Letters to a Young Calvinist , livre ebook

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56 pages

English

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Who would have guessed that something as austere as Calvinism would become a hot topic in today's postmodern culture? At the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth, new generations have discovered and embraced a "New Calvinism," finding in the Reformed tradition a rich theological vision. In fact, Time cited New Calvinism as one of "10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now." This book provides pastoral and theological counsel, inviting converts to this tradition to find in Calvin a vision that's even bigger than the New Calvinism might suggest. Offering wisdom at the intersection of theology and culture, noted Reformed philosopher James K. A. Smith also provides pastoral caution about pride and maturity. The creative letter format invites young Calvinists into a faithful conversation that reaches back to Paul and Augustine, through Calvin and Edwards, extending to Kuyper and Wolterstorff. Together they sketch a comprehensive vision of Calvinism that is generous, winsome, and imaginative.

Sujets

Calvinist

Philosophie et théologie

Calvinism

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	01 novembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781441213730
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0432€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2010 by James K. A. Smith
Published by Brazos Press a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.brazospress.com
Ebook edition created 2010
Ebook corrections 03.26.2018
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4412-1373-0
Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture quotations from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson are copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations identified NASB are from the New American Standard Bible®, copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
Dedication
For David, Frank, Myra, Sherryl, Carlos, Cheryl, and Danny

This I pray, that your love might increase more and more in knowledge and true discernment, so that you might discover the things that really matter, in order to be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.
Philippians 1:9–10 (author’s translation)
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Introduction
LETTER I Welcome to the Family
LETTER II On Religious Pride
LETTER III Proud to Be a Calvinist?
LETTER IV Grace All the Way Down
LETTER V God Owes Us Nothing
LETTER VI God Doesn’t Even Owe Us an Answer
LETTER VII Semper Reformanda
Postcard from Geneva
LETTER VIII A Historical Tour of Reformed Theology
LETTER IX Augustine, Patron Saint of the Reformers
Postcard from Princeton
LETTER X To Be Reformed Is to Be Catholic
LETTER XI On Being “Confessional”
LETTER XII Beyond Westminster
LETTER XIII God’s “Social” Gospel
LETTER XIV Our Promise-Keeping God
Postcard from Amsterdam
LETTER XV Elected to Love
LETTER XVI Church Matters
LETTER XVII Too Reformed for Church?
Postcard from Seoul
LETTER XVIII On Grumpy Speculations
LETTER XIX Wide-Angle Calvinism
LETTER XX Far as the Curse Is Found
LETTER XXI What Are We Saved For?
LETTER XXII Bibliographical Providence
LETTER XXIII Enjoying God by Enjoying Creation
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Back Cover
Introduction
Who would have guessed that in our postmodern culture something as austere as Calvinism would be both hip and hot? Quite apart from the five-hundredth anniversary of John Calvin’s birth in 2009, over the past several years what has been described as the “new Calvinism” has generated increasing interest and devotees — chronicled most fully in Collin Hansen’s journalistic account, Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists . Associated with noted pastors such as John Piper and Mark Driscoll—as well as scholars such as Al Mohler and D. A. Carson—attention to the new Calvinism reached a crescendo when Time magazine, in an admittedly curious claim, designated it as one of the “Ten Ideas Changing the World Right Now” (March 12, 2009).
I experienced some of this newfound interest in Calvinism in an unlikely place: an Assemblies of God church in inner-city Los Angeles. While my wife and I served as directors of the college and career ministry at Del Aire Assembly of God in Hawthorne, California (which is a long way from Bel Air, just to clarify!), I witnessed an increasing hunger for rigorous theological reflection amongst the (mostly Latino/a) twenty-somethings in our group. Looking to develop Christian minds with theological depth, and casting about for an intellectual tradition they couldn’t find in their Pentecostal heritage, these young people, not surprisingly, were attracted to the riches of the Reformed tradition. Anecdotally, this seems to be a common trajectory for many evangelicals.
Indeed, this is my own story. I was converted and formed through an evangelical tradition marked by a strange kind of biblicist yet antitheological atmosphere that engendered a generally anti-intellectual ethos. But then I discovered the Reformed tradition of “Old Princeton” while in Bible college—the rich theological heritage of Princeton Theological Seminary in the nineteenth century (helpfully outlined in Mark Noll’s anthology, The Princeton Theology ). I can still remember an all-nighter that I spent immersed in the works of Charles Hodge, B. B. Warfield, and W. G. T. Shedd. I drank in their wisdom and erudition with an almost giddy sense of excitement and renewal, constantly whispering to myself, “Where have you been my whole life?” It was as if I had finally discovered why I had a brain.
Having dived into this deep river of theological reflection, it didn’t take long for me to begin devouring the work of more contemporary authors such as Francis Schaeffer, J. I. Packer, and John Piper, who in turn pointed me back to giants like Augustine, John Calvin, John Owen, and Jonathan Edwards. In the Reformed tradition I found a home I’ve never left, even if I might now spend most of my time in other rooms of this sprawling estate that is “Calvinism.”
However, in looking back at the enthusiasm of my younger, newly Calvinist self, I also cringe at the rough edges of my spiritual hubris—an especially ugly vice. The simple devotion of my brothers and sisters became an occasion for derision, and I spent an inordinate amount of time pointing out the error of their (“Arminian”) ways. How strange that discovering the doctrines of grace should translate into haughty self-confidence and a notable lack of charity. I had become a caricature of the unforgiving servant in Jesus’s parable (Matt. 18:23–35). At times, I saw creeping versions of the same pride in these young folks I spent time with in Los Angeles—an arrogance I understood but also abhorred. And in this particular case, there seemed to be something in their Calvinism that gave comfort to wider cultural notions of machismo that did not reflect the radical grace and mercy of the gospel. Calvinism became a sophisticated theological justification for patriarchal attitudes and practices. The collective shape of the “Calvinism” they had found was not pretty—and certainly not a winsome witness to God’s coming kingdom. I sometimes encounter the same in the “new Calvinists” I bump into.
Looking back at my own enthusiastic induction into Calvinism, I can see another unfortunate aspect that often seems to characterize the “new Calvinism”: my fascination with the Reformed tradition was largely truncated, fixated on issues of election and predestination and on parsing the arcane aspects of the acronym TULIP, which claimed to capture the so-called five points of Calvinism: total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistable grace, and the perseverance (or preservation) of the saints. And while that fixation seemed to come with a swagger and confidence that was quick to dismiss other Christian traditions, it also failed to really plumb the depths of the Reformed tradition itself. If we imagine the Reformed tradition as a great, sprawling mansion, it was as if I entered through the door of “Calvinism” into an ornate foyer, but then became so fascinated with that particular room that I never ventured into other rooms. When you’ve spent time wandering through the wonders of the Biltmore Estate, the bedazzlement of the foyer is put in context. (The title of Daniyal Mueenuddin’s story collection, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders , seems suggestive in this respect.) Only later was I invited (well, pushed!) into other rooms where I began to appreciate the full richness not just of Calvinism but of the wider Reformed tradition.
These letters are meant to be just such an invitation. The “Jesse” to whom they are addressed is an amalgam of those young men and women from Los Angeles who re-energized my own interest in, and appreciation of, Calvin and Edwards and Kuyper. But “Jesse” is also a bit of a stand-in for my younger self, such that, in an important sense, these are a collection of letters to myself—not just what I wish I’d known then, but also the counsel I wish someone had offered me. They are, I hope, first and foremost pastoral. At least, that was their origin—the concern and counsel of a mentor and friend to a young person beginning to tread water in this deep river. The letters don’t at all pretend to be a comprehensive introduction to the Reformed tradition, but I do hope they offer a certain “education” in the sense of Friedrich Schiller’s Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man : the process of inviting and inducting someone into a tradition by meeting them where they are and then walking alongside them. To stick with our mansion metaphor, then, I hope these are the letters of an enthusiastic tour guide—or maybe even the letters of a longtime resident of this great estate that is “Calvinism”—who is eager to show a new visitor the riches of the mansion that might otherwise have remained hidden and unappreciated.
But the interest and concern of these letters is not just theological information; it is also spiritual formation. I hope the letters reflect a pedagogical process of growth, slowly walking the reader from room to room without rushing too quickly. As such, it is important that the letters be read in order, since each letter presumes a context and an ongoing conversation. I imagine the reader being in a certain place, at a certain starting point. So these letters don’t offer an apologetic defense of Calvinism, trying to defend it against all comers; rather, I