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Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists | 
 enlarge | Author: Collin Hansen
Publisher: Crossway Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 20947
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 160
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.5
ISBN: 1581349408
Dewey Decimal Number: 284.273090511
EAN: 9781581349405
ASIN: 1581349408
Publication Date: March 30, 2008
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Product Description
From places like John Piper’s den, Al Mohler’s office, and Jonathan Edwards’s college, Christianity Today journalist Collin Hansen investigates what makes today’s young Calvinists tick. Church-growth strategies and charismatic worship have fueled the bulk of evangelical growth in America for decades. While baby boomers have flocked to churches that did not look or sound like church, it seems these churches do not so broadly capture the passions of today’s twenty-something evangelicals. In fact, a desire for transcendence and tradition among young evangelicals has contributed to a Reformed resurgence. For nearly two years, Christianity Today journalist Collin Hansen visited the chief schools, churches, and conferences of this growing movement. He sought to describe its members and ask its leading pastors and theologians about the causes and implications of the Calvinist resurgence. The result, Young, Restless, Reformed, shows common threads in their diverse testimonies and suggests what tomorrow’s church might look like when these young evangelicals become pastors or professors. “Collin Hansen invites us on a voyage of discovery, learning how our restless youth are discovering anew the great doctrines of the Christian faith. Weary of churches that seek to entertain rather than teach, longing after the true meat of the Word, these young people are pursuing doctrine. Discover how God is moving among the young, the restless, and the Reformed.”
Tim Challies, author, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment; blogger at Challies.com “Young, Restless, Reformed is the product of some outstanding research. This book will help the reader gain valuable insight into the growing Reformed movement in America.”
Jerry Bridges, author of The Pursuit of Holiness “Collin Hansen has uncovered a fresh movement of young Christians for whom doctrine fuels evangelism, kindles passion, and transforms lives. Read it and rejoice.”
David Neff, editor-in-chief, Christianity Today media group “A number of strategic ministries have been quietly upholding the doctrines of grace, planting churches, seeing people converted, teaching the whole counsel of God. It is time for quiet gratitude to God and earnest intercessory prayer that what has begun well will flourish beyond all human expectation.”
D. A. Carson, Research Professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School “This lively account is must reading for ministry leaders working with young adults. A wake-up call to baby boomers to move beyond the superficial faith they taught their children and to grow with them in the knowledge and love of God.”
Douglas A. Sweeney, Associate Professor of Church History, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Informative July 17, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists Good to know there are more out there who hold to a belief that exalts God above man.
 A well researched and accessible account May 29, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This well-researched and entertaining account of Reformed theology's increasing popularity among young Christians began as a Christianity Today cover story a couple years ago. With a degree in journalism, Hansen is now editor-at-large for Christianity Today and is pursuing an M.Div. at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL.
Hansen documents the impact of several vibrant ministries that, while having significant theological differences with one another, answer with one voice on the question, "Who does what in salvation?" These ministries all contend that humans contribute no more to their second birth than they do to their first. Just as the cry of a newborn infant is evidence of new life (rather than the cause of that life), so faith in Christ is a response to the new (spiritual) life (re-)created by God the Holy Spirit (e.g., Eph. 2:1-10). Regeneration precedes faith. We love God because He first loved us. We choose Christ because God first chose us. While Hansen spends some time unpacking the "five points of Calvinism," his book is by no means polemical. Rather, through interviewing a host of rising leaders (and a fair share of regulars), he lets them explain the emotional appeal and biblical/intellectual consistency of the doctrines of grace.
Chapter one is entitled, "Born Again Again". It introduces us to the theme of the book; namely, that there seems to be a confluence of factors drawing significant numbers of young Christians to embracing at the least the basics of Reformed theology. For example, Joshua Harris is quoted as saying: "I do wonder if some of the appeal [of Calvinism] and the trend isn't a reaction to the watered down vision of God that's been portrayed in the evangelical seeker-oriented churches." The chapter includes Hansen's coverage of the 2007 Passion Conference, and particularly John Piper's presence at that 18,000+ student event. Hansen also describes his own journey toward Reformed theology.
Chapter 2 focuses more fully on the impact of John Piper and Bethlehem Baptist Church. I appreciated this chapter because Piper was instrumental in my own embrace of Calvinism in my early twenties. Also, I spent three years at Bethlehem, and it was during that time that Hansen visited, so I know a lot of the people he was talking to.
Chapter 3 shifts east to Yale University and an investigation of Jonathan Edwards, a man whose popularity is also increasing, as exemplified by the establishment of the Jonathan Edwards Center. Their ambition is to make all of Edwards' writing available in digital form (about 100,000 pages).
Chapter 4 shifts south to the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS), where the conservative resurgence has been quite friendly to Calvinism. Hansen gives a good historical sketch of the SBC with respect to Calvinism and includes a few student and faculty interviews (For a more extensive treatment, see By His Grace and For His Glory by Tom Nettles). Nearly one of every three SBTS graduates from 1998-2004 professes Calvinism. Hansen also discusses the Founders Movement and graciously interviews leading pastors who are quite uncomfortable with Calvinism's popularity. I was intrigued to learn that some have feared that disagreement on Calvinism has the potential to split the SBC.
Chapter 5 and 6 focus on Sovereign Grace Ministries and their ministry to (primarily younger) singles, New Attitude. With 70 or so churches in the United States and almost 10 around the world, the movement led by C.J. Mahaney has been tremendously significant. Chapter 7 then shifts to the west coast and Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, and the Acts 29 church-planting network. What was so interesting is that until a few years ago, Driscoll and Mahaney didn't even know each other.
The book also includes some interesting tid-bits on the Reformed blogosphere --- Hansen even gives away the visitor statistics on Tim Challies' blog. You'll have to read the book to find out. All in all, a great read. One that won't tax you too much mentally, and yet will inform you of recent developments all over the country. If (like me) you've been impacted by this movement, prepare to be encouraged.
Well done May 7, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Check out Collin Hansen's new book Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists. I've read through most of this short book in the last day or so. Hansen lets us accompany him on his tour of the Reformed hotspots in the young evangelical culture, reporting on his face-to-face interviews with both the grandfathers in the movement like John Piper and younger bloggers and campus ministry pastors. His journey spans East coast (Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland) to the West (Mars Hill Church in Seattle) with some significant stops in the Midwest (Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis) and South (Southern Seminary and Together for the Gospel in Louisville, Kentucky and the Passion Conference in Atlanta, Georgia).
Hansen interviews both proponents of the New Calvinism and critics (such as Roger Olson and Jerry Vines). While his sympathies seem to lie with the young Reformed crowd, he doesn't hesitate to discuss some of the problems with the movement. His writing is lucid and often humorous. I think the most exciting thing about this book is reading the many conversion stories. So many of the new Calvinists are former druggies, atheists, or atheological Evangelicals who wouldn't have known theology if it bit them on the nose. Then they encountered Reformed theology in some form or another and got angry. Then they read their Bibles and met a God bigger than they ever could have imagined. Now they are engaging in serious study, passionate worship, and daring evangelism.
Wherever you might fall on the theological spectrum, this is a book worth reading for those who care about the Church and its future.
Good overview of an encouraging movement May 7, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
In August of 2006 Christianity Today ran a cover story on the rising influence of Calvinism among young evangelicals. Collin Hansen, the author of the article, has now expanded his treatment of this trend into a 150-page book: Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists. Think Blue Like Jazz, but about Calvinism. Hansen travels around the country interviewing people who are influencing the "New Calvinists," from John Piper to Mark Driscoll to leaders and students at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville.
This book is interesting if you take it for what it is: not a high-level sociological study, but more a collection of anecdotal evidence for and explanation of the recent surge in Reformed theology. Hansen is right in the middle of the movement, with a story similar to many of us who identify with the New Calvinists: he grew up in a broadly evangelical context, was confronted by a more robust version of Christianity in college, and that led him eventually to embrace Calvinism (after initially rejecting it). So this is a sympathetic presentation of the movement with some good analysis from several of its leaders.
Hansen doesn't shy away from discussing some of the weaknesses of the New Calvinists, including the tendency toward hero-worship (anybody ever hear of a guy named Piper?) and the arrogance that frequently appears especially in young Calvinists. He quotes Michael Horton distinguishing between five-point Calvinism and the broader contours of Reformed theology, and gives attention to some prominent critics of Calvinism. In other words, this book is sympathetic but not a blind endorsement of everything that goes on under the name of Calvinism.
If there's a flaw to Young, Restless, Reformed, I would call it a lack of depth. But as I said before, the book doesn't claim to be a historical or sociological masterpiece. It's a series of stories chronicling a movement that's still growing in maturity and influence, and as such it's excellent. If you're sympathetic to Calvinism it will encourage you. If you're not a fan, or have no idea what a "New Calvinist" is, this is a quick and interesting read.
Fantastic read! May 2, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Hansen mixes insightful interviews with his own wit to create a unique learning experience. I've never read anything like it before and recommend it to all who enjoy learning.
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