Despite Media Hype, There is No “Calvinist Resurgance”
Thats what Barna says.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–The Barna Group released findings Nov. 15 that said despite what “observers and journalists have described as … a significant trend” in terms of a Calvinism movement, numbers of Calvinists among Protestant pastors are not greater today (31 percent) than a decade ago (32 percent).
Barna’s results about the broader Christian community seemingly stand in stark contrast to reports released by Southern Baptist Convention entities showing a surge in identity with five-point Calvinism in Southern Baptist life.
In 2007, the North American Mission Board’s Center for Missional Research released findings that nearly 30 percent of recent seminary graduates (1998-2004) serving as church pastors identified themselves as Calvinists. Details about the sample methodology and size were not released and this study is not available for public review.
This compared to 10 percent of all pastors in the SBC who affirm the five points of Calvinism, according to a 2006 LifeWay Research study of a cross-section of 413 randomly selected SBC pastors.
At the release of the research, Ed Stetzer who directs LifeWay Research, said the findings show “a growing influence” of Calvinism in SBC life and “certainly a growing influence in the graduates of our seminaries.”
Also, Christianity Today has described what it termed as a “comeback in Calvinism” in articles pointing to the SBC as “ground zero” for this resurgence (“Young, Restless, Reformed,” 2006) and as having a “bulwark of reformed theology” (“The Reformer,” 2010).
The Barna study appears to show that despite what has been reported as a spike in the numbers of Calvinism adherents among recent SBC seminary graduates, there hasn’t been a groundswell in the broader Christian community over the last decade. The numbers of those identifying themselves with Calvinism or Reformed Theology have held fairly steady around 31 percent.
However, the longitudinal study showed a much greater variation year-to-year in the number of pastors who identified themselves as either “Wesleyan” or “Arminian,” with a drop from 37 percent to 32 percent when comparing 2000 with 2010.
Theological Identity 2000 2002 2003 2010
Wesleyan, Arminian 37 pct. 26 pct. 35 pct. 32 pct.
Calvinist, Reformed 32 pct. 31 pct. 29 pct. 31 pct.
Sample Size 610 601 601 600
The Barna Group study did not define the theological identities, but left that interpretation to each participating pastor.
Other findings released by Barna include:
– On average, weekly adult attendance in Reformed or Calvinist churches grew from a median of 80 in 2000, to a median of 90 in 2010, an increase of about 13 percent. During that same period, weekly adult attendance in Wesleyan or Arminian churches increased 18 percent, growing from a median of 85 in 2000, to a median of 100 in 2010.
– Among pastors 27 to 45 years old, 29 percent described themselves as Reformed compared to 34 percent who self-identified with the Wesleyan tradition. Those between 46 and 64 years old were evenly split theologically, with 34 percent claiming Reformed roots and 33 percent citing a Wesleyan perspective. Pastors 65 years-old-and-up were least likely to place themselves in either camp, with only 26 percent naming a Reformed background and an almost equal number, 27 percent, pointing to a Wesleyan foundation.
– Reformed churches were most common in the Northeast and least common in the Midwest. Wesleyan congregations were equally likely to be in each of the four regions of the U.S.
– 47 percent of pastors of mainline churches (American Baptist Churches, Evangelical Lutheran Churches in America, the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church USA, and United Church of Christ) named their congregations as Wesleyan or Arminian compared to 29 percent of mainline pastors who chose a Reformed or Calvinist label.
– Among charismatic and Pentecostal denominations generally viewed as coming from Wesleyan or Holiness traditions (Assembly of God, Vineyard, Foursquare, Church of God – Cleveland), 31 percent called themselves Reformed/Calvinists compared to 27 percent who called themselves Wesleyan/Arminian.
– A greater number of Reformed/Calvinist pastors identified themselves as theologically liberal (17 percent) than did Wesleyan/Arminian pastors (13 percent).
– Of the pastors who took part in the Barna study, 65 percent of Wesleyans/Arminians reported having completed seminary, and a statistically equivalent 62 percent of Reformed/Calvinists said they had, too.
–30–
Will Hall is executive editor of Baptist Press.
47 percent of pastors of mainline churches (…Evangelical Lutheran Churches in America…) named their congregations as Wesleyan or Arminian compared to 29 percent of mainline pastors who chose a Reformed or Calvinist label.
This demonstrates the relative uselessness of this survey. For a church with a Lutheran heritage, even if it currently preserves precious little of that heritage, the Calvinist-Arminian/Wesleyan divide is meaningless. What kind of useful data can be gleaned from any answer given by a Lutheran pastor to a question that is, in effect, saying, “Which kind of non-Lutheran are you?”
You have to live in a fairly rarefied ecclesiastical atmosphere to say that there’s been “media hype” about Calvinism being resurgent: The stories cited in the Barna article pertain to the Southern Baptist Convention, and more particularly to the effect of one leading seminary and seminary president. Barna’s study extends across denominations.
I think there are lots of reasons for Calvinists to become Lutherans. Is there a CPH book that explicitly, yet winsomely, takes a Calvinist through the Lutheran argument?
Or perhaps even have a book in which a well-known Calvinist theologian interacts with a well-known Lutheran theologian. (I’m assuming that anything getting the Lutheran case into Calvinist hands can’t but help.)
I don’t know. It just seems to me as though Lutherans are so defensive about Calvinism that we don’t to reach out in an effective manner.
Jim, sounds like you missed the various cover stories in TIME, NEWSWEEK, the ATLANTIC MONTHLY, the NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL and CHRISTIANITY TODAY touting the alleged “Calvinist resurgence.” Please don’t make the mistake of assuming that because you have not heard about it, this must mean those who have are somehow elitists. And, further, if you think that Lutherans are “so defensive” about Calvinism, you are apparently not aware of the intensity of the so-called “Truly Reformed” on the Internet and the Calvinist “watchbloggers” as they are called by other Calvinists.
Paul, I actually think that there is a a Lutheran resurgence. But it’s not found in increased numbers, but increased knowledge and commitment. And CPH has helped fuel this resurgence.
Well, Five-point Calvinism seems to be the doctrine promulgated in the Baptist radio stations I occasionally hear in Dallas (can’t find the schedule for the Lutheran Hour). I believe the hierarchy of the SBC seems to support Calvinism. By the way, the comic book cover was droll, but slightly amusing
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I was an SBC for 35 years and attended church from one end of the nation to the other, and I can tell you there is a great variance in belief. Most SBC will reference themselves as Calvinist, and shun and equation of their beliefs to Arminianism, even if that is the way they lean. It is common to hear, “I am a three point or 2 ½ point Calvinist.” Never will you hear, “I am a 3 point Arminian.” I wonder how many of those identified in the phone survey were actually 5 pointers. I am sure in many they were, but not all. When I finally left the SBC I left a church that claimed on its web site to be reformed, but my Sunday school was taught by two OBU professors who could not have been more opposite on this subject. The congregation was left to take whatever middle ground it could, and the pastor had to be very diplomatic.
Rick Warren calls himself a Calvinist (he calls himself a “Kyuper-Calvinist” all the time. …yet his theology isn’t really that of Calvin at all.
My experience in the SBC is similar to Bryan. I think that the “resurgence” is even weaker than the numbers indicate since many of these self-identified “Calvinists” are using it more as a label than a hard theological position.
Is there less variance in doctrine and practice within LCMS congregations than in the SBC? The SBC is the 800 pound gorilla of Calvinism – A very powerful and influential denomination. I have read and listened to Albert Mohler. That man is brilliant, and a gifted speaker to boot. I wish he were Lutheran. Are many Baptists converting to Lutheranism? If so, it would be interesting to learn the reasons why they do.
The ELCA/LCMC/NALC present no competition to the LCMS. Just pop a bowl of popcorn and watch the liberal Lutheran churches continue to shrink. Let them whine all they want on the ALPB forum. In my part of the country, the non-denominational churches (with their version of a watered-down Calvinism) are the biggest threat to the growth of confessional Lutheranism. Are the non-denominationals the real “resurgent Calvinists?”
Key point: the “study did not define the theological identities, but left that interpretation to each participating pastor.” I think that makes the results almost meaningless, when you have guys like Warren claiming to be Calvinist who are anything but. Ministers with a weak grounding in church history often don’t accurately understand the origins and labels of their own theology.
I think you are missing the point a bit Matt. It doesn’t matter if those responding are actually Calvinists, or not, however that term is defined, and as many Calvinists have told me, there is a wide range of definition of what Calvinism is, and who the Calvinists are, the point is simply that no matter how people choose to identify the term, if they self-identify as Calvinist, this would confirm, or deny, the claims in the media that there is a significant Calvinist resurgence. No matter how the term might be defined, the media has indulged in hype on this point.
@Matt Jamison
I agree completely. Do I correctly recall having read that Luther, in his later years, said that he had been, perhaps, too tough on Calvin, (although not on Zwingli?) As I understand Calvin, he, too, taught justification by grace through faith, as well as the real presence in the Sacrament, without identifying the mystery of the nature of that presence? Many of the Dispensationalists. with their rabid emphasis on Law to the apparent near exclusion of Gospel, claim to be Calvinists. And that would have Calvin rolling over in his grave.
Jonathan, I’ve never read Luther at any point in his life, particularly in the end, expressing any mitigation of his concerns with the “Sacramentarians” as he termed them, chiefly Zwingli and Bucer, but Calvin would certainly have been in that bunch as well.
@ James
A key point needs to be made about the polity of the SBC (which is appearantly is a “800 pound gorilla of Calvinism”… I guess most of the SBC didn’t get that memo. A 2006 study found that only 10% of SBC pastors identify themselves as “5 Point Calvinists”). The SBC has only the most basic of theological subscription and no real church discipline mechanisms aside from schism. So, yes, the theological variance in the SBC is much much wider than in the LCMS. The official theological position of the SBC “The Baptist Faith and Message” makes no mention of any of the topics debated between Calvinists and Arminains. When this debate comes up in most SBC churches, that is the approach to preserve unity… just don’t talk about it.
It is just an association and the opinions of people like Dr. Mohler (great guy!)… or even the average parish pastor are not binding on the rank and file of the church. In my experience, people outside of the SBC don’t really understand how comfortable your average member church is with theological diversity.
@James re: “In my part of the country, non-denominational churches [...] are the biggest threat to the growth of confessional Lutheranism.”
When an unbeliever becomes a Christian in a non-denominational church, does that help or hinder the cause of confessional Lutheranism?
That’s not the point, Bob. If a person does not leave this erring church body they are harming themselves, spiritually.