About seven years ago, Christianity Today picked up a trend already noticed in the pages of Time--the rise of the "young, restless, and Reformed." (Or as Time called it, "neo-Calvinism.")
Rev. Mark Dever, of Capitol Hill Baptist in DC, recently gave a lecture on factors that contributed to the rise of the YRR movement, which is summed up here: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2013/10/24/where-did-all-these-calvinists-come-from/
Reformed Christianity is not a new movement--it is the recovery of Reformation Christianity which in itself was a recovery of early-Church Christianity. Ultimately, I would claim that it is biblical Christianity. The Bible declares that man is totally depraved, God's election of His people is unconditional, the atonement was limited in that it was for God's elect alone, God's grace is irresistible, and God's people will persevere in faith and never fall away.
The Bible declares that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, who rules us by Scripture alone, which shows us to live for God's glory alone. This biblical theology is expressed most supremely in the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Three Forms of Unity, which testify to the unambiguous teaching of Scripture. It is preached in accordance with the unfolding plan of redemption in Christ that is found from the start to the finish of Scripture (redemptive history).
The truth and beauty of this theology had an enormous impact of my own life. God not only lifted the lid off of my shallow beliefs and gave me an expansive view of His saving purposes, He used this theology to give me the intellectual resources to defend my faith against those who would counter or undermine it. It does the same for some of my family members, friends, and untold millions across the country.
Here are a few factors that I believe contributed to the rise of the YRR movement beyond those given by Dever:
1) The rise of the unambiguous, urban intellectuals. Christians have long embraced experientialism and subjectivity in describing their faith, fully ceding the intellectual sphere to false belief. When they do more actively engage their minds, they often do so in cultural and political causes while ignoring the deeper apologetic concerns. (For example, I always found in bizarre that many Christians railed against Harry Potter, which did not dabble in the occult as is often assumed, but largely ignored The Golden Compass, which was Phillip Pullman's effort to "undo the mischief" of The Chronicles of Narnia.)
Instead of ceding the cultural centers of American and retreating into seclusion with the South, Midwest, and suburban homeschooling community, a number of prominent pastors--including Rev. Mark Driscoll in Seattle, Rev. Tim Keller in New York City, and Dever himself chose the opposite path. They entered these supposedly hostile arenas and laid down an intellectual guantlet that confronted false belief and asked people to honestly consider the claims of Christ. Driscoll shares an unambiguous Gospel with a generation of hipsters that are sick of the prior generations "value-free" parenting. Keller's cerebral approach to Scripture and apologetics has resonated with the Ivy League yuppies of NYC. Dever embraces a counter-cultural spirituality of the church in the heart of power in the modern world.
2) Dr. Michael Horton and the White Horse Inn. Dr. Horton is a leading Christian intellectual and apologist in the vein of R.C. Sproul. Whereas folks once listened to "Renewing Your Mind" or read Tabletalk and were allured by Reformed theology, many now listen to White Horse and read Horton's dozens of systematic and popular books. Horton also has a well-deserved reputation as a civil and generous disputant, often engaging leading lights across the spectrum of worldviews. There is no name referenced more within the Army chaplaincy right now than that of Horton.
3) The rediscovery of the beauty of Reformed theology and a consequent passion, rather than the bare truth of Reformed theology and a consequent polemical nature. There is a boundless proliferation of blogs and books coming out of Reformed circles right now, bring that great truths of Scripture to bear in beautiful and practical ways. Reformed Christians once had a reputation for arguing people into a corner and being the "frozen chosen" with regard to zeal and evangelism. That reputation is melting away due to the popular books published by 9 Marks, the Acts 29 Network, and affiliated with the Gospel Coalition.
4) The resurgence of an offensive, God-centered Christianity. The Christianity of the 60s and 70s was largely marked by a sentimental "me and Jesus" type of approach. The language often employed was of a "personal relationship" where one "invited Jesus into their heart." Theology and doctrine were ridiculed as obsolete terms (though everybody had a deeply-entrenched theological grid). Jesus was often treated as near and dear (imminent) but not as the Lord and Judge of the world (transcendence). Many of the songs offered generic platitudes about Jesus (i.e. "Shine Jesus Shine") and lacked a substantial presentation of the Gospel. Postmodern folks (most everyone born in the aftermath of Vietnam) rebelled against cliches and sentimental Christianity. Some fell away. Many grew desperate for the transcendent God of the Bible, vibrant and intimate community with the Church, and a stronger connection with the Church of previous ages.
I have often wondered why my denomination, as one of the most historic of the Reformed bodies in America, has not played a greater role in the society-wide phenomenon. Some would unfairly criticize the denomination as simply being too ingrown (proportionally, the OPC has a high number of missionaries and does a great deal of church planting). Some might erroneously finger the traditional liturgy and style of worship (God's work through Keller in NYC runs along traditional lines).
I think part of our struggle is shown in the type of reading materials we put out. We have pristine papers on historic doctrines and contemporary heresies. We have pamphlets to hand out explaining the importance of the Sabbath. We are guardians of the truth, but often fail to convey the beauty of the faith in general and Reformed theology in particular. While many of these movements and publishing agencies are bringing historic Reformed truths down to the ground level (i.e., The Hole in our Holiness by Kevin DeYoung and Why We Love the Church by DeYoung and Ted Kluck), our struggle seems to be in bringing the vast resources of our faith and history to bear upon the masses. We must more actively engage other people and other worldviews and more winsomely share great truths as if they captivate us by their beauty (they do!).
Of course, so much of this is generalyzing, but such generalizations serve a purpose in recognizing trends and prospective points of collective improvement (without denigrating individuals).
