There’s been chatter about the NTTimes mag’s profile of Mark Driscoll of Seattle’s Mars Hill Church.
The interesting thing about the profile, to me, is that the writer actually tries to take a look at Driscoll’s theology rather than simply focusing on the sexier angles of megachurch marketing, Driscoll’s hypermasculine schtick and, well, sex.
Driscoll, who left Catholicism in his late teens, is a Calvinist, and the article explores the recent resurgence of Calvinism and some of its younger adherents. The piece is a really decent attempt to try to figure out the appeal of what Driscoll has been doing in Seattle – how the casual environment of Mars Hill, the strict Calvinism and the preaching of traditional gender roles has been such a success in Seattle, one of the most unchurched cities inAmerica, and one of the most politically and socially liberal.
Anthony Sacramone, who has done his time among the Calvinists, frames the piece very helpfully here.

Wait — it gets worse. Not only are the majority of people doomed to an eternity of torment, but sometimes God will “awaken” a defective faith, “an inferior working of the Spirit,” in unsuspecting individuals, for the sheer purpose of faking them out into thinking God loves them and that Jesus died for them when, in fact, His Holy Wrath abides on them.
Yeah, that’ll preach.
But, strangely, it does. Driscoll’s robust congregation is proof of that. I was swayed by it, once upon a time, becoming a member of Tim Keller’s Redeemer Presbyterian in New York (although Keller doesn’t sell the election part all that hard). Why? Because Calvinists believe they’re in. As in the Kingdom. Of Heaven. And if you’re in — you can’t get out. So all is good. For you. There’s certainty in an uncertain world. Yes, there may be those who only think they’re in when they’re, in fact, not, but they’re all out there somewhere. Not in here, in my heart, with me.
It should also be noted that the craftiest of Calvinist preachers keep certain unpleasantnesses to themselves, so as to lead you to believe that you, too, can be in. Perhaps the greatest, or at least the most winsome, example of a crafty Reformed preacher was the 19th century English Baptist C.I. Spurgeon, who softened the election blow by maintaining that any attraction to the Gospel you experienced was evidence of the Spirit of God drawing you. And as God finishes what he starts in the human heart, you could rest easily about your own eternal destiny.
snip
There have been many great Christians who have flown the Calvinist banner: John Bunyan, Isaac Watts, George Whitfield, the aforementioned Jonathan Edwards — great preachers of Christ as Lord and Savior and great hymn writers. (A study should be done, though, on the relation of Calvinist theology and missions, or Calvinist theology and charity/work among the poor.) But I ended my sojourn among the Calvinists because their view of justification is not so much “by faith alone” as it is “by luck alone.”
And good luck with that.

Mark Driscoll’s blog is here – a recent controversial post is near the bottom in which he reflects on the low attendance on a recent snowy Sunday. That provoked much reaction in the blogosphere. Of more interest to me is his new series on “Vintage Saints” which includes simple, direct and uncritical entries on St. Nicholas and…Thomas Aquinas. Say what?