Books I've Read - Letters To a Young Calvinist

Letters to a Young Calvinist: An Invitation to the Reformed Tradition
by James K.A. Smith

There is a movement in Christian circles that has become known as the 'Young Restless and Reformed' or YRR for short.  This movement and the teachings of men like John Piper, Mark Driscoll, CJ Mahaney and many other dynamic Christian leaders, has led a surge of interest in Calvinism, particularly among younger Christian adults.  It would seem that many young Christians have become disillusioned with lack of intellectual food that 'pop' Christianity has to offer and are increasingly attracted to the depth and riches of Calvinistic thought.  As a Calvinist myself, I find this to be an exciting and encouraging thing, but as with every movement, the YRR movement comes with its dangers and so I was happy to see this book come on the market. This is a book which contains fatherly advice from someone who came out of a charismatic background and into the reformed movement 25 years ago.  He is looking back on the transitional stage in life that he went through and trying to impart some advice to those who might be going through the same stage in life themselves.

In this book, James Smith is writing to young man who has recently discovered the Reformed tradition and is giving him some of the advice that he wished he had received when he was in that stage of life.  On the whole I rather enjoyed this book and found it to be full of a lot of practical and Godly advice that it would be well for anyone (not just a new student of reformed thought) to listen too.  I did not totally agree with Smith on every count and found that he leans more  heavily towards the Kuypierian branch of the Reformed tradition than I would like, but on the whole I enjoyed this book, particularily the first half of it when he is laying down the groundwork and basis of what Calvinism means. 
 
Random Quote:
It seems to me very un-Reformed to prop up Reformed theology as a timeless ideal, a consummated achievement, when one of the Reformers' mantras was semper reformanda  - always reforming. You shouldn't expect a lifetime of pursuing the truth to result in constant entrenchment into what you thought when you were twenty. (Page 29)