It is surprisingly difficult to find a list of Christian books that have been released in any given month—especially if you want that list to be filtered by books released through particular publishers. That’s one of the reasons why I close each month by coming up with my list of New and Notable books. I comb through what I’ve received in the past month (and scour all the publishers’ websites) to come up with a list of titles that are interesting to me—and may just be interesting to you. Here are my picks for April. In each case I’ve included the publisher’s description.

Heavenward: How Eternity Can Change Your Life on Earth by Cameron Cole. “Though they’re destined for eternal glory, many Christians languish in earthly mindedness. Having never set their sights on things above, they lack hope in adversity and vibrancy in their faith. Where can believers find joy and inspiration for everyday life? It’s in the already-and-not-yet reality of heaven. Following the unexpected loss of his firstborn child, pastor Cameron Cole’s daily focus shifted drastically heavenward. He discovered that an intentional eternal mindset can bring meaning and joy to every Christian’s life. In this heartfelt, theologically rich book, Cole draws from his personal story of grief, the apostle Paul’s letters, and the examples of believers throughout history to demonstrate how heavenly mindedness fosters contentment, hope in suffering, motivation for missions and evangelism, commitment to morality and ethics, and no fear in death.” (Amazon)

Systematic Theology, Volume 1: From Canon to Concept by Stephen J Wellum. “Trinitarian, reformational, and baptistic, Stephen Wellum’s Systematic Theology models a serious evangelical engagement with the Scriptures while being grounded in church history and keenly aware of contemporary issues. Building on decades of research, Wellum formulates doctrine exegetically, covenantally, and canonically for a new generation of students, pastors, church leaders, and seasoned theologians.” Tom Schreiner says of it, “Steve Wellum is one of the most astute and brilliant theologians of our day and now we are treated to his magnum opus. This volume is a profound systematic theology that draws on biblical theology, historical theology, and philosophy in formulating a coherent and articulate presentation of Christian doctrine. In my mind no one has done this better today than Steve Wellum. He emphasizes that systematic theology is practical—it is theology applied to all of life. We all live, whether we know it or not, based on our systematic theology. Thus, this is a life-changing book that is a must read both for the academy and for the church.” (Amazon, Westminster Books)

Peace Over Perfection: Enjoying a Good God When You Feel You’re Never Good Enough by Faith Chang. “Many Christians, often without even realizing it, struggle with a type of Christian perfectionism. We strive to please God but are plagued with anxiety about making mistakes. We want to do God’s will but live with a self-berating inner voice even as we seek to serve him. We sincerely believe the gospel and love Jesus but struggle with never feeling good enough before God. How can Christians wholeheartedly pursue God without an undercurrent of guilt, fear or anxiety? How can imperfect people experience God’s peace while seeking to obey his perfect standards? Author Faith Chang addresses the struggles of her fellow ‘Christian perfectionists’ through meditations on God’s character. With nuance and care, she writes for those who seek to grow in Christ and live for God’s glory yet live in fear of failure. She explores the Bible to show that as God deals with us as in-process people, he is far more merciful, righteous and patient than we may have imagined. As we consider how he interacts bountifully with us, the weary and scrupulous Christian perfectionist will be freed to pursue God while experiencing his love and peace.” (Amazon, Westminster Books)

Perfect Unity: A Guide for Christian Doctrine and Life by Ralph Cunnington. “The world is tearing itself apart over identity politics. What is the answer? Recognizing that two things can be distinct yet inseparable. This concept—rooted in the writings of Augustine, John Calvin, and others—is in fact key to understanding some of the most precious truths about God, humanity, and salvation. Written to Christians of all ages and backgrounds, Ralph Cunnington’s systematic guide to Christian truth presents a challenging, orthodox message that is desperately needed today.” Sinclair Ferguson says of it, “Ralph Cunnington skillfully shows us that when it comes to the Christian faith, there is a loose thread that is worth pulling. Why? Because this thread will help us appreciate how beautifully God has woven the gospel. … Intrigued? Then read on!” (Amazon, Westminster Books)

Biblical Typology: How the Old Testament Points to Christ, His Church, and the Consummation by Vern S. Poythress. “Believers read Scripture to follow Christ and deepen their relationship with him. But since a majority of the Bible was written before Jesus’s life and death on the cross, many people rely on the Old Testament for historical context and moral guidance alone. However, when studied in detail, we see how even the Old Testament reveals Christ as the center of God’s plan for redemption. Biblical Typology examines how the Old Testament foreshadows Christ, the church, and the consummation through types—or symbols—pointing toward fulfillment. Well-known for his academic yet accessible writing, Vern S. Poythress not only provides examples of types and analogies found in God’s word but also teaches readers a practical framework and diagram for effectively examining them throughout Scripture. Readers will learn how to identify and interpret biblical typology for themselves as they deepen their understanding of the Bible and the wisdom of God.” (Amazon, Westminster Books)

Choose Better: Five Biblical Models for Making Ethical Decisions by T. David Gordon. “How do we know if we’re making the best choices possible? Over the centuries, Christians in different traditions have distilled scriptural guidance into five models for ethical decision-making. Memorable and biblical, profound and practical, these models give us clear questions to ask in every situation. They help us not only to improve our own choices but to better understand the choices of fellow believers—especially when they differ from ours. Honed over years of teaching and supplemented by discussion questions, the contents of this short book will equip you to think biblically and choose better.” (Amazon, Westminster Books)

The (Not-So-Secret) Secret to Reaching the Next Generation by Kevin DeYoung. “Church leaders are continuously concerned they might lose the next generation of faithful believers. They’ve scoured for practical and effective ways to disciple young Christians, often resorting to adopting new and exciting programs, emotional appeals, or mere moralism. However helpful these attempts are, they all too often lack one critical element—Christ. In this concise booklet, bestselling author Kevin DeYoung presents 5 Christlike ways to effectively communicate the Christian faith and practice with the next generation. DeYoung reminds leaders that they won’t ultimately impact young hearts with cleverness, humor, or good looks but by walking with Jesus and following his ways—grab them with passion, win them with love, hold them with holiness, challenge them with truth, and amaze them with God.” (Amazon, Westminster Books)

All the Genealogies of the Bible: Visual Charts and Exegetical Commentary by Nancy Dawson. This one actually came out a few months ago, but I only just received a review copy. What a neat resource! “The Bible contains hundreds of genealogies that fulfill multiple purposes, yet the significance of these genealogies can admittedly be difficult to grasp. In All the Genealogies of the Bible, author Nancy presents every genealogy in the Bible in a simple, visual format. Esteemed biblical scholars Eugene Merrill and Andreas Kostenberger supplement Dawson’s work with brief commentary on each genealogy. Dawson works with both complete genealogies and partial lists, piecing together names in different passages to illustrate the interrelationships of various biblical characters for deeper study. Including more than 340 genealogies, All the Genealogies of the Bible is organized in biblical order and is equipped with tools you’ll need to navigate the book easily. A one-of-a-kind reference work, All the Genealogies of the Bible will be useful for pastors, Bible teachers, students, and anyone wanting to study the Bible more deeply from the unique vantage point of its many genealogies.” (Amazon)

You Are Not Forgotten: Discovering the God Who Sees the Overlooked and Disregarded by Christine Hoover. “Have you ever felt forgotten, disregarded, wounded, invisible, or invalidated by others? Do you ever experience the pain and anger of feeling unseen? Has this left you wondering if you’re truly worthy of being acknowledged, listened to, and loved? Oftentimes, when we are in this place, we turn toward God with soul-wrenching questions: Where are you, God? Have you forgotten me? Are you paying attention to what is happening to me? Can I trust that you will act on my behalf? If you’ve asked these questions, you are not alone. Author and Bible teacher Christine Hoover has asked these questions too, and she’s found that none of us are the first to feel overlooked or forgotten—and yet God has always been a ‘God Who Sees.’ In fact, it was a woman named Hagar in the Bible, alone in her desperate wilderness, who first spoke this particular name for God. Her story along with others in Scripture reveal that God not only looks upon us when others disregard us, He looks after us.” (Amazon)

Never Shaken: Finding Your Footing When the World is Sliding Away by Daniel Henderson. “Do you feel tossed about or a little disoriented? The foundations of predictable society are shifting. In this ambiguous cultural forecast, we’re wondering what’s right, what matters most, and how we should respond. How do we build a meaningful life and legacy when our lives feel fragile—when our future seems discouragingly uncertain? With a pastoral heart Daniel Henderson looks to Psalm 15 when David—late in his years—was also trying to make sense of the strangest of times. David felt the unexpected loss of family, dignity, and destiny. Some of his pain was the result of seeds he’d sown earlier in his life. Yet, as he penned Psalm 15, he was led to the solid ground of intimacy with God and integrity in his own life. He was left with the promise from God that He would always be secure – never moved. The burdens under which David was laboring are staggeringly similar to our own. In Never Shaken, Henderson shows us how to build our lives on the gospel of Jesus Christ. He reveals how true worship and the presence of God is found in Christ’s life in and through us. This book is an invaluable resource for all who desire to live with the hope and courage of Jesus Christ no matter what befalls us.” (Amazon)

A Mother Held: Essays on Anxiety and Motherhood by Lara d’Entremont. “Can we trust God to care for us and our helpless babies just as much as we do, especially when he allows the turmoil of this world? When Lara became a mother, she thought she was losing her mind—literally. As she faced paranoia, panic attacks, intrusive thoughts, and obsessive compulsions, she viewed her life as the chaotic mess of a person pushed away by God and held under his stern gaze. She believed in God, but feared that he viewed her a burdensome child with too many problems. As she sought to care for her infants through various valleys of suffering, she struggled to trust God’s mighty hand that turned the tides of her life. In this collection of essays, Lara leads her reader through her battle with anxiety and the early days of motherhood—not to show the world her own perseverance or to draw their pity, but to cast their gaze to the One who carried her. In this collection of creative essays, Lara never strives to answer the “why?” to our cries, but displays the sovereignty and goodness of our Heavenly Father, both when our greatest joys and worst of fears come true. In each story, Lara leads her reader through her battle with anxiety and the early days of motherhood—not to show the world her own perseverance or to draw their pity, but to cast their gaze to the One who carried her through it all.” (Buy it at Amazon)

I was intrigued by Aaron Renn’s recent article The Maturation of New Calvinism. His thesis is that “New Calvinism has shifted from an ‘All-Star team’ model designed to exert influence over the broader evangelical world to a post-superstar model that primarily serves its own community. This represents the maturity of the movement, perhaps putting it on a sustainable footing for the future.” And what is that future? He believes it’s a future of being a subculture within broader evangelicalism rather than being what it may have once aspired to—a gatekeeper or shaper of evangelicalism. Its particular subculture is made up of “educated strivers in urban centers, college towns, and professional class suburbs.” Renn believes that New Calvinism would do well to simply embrace and serve this narrow but significant demographic rather than attempting to reach far beyond it.

All Stars

Renn points out rightly that many of the “all-stars” who were first associated with the movement, who took a leading role in it, and whose ministries drew many people to it have now died (e.g. R.C. Sproul, Tim Keller), retired (e.g. John Piper—from local church ministry, at least), or moved on (e.g. Mark Driscoll). It is certainly true that the movement does not have the same kind of “statesmen” it did in the heady days of the first Together for the Gospel. By and large, these leaders have not been replaced by younger alternatives whose voices reach far into broader evangelicalism. While this new reality means the movement is not drawing as many people as it once did, Renn believes this is actually a positive development as it ultimately offers greater stability and viability.

Taking my cue from Renn, I want to share a few of my thoughts and recollections about the early days of the movement and consider what its future may be.

Beginnings

I have no knowledge of anyone who was deliberately trying to manufacture a new wave of Calvinists around the turn of the century. Thus, I have understood the New Calvinism to have begun in a kind of spontaneous and decentralized way—a way that was unique to the early days of the internet but repeated across a host of interests, hobbies, subcultures, and even religions.

While there may have been many background factors, an especially important one was this: A lot of people in Western contexts found themselves restless in their traditional churches or church growth churches. They were looking for an alternative that promised something more—more than the triteness of church growth philosophies and more than the deadness of certain traditional churches. Some took the route of the Emerging Church and gravitated toward theological liberalism. Some took the route of the New Calvinism and gravitated toward theological conservatism.

In my understanding, then, this movement began on a peer level with people passing along sermons, books, and articles and forming online communities through the early forms of social media—forums and blogs. (Remember: at this time there was no YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or podcasts.) As people engaged with this content, they went in search of churches that were pastored by men who believed the same things as the people they were reading or listening to—Piper, Sproul, MacArthur, and so on. This movement had all the passion and brashness of youth and grew quickly.

A Weak Core

In these early days, there was a lot of excitement about TULIP and the Five Points. There was excitement about the Five Solas, perhaps especially around 2017 and the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Calvinistic soteriology was the heart of it all and to so many it was eye-opening and heart-stirring.

But over time, people stopped writing books and preaching sermons about Calvinism. The doctrine became assumed instead of explicit and optional instead of necessary. It became acceptable to be a four-point Calvinist or perhaps something more like a three-and-a-half-point Calvinist. The nomenclature changed from “New Calvinism” or “Young, Restless, Reformed” to “Gospel-Centered” at least in part because this framing deprioritized Calvinism and allowed broader inclusion. Now people could be part of the movement even if they did not want to accept or be associated with Calvinism or Reformed theology.

It quickly became apparent that the New Calvinism was not made up of a pure traditional Calvinism much less a pure and traditional expression of Reformed theology and practice. Not many were reading or following the Westminster Confession, The Belgic Confession, The London Baptist Confession, or other historical guides to Protestant faith and practice. Not many were following the regulative principle of worship or teaching their children the various catechisms. To use an analogy, the New Calvinism was never Amish furniture made of real hardwood but Ikea furniture made up of a veneer that covered a softer core. If this was true at the start, it became truer still as time went on. Many of the people who latched on to the movement and even began to lead it were interested in some level of Calvinistic soteriology, but not in a full and historically grounded expression of Reformed Christianity. Many latched onto it because for a time it was on-trend and exciting.

A major shift took place when what had once been a classic early-internet movement—decentralized and uncontrolled—began to become institutionalized. Institutions began to decide the issues that would define the movement and gatekeep the people who were permitted to influence it. Eventually, different institutions began to compete among themselves which caused both contraction and division. The core shifted from shared doctrine to shared institutions and allegiances. Commonality was no longer one of theology but of affiliation or loyalty. Now the New Calvinism was several New Calvinisms that no longer got along very well.

I Miss the Early Days

I often miss the early days of the movement—the days when people were drawing wide boundaries and expressing wonder at common theology. It was a time of excitement over shared doctrine and it was a joy to experience it. There was excitement in these days, though also arrogance and naiveté. It did not take long to learn that there was far less commonality than anyone had thought and that the movement was far less sanctified and unified than we believed. It took less to upend it than any of us would have imagined.

I will need to leave it to historians to explain exactly what happened, but certainly the sense of togetherness could not sustain all the theological differences or the differing perspectives on race and racism, pandemic responses, changing politics and presidencies, and so on. It seems to me that the movement sputtered on the basis of cultural factors as much as theological ones. Either way, it is now but a shadow of its former self and never reached the heights it had aspired to. As Renn says, “New Calvinism’s ability to project influence over the evangelical field has radically diminished.”

The Future

I wish I could speak confidently about the future of New Calvinism. Part of the difficulty in doing so is that the movement as a whole has pretty much ceased to exist. A label like “New Calvinism” doesn’t mean much anymore. “Young, Restless, Reformed” may have been accurate 20 years ago, but many who first fit the label are no longer very young, very restless, or very Reformed. “Gospel-centered” was tried and found wanting or inadequate. Whatever the movement is or was, it has now splintered into many parts, some of them antagonistic toward the others. There are few leaders who are respected across each of the splintered groups which means there is nobody who is likely to be able to bridge divides and bring reconciliation. I foresee no return to the unity of the early days.

But what I do see is lots of ministries continuing to create and distribute excellent resources. We have been spoiled with an endless flow of books, Bibles, and study resources and I have every reason to believe that will continue. Seminaries will continue to train future pastors who value these doctrines and love to exposit God’s Word. Even better, I see lots of churches continuing to press on with the doctrines of grace at their core and an emphasis on preaching the Word at the center of their worship. This may be the most enduring and important legacy of the movement.

Circling back to Renn, he says “New Calvinism has shifted from an ‘All-Star team’ model designed to exert influence over the broader evangelical world to a post-superstar model that primarily serves its own community.” That much seems demonstrably true. He also says that what remains best serves “educated strivers in urban centers, college towns, and professional class suburbs” and the movement should be content with this. I both agree and disagree.

I have spent time with Christians in something like 40 different countries that span a host of languages and cultures. I have been amazed to see the reach and the impact of resources we associate with the New Calvinism. Way out in the bush in southern Africa, far from electrical grids or running water, I spotted an ESV Study Bible on a pastor’s desk beside a stack of MacArthur commentaries. Deep in the south of Chile, I had several people bring copies of my books in Spanish so I could sign them. In India, Brazil, Mexico, and Mozambique I’ve been to bookstores filled with the books this movement has created, all translated into local languages. I have seen trucks loaded with 9Marks books bumping along rutted roads to deliver them to far-off places where these may be the only books local pastors will own.

So even as we necessarily analyze the movement from a North American and Western-world perspective, I think it’s important to appreciate the inroads it has made elsewhere, often delivering resources where they can be used and appreciated by people who have little interest in the petty quarrels that have torn so much apart. And so perhaps the future of New Calvinism is beyond the Western world and even the developed world and is even now putting down deep roots in the unlikeliest of places. We can but hope and pray.

Today’s post is sponsored by Christian Focus Publications and written by Brent Corbin, Executive Director of Reformed Youth Ministries.

Convincing young people that reading an actual book is a worthwhile use of their time is a tall task in our day and age. Whether it’s the ever-beckoning allure of technology, schedules that are chocked full of school, sports, and all kinds of other activities, or just a lack of desire, making the time to read an actual book seems like a practice for days gone by.
But here’s the reality we must face: as useful as videos, podcasts and other technologies can be to the Church in 2022, Christianity is a religion of words. Our God is a God of words. He created through words, calls Himself the Living Word, and wrote a book filled with words to communicate to His children. In light of this, RYM continues to encourage pastors and parents everywhere to value the written word, and to seek to train the next generation to be readers of actual books with real words. The forced slowing-down, and unhurried nature of sitting with a book is a discipline worth re-cultivating in the lives of young people. The Track Series, a collaborative effort between RYM and Christian Focus Publishers is a great place to do this very thing.
Written for students, the Track series addresses numerous topics in three primary areas: Doctrine, Culture, and the Christian Life. Track‘s booklets are theologically rich, accessible, and the perfect length to make actually finishing the book a likely and attainable goal. They seek to engage and challenge the student without dumbing things down. Some of the authors in the series include: Ligon Duncan, Derek Thomas, Ed Welch, Abigail Dodds, Reagan Rose, Stephen Nichols, and Walt Mueller. Each of the different writers brings his or her unique perspectives and expertise to the book’s subject matter. 
The goal of the Track series, through its different topics, is to point us to Jesus Christ, the One who forged a track to guide His followers. While we cannot follow this track perfectly, by His grace and Spirit He called us to strive to stay on the path. It is our prayer that this series of books would help guide young people who are seeking to follow Christ’s track in their day to day living.
Visit 10ofthose to purchase your Track books for the perfect Christmas gift or Stocking Stuffer.