Reformed 'City'

Religion: What some call the "New Calvinism" sees itself as reviving an old evangelicalism | Mark Bergin

Peter Artemenko

CHICAGO—The crowd inside a Chicago convention center ranged from middle-aged men in suits to young urban hipsters with stretched piercings. The common denominator among many of the 3,000 attendees: tomes tucked underarm, including English Standard Version study bibles or classic volumes from long-dead Puritans. The event: a late April conference of The Gospel Coalition (TGC), a network of pastors and theologians with a theologically Reformed underpinning.

WORLD almost never covers conferences, but this one attracted attention because, on the eve of John Calvin's 500th birthday this July, it was astounding that the Protestant reformer's systematic approach to Scripture had become as hip as Calvin Klein. Or so suggested Time magazine, which recently put the "new Calvinism" in third place on its list of 10 ideas changing the world—but the two TGC founders, Manhattan pastor Tim Keller and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School professor D.A. Carson, don't like that tag.