I recently came across this article talking about the influence of Calvinism among evangelicals:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/04/us/a-calvinist-revival-for-evangelicals.html?ref=us&_r=2
----
I
have mixed feelings about what this article is reporting. While
Calvin/Calvinism of course are instrumental in our reformed soteriology,
there is a lot more to "Calvinism" than soteriology, as important as it
is. And my sense is that is this as far as it will go amongst the
evangelicals.
Just
as importantly, there are raging debates within reformed circles as you
are well aware regarding Calvin's views regarding natural law and
Christendom. Suffice to say for a FB squack box: he was inconsistent in
certain key ways regarding these two issues and this has created immense
confusion in our intra-reformed debates today.
For
instance, in the Institutes, he clearly discusses how the Mosaic law
should not be used while in his sermons on Deut, he speaks like a hard
core theonomist, and of course, Michael Servetus is an inconvenient
historical fact for natural law folks. (Calvin approving his execution
for Servetus' heretical denial of the Trinity).
The
danger that I see from valuing a theologian, even a monumental one like
Calvin (and even having a theology named after him), too much is that
we tend to think of his entire theology as being consistent because that
is what we are being taught/preached to implicitly.
Time
will tell how Calvin's influence will play out in these evangelical
circles, and what will develop regarding the issues of (in)consistency
and conflicting theologies within one man, and whether or not the
calvinist influence will extend beyond soteriology.