Calvinism finds new life

By R. Wayne Hagerman and ChristianWeek | January 12, 2011

The Reformed tradition, insists James Smith, is experiencing a resurgence of popularity among younger Christians in the 21st century Church, who, by his estimation, want more biblical depth and theological engagement. Smith asks, Who would have guessed that in our postmodern culture something as austere as Calvinism would be both hip and hot?"

Stranger still is where Smith says he has encountered this newfound interest: an Assemblies of God church in inner-city Los Angeles. Because their hunger for theological depth and intellectual stimulation could not be satisfied in their own tradition, they were attracted to the riches of Reformed tradition." Smith says this seems to be the common trajectory for many evangelicals."

This common trajectory" forms the underlying premise of this book, although it seems to be quite a stretch in our post-postmodern Christian culture in Canada. Smith does not spend much time defending his proposal, except to describe his own pilgrimage from conversion and formation through an evangelical tradition marked by a strange kind of biblicist yet anti-theological atmosphere that engendered a generally anti-intellectual ethos," to his discovery of the Reformed tradition of 'Old Princeton'" which led him to finally discover why I had a brain."

For those who do not hold to a Reformed Calvinist tradition, the opening salvo of this book could deter one from reading the rest of it, which actually is quite engaging. The book is a series of letters written by Smith to a fictitious friend, whom he admits could easily be himself at a younger age, with a less temperate demeanor in his apologetic defense of Calvinism. He envisions these letters as little brochures spreading the news about the journey," of believers into the Reformed tradition.

However, this is not an invitation extended to everyone. One must have a firm grasp of Reformed theology and Calvinistic dogma to begin with, otherwise the terminology and theories proposed will not be easily grasped in this short discourse.

What Smith is really attempting is to convince Calvinists to be kinder, gentler, a little more gracious in their encounters with those who do not hold to the Reformed tradition. But if he wishes to accomplish this, he will need to update his language for those living in a post-postmodern Christian culture. Otherwise, this sounds like a book for the 19th or early 20th century.