Editing Reformed Christianity (section)

== Variants in Reformed theology ==
=== Amyraldism ===
{{Main|Amyraldism}}
[[File:Moïse Amyraut.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Moses Amyraut]] formulated [[Amyraldism]], a modified Calvinist theology regarding the nature of [[Jesus]]' atonement.<ref>Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification. p. 269. Alister E. McGrath – 2005 "The importance of this threefold scheme derives from its adoption by Moses Amyraut as the basis of his distinctive theology. Amyraut's 'hypothetical universalism' and his doctrine of the triple covenant between God and humanity is ..."</ref><ref>Hubert Cunliffe-Jones, ''A History of Christian Doctrine,'' p. 436. 2006 "The appointment of John Cameron, a peripatetic Scottish scholar, to be a professor in the Academy in 1618 introduced a stimulating teacher to the scene, and when in 1626 his pupil, Moses Amyraut (Amyraldus), was called to be a minister ..."</ref>]]

Amyraldism (or sometimes Amyraldianism, also known as the School of Saumur, hypothetical universalism,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/hodge/theology2.iv.i.iv.html |title=Systematic Theology – Volume II – Christian Classics Ethereal Library |publisher=Ccel.org |date=21 July 2005 |access-date=5 December 2013}}</ref> post redemptionism,<ref>[[B. B. Warfield|Benjamin B. Warfield]], ''Works'' vol. V,''Calvin and Calvinism'', pp. 364–365, and vol. VI, ''The Westminster Assembly and Its Work'', pp. 138–144.</ref> moderate Calvinism,<ref>[[Michael Horton (theologian)|Michael Horton]] in J. Matthew Pinson (ed.), ''Four Views on Eternal Security'', p. 113.</ref> or four-point Calvinism) is the belief that [[God]], prior to his decree of election, decreed [[Atonement in Christianity|Christ's atonement]] for all alike if they believe, but seeing that none would believe on their own, he then [[predestination|elected]] those whom he will bring to [[Faith in Christianity|faith in Christ]], thereby preserving the Calvinist doctrine of [[unconditional election]]. The efficacy of the atonement remains limited to those who believe.

Named after its formulator [[Moses Amyraut]], this doctrine is still viewed as a variety of Calvinism in that it maintains the particularity of sovereign grace in the application of the atonement. However, detractors like [[B. B. Warfield]] have termed it "an inconsistent and therefore unstable form of Calvinism."<ref>[[B. B. Warfield|Warfield, B. B.]], ''The Plan of Salvation'' (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1973).</ref>

=== Hyper-Calvinism ===
{{Main|Hyper-Calvinism}}
Hyper-Calvinism is the belief that emphasizes God's sovereignty in election and salvation to such an extent that it rejects the responsibility of all people to "[[Repentance in Christianity|repent]] and believe" the gospel. This belief system became prominent among some of the early English [[Strict Baptist|Particular Baptists]] in the 18th century. Historically, it has been associated with theologians such as [[John Gill (theologian)|John Gill]] and [[Joseph Hussey]] who contributed to the development of its distinct views.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-02-26 |title=HyperCal1 |url=http://www.anglicanbooksrevitalized.us/Peter_Toons_Books_Online/History/hypercal1.htm |access-date=2025-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226001003/http://www.anglicanbooksrevitalized.us/Peter_Toons_Books_Online/History/hypercal1.htm |archive-date=26 February 2009 }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Allen |first=Brummel |date=2025-04-03 |title=If God is Sovereign, Is Evangelism Necessary and Urgent? |url=https://www.prca.org/resources/publications/articles/item/4128-god-sovereign-evangelism-necessary-urgent |access-date=2025-04-03 |website=www.prca.org |language=en-gb}}</ref> This variant of Reformed Theology was opposed by ministers such as [[Andrew Fuller]] and missionaries such as [[William Carey (missionary)|William Carey]] who argued against the Hyper-Calvinistic mindset that "if God wants to save the heathen, He will do it without your help or mine."<ref>{{Cite web |title=8. Andrew Fuller Escaped Hyper-Calvinism By Searching The Scriptures And The History Of Doctrine? |author-last1=Smith|author-first1=Jared|date=5 July 2021|url=https://www.baptists.net/history/2021/07/8-andrew-fuller-escaped-hyper-calvinism-by-searching-the-scriptures-and-the-history-of-doctrine/ |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=The Baptist Particular |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rasmussen |first=John |date=2018-09-12 |title=William Carey and the Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel |url=https://www.mikeleake.net/2018/09/william-carey-and-the-statement-on-social-justice-and-the-gospel.html |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=Borrowed Light |language=en-US}}</ref>

The [[Westminster Confession of Faith]] says that the gospel is to be freely offered to sinners, and the [[Westminster Larger Catechism|Larger Catechism]] makes clear that the gospel is offered to the non-elect.{{sfn |WCF|1646|loc=[[s:Westminster Confession of Faith#CHAPTER VII of God's Covenant with Man.|VII.III]]}}<ref>{{cite wikisource |title=Westminster Larger Catechism |anchor=Q. 51–100 |at=Question 68}}</ref>

The term is also used as a pejorative and occasionally appears in both [[theological]] and secular controversial contexts. It usually connotes a negative opinion about some variety of [[theological determinism]], [[predestination]], or a version of Evangelical Christianity or Calvinism that is deemed by the critic to be unenlightened, harsh, or extreme.

=== Neo-Calvinism ===
{{Main|Neo-Calvinism}}
[[File:Abraham Kuyper 1905 (1).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Dutch prime minister [[Abraham Kuyper]] initiated [[Neo-Calvinism]].]]
Beginning in the 1880s, Neo-Calvinism, a form of [[Dutch Reformed Church|Dutch Calvinism]], is the movement initiated by the theologian and later Dutch prime minister [[Abraham Kuyper]]. [[James Bratt]] has identified a number of different types of Dutch Calvinism: The Seceders—split into the Reformed Church "West" and the Confessionalists; and the Neo-Calvinists—the Positives and the Antithetical Calvinists. The Seceders were largely [[infralapsarian]] and the Neo-Calvinists usually [[supralapsarian]].<ref>{{cite book |first=James |last=Bratt |title=Dutch Calvinism in Modern America |publisher=[[Wipf and Stock]]; original Eerdmans |date=1984}}</ref>

Kuyper wanted to awaken the church from what he viewed as its pietistic slumber. He declared:

<blockquote>No single piece of our mental world is to be sealed off from the rest and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'<ref>James E. McGoldrick, ''Abraham Kuyper: God's Renaissance Man.'' (Welwyn, UK: Evangelical Press, 2000).</ref> </blockquote>

This refrain has become something of a rallying call for Neo-Calvinists.

=== Christian Reconstructionism ===
{{Main|Christian Reconstructionism}}
Christian Reconstructionism is a [[Christian fundamentalism|fundamentalist]]<ref>{{cite conference |title=Moses' Law for Modern Government |last=Duncan |first=J. Ligon III |url=http://www.reformed.org/ethics/index.html?mainframe=/ethics/ligon_duncan_critique.html |date=15 October 1994 |conference=Annual national meeting of the Social Science History Association |location=Atlanta, U.S. |author-link=Ligon Duncan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121130075203/http://www.reformed.org/ethics/index.html?mainframe=%2Fethics%2Fligon_duncan_critique.html |archive-date=30 November 2012  |access-date=23 August 2013}}</ref> Calvinist [[theonomic]] movement that has remained rather obscure.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Religiously Motivated Violence in the Abortion Debate |pages=316–317 |last=Ingersoll |first=Julie |title=The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Violence |author-link=Julie Ingersoll|year=2013 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |editor1-first=Mark |editor1-last=Juergensmeyer |editor1-link=Mark Juergensmeyer |editor2-first=Margo |editor2-last=Kitts |editor3-first=Michael |editor3-last=Jerryson |location=New York |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199759996.013.0020 |isbn=978-0-19-975999-6 }}</ref> Founded by [[R. J. Rushdoony]], the movement has had an important influence on the [[Christian right|Christian Right]] in the United States.<ref>{{cite book |last=Clarkson |first=Frederick |author-link=Frederick Clarkson |chapter=Christian Reconstructionism |editor-last=Berlet |editor-first=Chip |editor-link=Chip Berlet |title=Eyes Right!: Challenging the Right Wing Backlash |year=1995 |location=Boston |publisher=[[South End Press]] |page=73 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fl6Ix9HFKQEC&pg=PA73 |isbn=978-0-89608-523-7 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ingersoll |first=Julie |editor1-last=Brint |editor1-first=Steven |editor2-last=Schroedel|editor2-first=Jean Reith |title=Evangelicals and Democracy in America: Religion and politics |volume=2 |chapter=Mobilizing Evangelicals: Christian Reconstructionism and the Roots of the Religious Right |year=2009 |location=New York |publisher=[[Russell Sage Foundation]] |page=180 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O-QRWP4FlVEC&pg=PA180 |isbn=978-0-87154-068-3 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> The movement peaked in the 1990s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Worthen |first1=Molly |author-link=Molly Worthen |doi=10.1017/S0009640708000590 |title=The Chalcedon Problem: Rousas John Rushdoony and the Origins of Christian Reconstructionism |journal=[[Church History (magazine)|Church History]] |volume=77 |issue=2 |year=2008 |pages=399–437 |s2cid=153625926}}</ref> However, it lives on in small denominations such as the [[Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States]] and as a minority position in other denominations. Christian Reconstructionists are usually [[postmillennialist]]s and followers of the [[presuppositional apologetics]] of [[Cornelius Van Til]]. They tend to support a decentralized political order resulting in [[laissez-faire]] capitalism.<ref>{{cite book |last1=North |first1=Gary |title=Christian Reconstruction: What it Is, what it Isn't |last2=DeMar |first2=Gary |date=1991 |publisher=Institute for Christian Economics |location=Tyler, Texas, U.S. |page=81 |language=en-us}}</ref>

=== New Calvinism ===
{{Main|New Calvinism}}
New Calvinism is a growing perspective within conservative Evangelicalism that embraces the fundamentals of 16th century Calvinism while also trying to be relevant in the present day world.<ref name="CTHansen">{{cite journal |url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/september/42.32.html |title=Young, Restless, Reformed |author-first1=Collin|author-last1=Hansen|date=22 September 2006 |journal=[[Christianity Today]] |access-date=13 March 2009}}</ref> In March 2009, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine described the New Calvinism as one of the "10 ideas changing the world".<ref name="Time">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1884779_1884782_1884760,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090314031124/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1884779_1884782_1884760,00.html  |archive-date=14 March 2009 |title=10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now: The New Calvinism |magazine=Time |author=David van Biema |year=2009 |access-date=13 March 2009}}</ref> Some of the major figures who have been associated with the New Calvinism are [[John Piper (theologian)|John Piper]],<ref name=CTHansen /> [[Mark Driscoll (pastor)|Mark Driscoll]], [[Al Mohler]],<ref name=Time /> [[Mark Dever]],<ref name=Burek>{{cite news|last=Burek|first=Josh|title=Christian faith: Calvinism is back|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2010/0327/Christian-faith-Calvinism-is-back|access-date=16 March 2011|newspaper=[[The Christian Science Monitor]]|date=27 March 2010}}</ref> [[C. J. Mahaney]], and [[Timothy J. Keller|Tim Keller]].<ref name=CRN>{{cite news|url=http://christianresearchnetwork.com/?p=17772 |title=Tim Keller and the New Calvinist idea of "Gospel eco-systems" |last=Chew |first=David |date=June 2010 |publisher=Christian Research Network  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011091605/http://christianresearchnetwork.com/?p=17772 |archive-date=11 October 2011 }}</ref> New Calvinists have been criticized for blending Calvinist soteriology with popular Evangelical positions on the [[Sacrament#Reformed (Continental Reformed, Congregationalist, and Presbyterian)|sacraments]] and [[continuationism]] and for rejecting tenets seen as crucial to the Reformed faith such as [[Reformed confessions of faith|confessionalism]] and [[covenant theology]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://heidelblog.net/2009/03/calvinism-old-and-new/ |title=Calvinism Old and "New" |first=R. Scott |last=Clark|author-link=R. Scott Clark |date=15 March 2009  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701182929/http://heidelblog.net/2009/03/calvinism-old-and-new/ |archive-date=1 July 2015 }}</ref>