For those of you who don’t like him–I like to think of him as a work in progress. If nothing else this video has some humor in it.

I’m very humble but thought I’d show it to those of you who struggle with pride.

I wrote about Mark Driscoll’s New Calvinism a couple of weeks ago. I’m still rather mystified. Many of the Old Calvinists are actually New ones. You can go to The Resurgence and find all the posts on the New Calvinists that he’s written about since then (which may be of interest to some of you), most of which are Old New Calvinists. So I’m wondering who the Old (but not Old New) Calvinists are.

Most of the stuff I wrote about is null and void now but as I said, there was no context to go on.

Somebody clue us in here.

I’m a relatively young New Calvinist and hope to eventually be an Old New Calvinist but not a plain Old Calvinist. Or just a respectable Reformed guy.

The blogs are starting to be lit up by Time Magazine’s listing of the ‘New Calvinism’ as the third biggest idea that is changing the world right now.

Mark Driscoll capitalized on this right away with a post on New Calvinism Versus Old Calvinism which really annoyed me. “Old” Calvinism is portrayed negatively and I think erroneously.

I have mixed feelings about Mr. Driscoll and don’t need to comment on them here (and why would anyone care). I’m only addressing his post/article here because his blog doesn’t have comments enabled.

The short version is: Did Driscoll’s Calvinist hero, Charles Spurgeon exhibit any of the negative qualities of an Old Calvinist? The answer is a definite no.

To address each point to the best of my ability realizing that I’m not the best historian or expert on Calvinism:

Old Calvinism was fundamental or liberal and separated from or syncretized with culture. New Calvinism is missional and seeks to create and redeem culture.

I don’t know about Calvin, but I know that Spurgeon smoked cigars, didn’t shy away from alcohol (although he was before the prohibition) and often preached in a theater to help people feel more comfortable in hearing his message. I suppose though this could be seen as syncretized. Is Mark Driscoll not syncretized with the culture? What’s the middle point between syncretized and separated?

The Puritans, who are almost always mis-characterized, contributed significantly to culture in a positive way.

I’m still not sure exactly what missional means other than being a hip and trendy term, but Calvin’s sermons were very evangelistic and he himself traveled to Brazil on a missionary journey against the advice of his friends. Spurgeon, George Whitefield and Jonathon Edwards heralded great revivals.

Old Calvinism fled from the cities. New Calvinism is flooding into cities.

I don’t know what this means.

Old Calvinism was cessationistic and fearful of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. New Calvinism is continuationist and joyful in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

From what I’ve read, Spurgeon had the gift of healing and there were charismatic elements to his ministry. I wouldn’t doubt that Calvinists in general are cessationists but this certainly isn’t across the board or anything dogmatic as far as I know (correct me if I’m wrong). John Piper is charismatic but he’s probably considered an old New Calvinist being mentioned in the Time Magazine article.

The Holy Spirit played a vital role in Calvinist theology but I would gather that he’s talking about a charismatic type of power here. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never thought of Calvinists as being “fearful” of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in a negative way. See The Holy Spirit and Good Works in Reformed Theology (not fully relevant but I thought I’d provide the link)

Old Calvinism was fearful and suspicious of other Christians and burned bridges. New Calvinism loves all Christians and builds bridges between them.

Again with Spurgeon and others like Whitefield, they had dear friends who weren’t Calvinists. See Spurgeon: A Defense of Calvinism (and Arminians)

I would say that there are many new or hyper-Calvinists who exhibit more of the tendencies of the “Old Calvinists” so that’s why I’m annoyed and confused by this.

I may be taking this out of context, but there is no context to go on in his short article. I’m not going to make any assumptions as to why he wrote this because I don’t know what his motives are and I can’t read his mind. I tried but I think my WiFi is interfering with the signal.

Again, I’m not addressing Driscoll himself in general here or meaning to slam him, I just felt like writing my thoughts on this.

Update: Mark Driscoll posted More Thoughts on Time Magazine and New Calvinism.

More Updates:

• Driscoll’s Confusion on “Old Calvinism” at In Light of the Gospel
• Old Calvinism or Dispensationalism? at Reformation Theology
• Driscoll’s New Calvinism by Paul Grimmond at the Sola Panel

I’ve read quite a few things that Charles Spurgeon wrote, like the Morning and Evening devotionals, some of his sermons, some of the Treasury of David etc. but not a lot about him other than little snippets here and there.

Mark Driscoll wrote four blog posts about Charles Spurgeon. This gives a good overview of Spurgeon’s life and person (in addition to learning about how Mark Driscoll wants to be like Spurgeon). See the fourth post here and you can follow the links to start with the first post.

Not that anyone would care, but here are my favorite parts. Many of his characteristics go against the grain of the stereotypical Calvinistic Baptist, even for his time, which is refreshing.

Dead guys often make the best mentors.

–Mark Driscoll

The rest are about Spurgeon:

In his day, it was widely agreed that Spurgeon had the finest collection of Puritan literature in the entire world. Also included in his personal library were volumes of literature, theology, religion, travel, biography, science, hymnody, history, and humor. Following Spurgeon’s death, his library was distributed among family members. Today, the 6,750 volumes that remained have been preserved in his memory.

Occasionally when Spurgeon prayed over the sick they were healed and many believed he had the gift of healing.

Spurgeon viewed pleasure as a gift from God and did not gravitate toward Gnosticism or asceticism in the practice of the spiritual disciplines. Rather, he enjoyed his freedom in Christ to its fullest. Though scandalous to many, he drank beer, wine, and brandy. Further, after a visiting pastor proclaimed the evils of smoking to Spurgeon’s church, he simply replied, ‘I shall go home and smoke the best cigar I have got to the glory of God.’

Among my favorite Spurgeon quips is his statement that he loved church committees and believed the ideal committee consisted of three people, two of whom stayed home.

The hyper-Calvinists in his day disdained Spurgeon for his passion for lost people to meet Jesus and his continual offering of the gospel of grace to the masses, which led to the baptism of 14,692 converts during his ministry. Despite much mean-spirited opposition, Spurgeon never shied away from calling all people to repentance and used unconventional means, such as meeting in a public theater (not a church) and preaching from a stage (not a raised pulpit), in an effort to be more culturally relevant with his ministry style.

What has come to be known as the Downgrade Controversy ultimately led to Spurgeon being kicked out of his own Baptist denomination for his unwillingness to stop teaching such things as eternal torment in a literal hell, the literal truthfulness of Scripture, a literal creation by God, and the perfection and divine inspiration of Scripture.

What is your favorite Spurgeon biography?