Looking at an Important Calvinist Evangelical Preacher

I cam across this very interesting NYT magazine article through Baptist ( and I think Calvinist leaning) Denny Burkes blog. Also I am giving him a plug because he is a fellow Louisiana Tech Graduate.

See Who Would Jesus Smack Down?

I was going to comment on this from a Catholic viewpoint or more to the point as past Baptist. I mention a good deal that so many nowadays seem to apply the term Calvinist to the wide mass of Evangelicals is annoying.

However Amy Welborn pointed this out article on this fascinating preacher at Driscoll. I agree with that the reporting for the NYT is first rate on a important religious story. Kudos to them:

She says in part:

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.

And that is the key. The reason he is so controversial in many Evangelical circles is not so much perhaps his preaching style but his very Calvinist theology which I think the article hits on nicely and thus gives a insight of what is going on across from the Catholic and others Street as it were.