of What Is the Mission of the Church? It's also what I've seen while serving in churches seeking to do good in their communities. In my experience, churches unclear about their mission from God spend much time talking about everything they should do and exasperate over how little they can actually accomplish.

Even so, healthy churches will disagree about how exactly to serve their different communities, and some may engage in activities that make others uncomfortable. At least within The Gospel Coalition's fellowship of churches, that's a healthy debate we're happy to facilitate. TGC's Theological Vision for Ministry, a consensus document for Council members, explains their unswerving commitment to seek justice while leaving room for diverse applications.  Keep Reading>>>

Young, Restless, Reformed: "Hip, Hip, Hurrah!" or "Bah Humbug!"

Young, Restless, Reformed is “a journalist’s journey with the new Calvinists.” Collin Hansen, an editor for Christianity Today describes the contemporary resurgence of Reformed theology, particularly among young evangelicals. The book consists largely of interviews with young people who have been drawn to Calvinism and the leaders whom God has used to foster the resurgence. In particular, Hansen devotes the bulk of his attention on the ministries of John Piper, Albert Mohler, C. J. Mahaney, and Mark Driscoll. He also devotes one entire chapter to the renewed interest in a dead pastor-theologian, Jonathan Edwards. Moreover, Hansen highlights important events such as The Passion Conference, Together for the Gospel, and New Attitude, as well as college campus ministries like Reformed University Fellowship, Campus Outreach, and University Christian Fellowship. My purpose is not to provide an extended review of the book. Several such reviews can be googled online. Instead, I’d like to reflect briefly on some of the responses to the book, especially from those within the Reformed camp.

Most responses to the book have been overwhelmingly positive. The back cover features accolades from the well-known blogger Tim Challies, author Jerry Bridges, NT scholar Donald Carson, and church historian Douglas Sweeney. When I posted this blog, there were 31 reviews in Amazon.com, 29 of which give the book 4 to 5 stars. After a thorough review, British Reformed Baptist Erroll Hulse queries, “Criticisms?” and tersely responds, “No!” The only weak spot Tim Challies finds is that the book’s “focus is more on today than on yesterday and tomorrow.” He wishes Hansen would have given a bit more time on “how this movement grew” and on “where it might be going.” Challies concedes, however, that the author’s narrow scope probably precluded such an analysis.   Keep Reading >>>

Rise and Fall of an Evangelical Empire

I don't recall which clue first warned me about the problems with this church. Books by Jesus Seminar heavyweights Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan rested near the front of the ornate sanctuary, ready to explain for visitors why Jesus' resurrection was a myth. Rainbow flags signaled this is an "open and affirming" congregation for practicing homosexuals. Perhaps it is no coincidence the church baptized only two children in the last year. Sunday attendance has never topped 100 so far in 2011, though the facility could seat far more.

Even after observing all these worrisome clues, however, I was still taken aback by what I saw on the church's basement bookshelf. Not one but two copies of the New World Translation of the Bible lurked to lure in unsuspecting readers. Do the church leaders not know the Jehovah's Witnesses twist God's Word to recruit for their cult? Or do these leaders just not care? Seeing these blasphemous Bibles in a church took me back to a painful time when I learned that a United Methodist seminary had kicked out a young Anglican congregation meeting in their space and welcomed the Mormons in their place. Apparently it's not enough for liberal Protestants to reject orthodoxy. Some must also welcome heterodoxy.    Keep Reading...

Grow Up. Settle Down. Keep Reforming. Advice for the Young, Restless, Reformed

It has been five years since Christianity Today published Collin Hansen’s article titled “Young, Restless, Reformed.” Hansen later expanded the article into a book with the same title (Wheaton: Crossway, 2008). He has carefully documented a very encouraging trend: large numbers of young people (college age and younger) are discovering the doctrines of grace, embracing a more biblical and Christ-centered worldview, and beginning to delve more deeply into serious theology than most 20^th-century evangelicals were prone to do.

In short, Calvinism, not postmodernism, seems to be capturing the hearts of Christian young people.

Hansen cites evidence that Calvinistic seminaries are growing. Several new national conferences feature speakers committed to reformed soteriology (R.C. Sproul, John Piper, Al Mohler, Mark Dever, and others)—and these conferences are consistently full to overflowing with students. Books rich with meaty doctrinal content rather than relational fluff have begun to show up on Christian best-seller lists. There is even a surge of interest in Jonathan Edwards.

Hansen’s original article gave some definition and a name to this developing movement. That article finally brought attention to a powerful trend that theretofore had been all but ignored by Christianity Today’s editors. (They had been preoccupied for a decade or more with Emergent and postmodern fads, open theism, and various currents drifting in a totally different direction.) But (in Hansen’s words): “While the Emergent ‘conversation’ gets a lot of press for its appeal to the young, the new Reformed movement [is arguably] a larger and more pervasive phenomenon [with] a much stronger institutional base.” Keep Reading...

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The Cult of Self-Esteem is Ruining our Kids

“Your kids will fail. This is both inevitable and also necessary. Apparently not many parents today want to hear this uncomfortable fact. And they certainly don’t want to implement it in how they discipline their children. Writing the cover story for The Atlantic’s July/August issue, therapist Lori Gottlieb alerts us that the cult of self-esteem is ruining our kids. Convinced they are the center of the universe and capable of anything, our children have become insufferable narcissists. Then, when these kids grow up and fail, as they must, they head for the nearest therapist, worried their lives have gone horribly wrong.” Gottlieb writes:

[R]ates of anxiety and depression have also risen in tandem with self-esteem. Why is this? “Narcissists are happy when they’re younger, because they’re the center of the universe,” [psychology professor Jean] Twenge explains. “Their parents act like their servants, shuttling them to any activity they choose and catering to their every desire. Parents are constantly telling their children how special and talented they are. This gives them an inflated view of their specialness compared to other human beings. Instead of feeling good about themselves, they feel better than everyone else.” Continue reading….

Better Than Any Fish Story: Tchividjian on the Gospel in Jonah

We’re accustomed to describing the book of Jonah as that book about the guy who survived three days in a big fish. What if we began to understand it as a remarkable testimony to God’s extravagant, persevering grace, supremely demonstrated in the gospel of Jesus Christ? That’s what Tullian Tchividjian, senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, helps us see through his book Surprised By Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels. As part of The Gospel Coalition’s commitment to Preaching Christ in the Old Testament, I corresponded with Tchividjian about how he sees Jesus in a fish tale.

Why do you say Jonah is one of the best books for helping us get a better grip on the gospel?

Surprised by Grace started out as a series of sermons on Jonah that I preached during the hardest year of my life. Preparing those sermons and preaching them proved to be a functional lifeline for me, not because of things I learned about Jonah (everything we learn about Jonah we learn by way of negative example), but because of things I learned about God’s amazing, sustaining, pursuing grace. Keep Reading>>>

First Great Awakening: America in the 1730s to 1740s

Evangelist George Whitefield toured Benjamin Franklin’s Philadelphia in 1739 following a stint in Ireland. As in Whitefield’s native England, Philadelphia ministers barred the famed preacher from using their pulpits. So Whitefield took his message about the new birth directly to the masses, preaching in fields and town squares—wherever an audience gathered. 

Revival despite differences

The huge, diverse crowds that turned out to hear Whitefield impressed Franklin. The future founding father of the United States never actually believed what Whitefield preached, that sinners must be born again by believing in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross and resurrected from the dead. He marveled at how the crowds agreed with what Whitefield preached, “notwithstanding his common abuse of them, by assuring them they were naturally half beasts and half devils.” He might not have approved of the message about man’s depravity, but Franklin couldn’t deny the evidence of revival that accompanied Whitefield’s visit.  Continue Reading>>>

The Scandal of Pagans Leading Worship

Collin Hansen has a fascinating series of interviews on the Gospel Coalition today asking a variety of pastors whether they allow those who make no Christian profession, who regard themselves as non-Christians, non-believers, those we used to call “heathen” or “pagans” to lead worship through leading or playing musical instruments. The responses vary from yes (Scotty Smith, a PCA pastor), to “No” (Mike Cosper, and Jonathan Leeman), and “maybe” (Zach Nielsen). This discussion was stimulated by a post by Bob Kauflin. Collin draws attention to the arguments made by Tim Keller (a PCA pastor) in favor of including self-identified non-Christians “in our services” in musical ensembles on the grounds that it fits with Redeemer’s version of the “Reformed world and life view.” Continue Reading>>>

What is Driving the Resurgence of Reformed Theology in Evangelicalism?

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Death Penalty for Evangelism

The Evangelical Reformed Movement: A Comeback

Devaluing Dads, Discrediting the Father