![\"Reformed](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/168\/2025\/08\/ComerismConcern960.png\")
<\/a>Crucicentrism and Atonement Theory<\/strong><\/h3>\nMarginalizing and undermining Comer\u2019s influence was Burk\u2019s overriding concern, and he employed crucicentrism as the chosen tactic for attack. Crucicentrism is \u201ca stress on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross\u201d, and it is \u201cthe conviction that Christ\u2019s death on the cross provided atonement for sin and reconciliation between sinful humanity and a holy God.\u201d Of the four theological convictions David Bebbington offered in Evangelicals in Modern Britain <\/em>(1989), crucicentrism is possibly the most contested one. Perhaps this is because it is the most quintessentially Reformed conviction, and it signals the influence that Reformed theology has had upon the evangelical tradition. Simply put, crucicentrism is penal-substitutionary atonement (PSA) in layman\u2019s terms, and some Reformed Evangelicals believe that this theory of the atonement is the exclusive orthodox analogy for this doctrine.[2]<\/a><\/p>\nHowever, more recent atonement studies have delivered theologians from adhering to one view of the atonement in exclusion to others. These studies recognize that numerous scriptures across the canon of the Old and New Testament and theologians from the canon of the Great Tradition have articulated multiple analogies and theories of atonement that are acceptable for an orthodox program of theology.<\/p>\n
Anselm is an example of one who integrated multiple analogies of the atonement. While Cur Deus Homo<\/em> presented satisfaction theory of the atonement as Anselm\u2019s distinctive contribution to the development of this doctrine, this publication evidences a robust understanding of both PSA and ransom theory. In my own research on Jonathan Edwards\u2019s interpretation of the Epistle to the Hebrews<\/a>, I demonstrated that Edwards, like Anselm, favored a satisfaction view of the atonement while integrating penal-substitution and a modified ransom theory into his wider program of atonement theology.[3]<\/a><\/p>\nOther experts on atonement theory validate the advantage of integrating multiple analogies of this doctrine. From Anselm to Aul\u00e9n and beyond, scholars have believed that each analogy expresses a recognizable facet of God\u2019s program of redemption. Collectively these theories have rehabilitated a cosmic understanding of God\u2019s redemptive and restorative plan for the social order of his creation and creatures. These studies have also revealed the historical and social peculiarities and potential shortcomings of PSA, demonstrating how its hegemonic influence arose in the immediate religious context of Europe\u2019s post-reformed reformed scholasticism. This context ran contemporaneous with the expansion of European empire and colonialism, which birthed what economic theorists recognize as the era of merchant capitalism.[4]<\/a><\/p>\nNonetheless, a number of Reformed Evangelicals have gone on record as stubbornly championing that orthodox fidelity demands a primary if not an exclusive embrace of PSA. Thus, PSA has become a shibboleth for Reformed Evangelicals and an essential doctrinal boundary for determining evangelical fidelity. Policing fidelity to this doctrine has become a technique for Reformed Evangelicals to decide who is inside and outside the bounds of evangelical orthodoxy, and whether one merits a seat at the table of evangelical power and authority.<\/p>\n
John Mark Comer\u2019s Rise<\/strong><\/h3>\nHence why John Mark Comer has been assailed by certain Reformed Evangelicals. Comer\u2019s allergy to PSA and his celebration of this doctrine\u2019s purported downfall has revealed a potential vulnerability to exploit and undermine his influence, or at least this appears to be the tactic employed by a few key Reformed Evangelicals. These Reformed Evangelicals perceive Comerism as a threat to the gospel and their evangelical power and influence. Is it because Comer admits to having a complicated relationship to evangelicalism and an inclination to distance himself from the movement? Or is it because Comer has become something of a darling to many who call themselves evangelicals? It\u2019s plausible that the recent rise in Comer\u2019s stock indicates a concomitant fall in the stock of Reformed Evangelicals. Reformed Evangelicals are keenly aware of this situation and feel threatened by it. [5]<\/a><\/p>\nComer possesses what historian Molly Worthen has recently argued is a powerful trait of leaders: charisma. His influence has put many, who broadly identify as evangelical, under his spell. Some among the Reformed Evangelicals are especially concerned that a new center of evangelical power is beginning to gather around him.[6]<\/a><\/p>\nThe meteoric success of Comer\u2019s ideas and publications has become evident over the past decade. Comer founded Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon and pastored the church for nearly two decades. In 2021, he passed on pastoral leadership of Bridgetown to one of his apprentice pastors and began leading the resourcing organization he had founded, Practicing the Way resources<\/a>. He has published several bestselling works on spiritual living, including the 2019 ECPA (Evangelical Christian Publishers Association) bestseller, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry<\/a><\/em>, and the 2024 New York Times bestseller, Practicing the Way<\/a><\/em>, which was awarded ECPA\u2019s 2025 Christian Book of the Year. This latter publication distills and diffuses his model of discipleship widely to evangelical audiences and has been the target of recent Reformed Evangelical ire.[7]<\/a><\/p>\nReformed Evangelical Critiques of Comer<\/strong><\/h3>\nBurk is not the only Reformed Evangelical to express reservations about Comer. Tim Challies may have been the first to sound the alarm about the Comer project in his September 2024 review<\/a> of Practicing the Way<\/em>. In what has become a repeated refrain among later Reformed Evangelical critiques, Challies alerted readers to the \u201cunderstanding appeal\u201d of Practicing the Way<\/em>. The way this gets coded, for people who are in danger of falling under the spell of Comerism, is that there is a \u201cgnostic\u201d quality to his ideas. Comerism appeals broadly to seekers and those who fall in what some Reformed Evangelicals might cast as more superficial streams of evangelicalism. His ideas resonate with the modern imagination while being subversive to traditional Reformed Protestantism.[8]<\/a><\/p>\nIt is his cryptic understanding of the gospel and objection to PSA that initially aroused Challies\u2019s suspicion:<\/p>\n
\nComer writes often about the gospel and expresses the importance of telling others about it. He is somewhat vague about the content of his gospel, though he makes it clear that it is not the gospel of Evangelical churches\u2014a gospel of penal substitutionary atonement.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Challies is similarly concerned by how Comerism leads to a spiritual-but-not-religious mindset. He conveyed that Comerism \u201cseems to exclude what we might understand as a traditional local church\u201d, hinting at a congruence between Comerism and the Emergent Church movement. Suffusing his readers with a fear that the specter of the Emergent Church has once again fallen upon them, Challies plays on anxieties:<\/p>\n
\nI would not necessarily say that Comer is creating Emergent 2.0, but I do see that he is advocating something that expresses similar concerns and rejects similar components of Evangelicalism, and something that shares similar influences and is built on a similar foundation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In other words, while not identical to the Emergent Church, Comerism must be a near cousin to it.[9]<\/a><\/p>\nIn March of 2025, the Reformed Evangelical resource ministry 9Marks published Daniel Schreiner\u2019s review<\/a> of Practicing the Way<\/em>. Early on, the review included a sharp warning to censure Comer\u2019s influence. \u201cPracticing the Way <\/em>departs so much from biblical faithfulness and emphasis that I warn my church members against reading it and following its advice.\u201d Schreiner continued by offering nine warnings for those who go ahead and read Practicing the Way <\/em>anyway. Each warning recognizes a general premise that is true about Comer\u2019s approach or arguments, but then subtly turns to how Comer did not quite say it how one of their own Reformed Evangelicals would have or how Schreiner himself would have.[10]<\/a><\/p>\nAnother leading Reformed Evangelical, Kevin DeYoung, similarly published a lengthy cautionary review<\/a> of Practicing the Way <\/em>in late May of 2025, less than a month after ECPA awarded it the Christian Book of the Year. DeYoung\u2019s review situated Comer within the Renovar\u00e9 tradition founded by Richard Foster in 1988, and it demonstrated Comer\u2019s many connections and dependence upon spiritual gurus like Dallas Willard, Henri Nouwen, Eugene Peterson, John Ortberg, Kallistos Ware and others from mainstream, Anabaptist, and Eastern-Orthodox streams of evangelicalism.[11]<\/a><\/p>\nDeYoung expressed concern about Comer\u2019s use of ideas like \u201cthe Way\u201d and \u201capprenticeship.\u201d In Practicing the Way<\/em>, Comer employed his understanding of these ideas to repair and redefine foundational Christian notions that post-reformation Protestantism had distorted. To DeYoung and other Reformed Evangelicals, Comer conveys a gnostic-like awareness (read secret understanding) as he retrieves primitive Christian mysticism for a simple way of discipleship that emphasizes spiritual habits of Christian living.<\/p>\nDeYoung stridently warned Reformed readers about Comer. While Comer\u2019s understanding of Christian discipleship appears to map readily across multiple traditions, DeYoung cautioned that Comer is not Reformed nor are his ideas.<\/p>\n
\nI know that most people reading John Mark Comer are likely not Reformed, so many of them will not care whether that label applies to his project (in fact, they may be glad if it doesn\u2019t!). But most people who read Kevin DeYoung probably are Reformed. And to those people I want to underline\u2014gently, but clearly\u2014that Practicing the Way<\/em> is not a Reformed approach to spiritual formation. If the genius of the book is that it can be laid on top of almost any broadly Christian tradition, that is also the book\u2019s biggest danger.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nDeYoung\u2019s review was platformed by like-minded Reformed Evangelicals Denny Burk<\/a> and Justin Taylor<\/a>, who are among those amplifying a message that Comer\u2019s ideas are heterodox and harmful to the renewal of evangelical Christianity.[12]<\/a><\/p>\nFor those skeptical that this is part of the Reformed Evangelical project, heed Challies warning:<\/p>\n
\nThere is much in his book that is true and useful. Yet there is much that is false and unhelpful and therefore much to be concerned about. I am especially concerned that people who feel that longing for more\u2014that sense that there must be more to the Christian life than this\u2014will allow their disquiet to draw them into his teachings, into his practices, and ultimately, perhaps, right out of recognizable Christianity. What he offers is not merely a different perspective on the Christian life or an alternate set of practices, but a different gospel and ultimately a different faith.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Reformed Evangelicals have scrutinized and surveilled John Mark Comer for some time, and his recent Instagram post presented a tactical opportunity to attack him.<\/p>\n
Comer\u2019s Apology and Rishmawy\u2019s Appeal<\/strong><\/p>\nFollowing the blowback from the initial Instagram post, Comer circled around with an Instagram Story issuing an apology for his \u201ccarelessly worded post\u201d. He went on to clarify his views with a thoughtful confession of belief in biblical and creedal authority. He succinctly interwove a holistic understanding of the trinitarian redemptive act from incarnation to crucifixion. Finally, he articulated his concerns about Western views of atonement theory.<\/p>\n![\"Comer's](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/168\/2025\/08\/ComerPSAStory.png\")
<\/a>Comer\u2019s Penal Substitutionary Atonement Story on Instagram (August 16, 2025). Courtesy of Derek Rishmawy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nNot long after which, TGC published an appeal from Derek Rishmawy<\/a>. Rather than marginalizing or scorning Comer, Rishmawy offered a historical and theological argument clarifying the merit and necessity of PSA. Rishmawy clearly wished to de-escalate and beckon Comer to recognize an \u201cevangelical\u201d and \u201corthodox\u201d [read these as synonymous] understanding of atonement theory, one that necessitates adherence to crucicentrism. So not all Reformed Evangelicals are trying to ostracize Comer.<\/p>\nNonetheless, other Reformed Evangelicals do not believe that Comer meets their criteria of evangelical orthodoxy. Since Comer is not a crucicentrist, he forfeits the right to a seat at the center of evangelical power and leadership. Rather, these Reformed Evangelicals seek to exile him to the margins of evangelical authority. They have hinted that he is on the pathway to universalism and denying the existence of hell. In other words, he is the second coming of Rob Bell.<\/p>\n
In recent digital tracts against Comer, Reformed Evangelicals have cast him as a wolf in sheep\u2019s clothing who lurks to ensnare and lull away a sleepy Reformed Evangelical flock from Reformed Evangelical orthodoxy. While the ostensible premise for Comer\u2019s censure is doctrinal infidelity to PSA, one might credit an amorphous gnostic texture from definitional ambiguities and innovations in his thought on apprenticeship to \u201cthe Way\u201d, and a fear that he reintroduces the specter of the Emergent Church as two further causes for Reformed Evangelicals to object to the rise of this new evangelical darling.<\/p>\n
[1]<\/a> Denny Burk (@dennyburk), \u201cJust saw this on Instagram from John Mark Comer. He\u2019s Celebrating what he believes to be the downfall of Jesus\u2019 penal substitutionary atonement.\u201d, X, 08\/09\/2025, https:\/\/x.com\/DennyBurk\/status\/1954323989721133333<\/a>. Denny Burk (@dennyburk), \u201cYes, I know. I have seen what you are arguing in the book. In any case, my post isn\u2019t about your book. It\u2019s about Comer\u2026\u201d, X, 08\/09\/2025, https:\/\/x.com\/DennyBurk\/status\/1954392138369679689<\/a>. Andrew Remington Rillera, Lamb of the Free<\/em>: Recovering the Varied Sacrificial Understanding of Jesus\u2019s Death (Cascade, 2024).<\/p>\n[2]<\/a> See Mark A. Noll, \u201cIntroduction,\u201d Evangelicals<\/em>, edited by Mark A. Noll, David W. Bebbington, and George M. Marsden (Eerdmans, 2019), 6, 34. David W. Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain<\/em> (Unwin and Hyman, 1989), 1\u201317.<\/p>\n[3]<\/a> Anselm, Cur Deus Homo<\/em> in Anselm of Canterbury: The Major Works<\/em>, Oxford World\u2019s Classics (Oxford University Press, 2008). Joseph T. Cochran, \u201cRedemption in Hebrews\u201d in Jonathan Edwards and Hebrew: A Harmonic Interpretation of Scripture<\/em>, New Directions in Jonathan Edwards Studies, Volume 9, edited by Harry S. Stout, Kenneth P. Minkema, and Adriaan C. Neele (Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2025), 177\u201397.<\/p>\n[4]<\/a> For a helpful overview of various analogies of atonement, see James Beilby and Paul R. Eddy, editors, The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views<\/em> (Intervarsity Press, 2006). Also see Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ<\/em> (Eerdmans, 2017). On merchant capitalism, see James Fulcher, Capitalism: A Very Short Introduction<\/em>, Second Edition (Oxford University Press, 2015), 1ff.<\/p>\n[5]<\/a> On Comer\u2019s complicated relationship to evangelicalism, see John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way<\/em>, 35\u201336.<\/p>\n[6]<\/a> Molly Worthen, Spellbound: How Charisma Shaped the American History from the Puritans to Trump <\/em>(Forum Books, 2025).<\/p>\n[7]<\/a> See Bridgetown.church and practicingtheway.org. John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry<\/em> (Waterbrook, 2019). John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way<\/em> (WaterBrook, 2024).<\/p>\n[8]<\/a> Tim Challies, \u201cJohn Mark Comer and Practicing the Way\u201d, challies.com, September 25, 2024, https:\/\/www.challies.com\/book-reviews\/john-mark-comer-and-practicing-the-way\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n[9]<\/a> Tim Challies, \u201cJohn Mark Comer and Practicing the Way\u201d, challies.com, September 25, 2024, https:\/\/www.challies.com\/book-reviews\/john-mark-comer-and-practicing-the-way\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n[10]<\/a> Daniel Schreiner, \u201cEngaging with \u2018Practicing the Way\u2019: Nine Thoughts on John Mark Comer\u2019s Best Seller,\u201d 9Marks.org, March 12, 2025, https:\/\/www.9marks.org\/review\/engaging-with-practicing-the-way-nine-thoughts-on-john-mark-comers-bestseller\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n[11]<\/a> Kevin DeYoung, \u201cIs This the Way? A Review of Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer\u201d, ClearlyReformed.org, May 21, 2025, https:\/\/clearlyreformed.org\/is-this-the-waya-review-of-practicing-the-way-by-john-mark-comer\/<\/a>. Also see, Kevin DeYoung (@RevKevDeYoung), \u201cI can understand why many people are drawn to the mystical tradition found in Comer\u2019s \u2018Practicing the Way.\u2019\u201d, X, May 21, 2025, https:\/\/x.com\/RevKevDeYoung\/status\/1925143304212983935<\/a>.<\/p>\n[12]<\/a> Kevin DeYoung, \u201cIs This the Way? A Review of Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer\u201d, ClearlyReformed.org, May 21, 2025, https:\/\/clearlyreformed.org\/is-this-the-waya-review-of-practicing-the-way-by-john-mark-comer\/<\/a>. Denny Burk (@DennyBurk), \u201cI don\u2019t know what Comer believes about judgment and hell, but he often goes out of his way to explain away notions of divine wrath and punishment.\u201d X, May 21, 2025, https:\/\/x.com\/DennyBurk\/status\/1925151045560209641<\/a>. Justin Taylor (@between2worlds), \u201cKevin DeYoung reviews John Mark Comer\u2019s popular Practicing the Way\u201d, X, May 21, 2025, https:\/\/x.com\/between2worlds\/status\/1925182175277670812<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reformed Evangelical Concerns About Comer Escalate Over a hot summer August weekend in 2025, evangelicals on X engaged in a lively conversation about crucicentrism when Denny Burk went after John Mark Comer for his views on Penal-Substitutionary Atonement (PSA). Burk expressed less immediate concern with the biblical, theological, and social implications of Andrew Remington Rillera\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4665,"featured_media":122219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12068,43,8571],"tags":[12065,5212,12062,8288,11741,503],"class_list":["post-122213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comer","category-evangelicalism","category-joey-cochran","tag-comerism","tag-denny-burk","tag-john-mark-comer","tag-kevin-deyoung","tag-reformed-evangelicals","tag-tim-challies"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Explore the debate on crucicentrism, atonement theory, and shifting centers of evangelical influence.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2025\/08\/reformed-evangelical-concerns-about-comer-escalate\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2025\/08\/reformed-evangelical-concerns-about-comer-escalate\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2025\/08\/reformed-evangelical-concerns-about-comer-escalate\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"John Mark Comer, Penal Substitution, and Evangelical Power"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/","name":"Anxious Bench","description":"The Relevance of Religious History for Today","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/5cb74b129ba1cc058daee65958950c43","name":"Joey Cochran","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/86eecf9fa76eb233d929964569f9cdce?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/86eecf9fa76eb233d929964569f9cdce?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Joey Cochran"},"description":"Joey Cochran (Th.M., Dallas Seminary; Ph.D., Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) teaches at Purdue University, Northwest. He is the author of Jonathan Edwards and Hebrews (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, January 2025) and is writing the forthcoming Brand Evangelicals (Brazos Press, 2026). In addition to expertise on Jonathan Edwards, Cochran has research interests across the Atlantic World, which include transatlantic histories of witch-hunting, indigenous contact between Natives and colonial New England missionaries, early transatlantic revivalism and evangelical history, and the long history of American Christian intellectual thought. He has contributed to Jonathan Edwards Studies, Fides et Historia, The Bulletin of Ecclesial Theology, and Christianity Today.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/author\/jcochran\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4665"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
However, more recent atonement studies have delivered theologians from adhering to one view of the atonement in exclusion to others. These studies recognize that numerous scriptures across the canon of the Old and New Testament and theologians from the canon of the Great Tradition have articulated multiple analogies and theories of atonement that are acceptable for an orthodox program of theology.<\/p>\n
Anselm is an example of one who integrated multiple analogies of the atonement. While Cur Deus Homo<\/em> presented satisfaction theory of the atonement as Anselm\u2019s distinctive contribution to the development of this doctrine, this publication evidences a robust understanding of both PSA and ransom theory. In my own research on Jonathan Edwards\u2019s interpretation of the Epistle to the Hebrews<\/a>, I demonstrated that Edwards, like Anselm, favored a satisfaction view of the atonement while integrating penal-substitution and a modified ransom theory into his wider program of atonement theology.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n Other experts on atonement theory validate the advantage of integrating multiple analogies of this doctrine. From Anselm to Aul\u00e9n and beyond, scholars have believed that each analogy expresses a recognizable facet of God\u2019s program of redemption. Collectively these theories have rehabilitated a cosmic understanding of God\u2019s redemptive and restorative plan for the social order of his creation and creatures. These studies have also revealed the historical and social peculiarities and potential shortcomings of PSA, demonstrating how its hegemonic influence arose in the immediate religious context of Europe\u2019s post-reformed reformed scholasticism. This context ran contemporaneous with the expansion of European empire and colonialism, which birthed what economic theorists recognize as the era of merchant capitalism.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n Nonetheless, a number of Reformed Evangelicals have gone on record as stubbornly championing that orthodox fidelity demands a primary if not an exclusive embrace of PSA. Thus, PSA has become a shibboleth for Reformed Evangelicals and an essential doctrinal boundary for determining evangelical fidelity. Policing fidelity to this doctrine has become a technique for Reformed Evangelicals to decide who is inside and outside the bounds of evangelical orthodoxy, and whether one merits a seat at the table of evangelical power and authority.<\/p>\n Hence why John Mark Comer has been assailed by certain Reformed Evangelicals. Comer\u2019s allergy to PSA and his celebration of this doctrine\u2019s purported downfall has revealed a potential vulnerability to exploit and undermine his influence, or at least this appears to be the tactic employed by a few key Reformed Evangelicals. These Reformed Evangelicals perceive Comerism as a threat to the gospel and their evangelical power and influence. Is it because Comer admits to having a complicated relationship to evangelicalism and an inclination to distance himself from the movement? Or is it because Comer has become something of a darling to many who call themselves evangelicals? It\u2019s plausible that the recent rise in Comer\u2019s stock indicates a concomitant fall in the stock of Reformed Evangelicals. Reformed Evangelicals are keenly aware of this situation and feel threatened by it. [5]<\/a><\/p>\n Comer possesses what historian Molly Worthen has recently argued is a powerful trait of leaders: charisma. His influence has put many, who broadly identify as evangelical, under his spell. Some among the Reformed Evangelicals are especially concerned that a new center of evangelical power is beginning to gather around him.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n The meteoric success of Comer\u2019s ideas and publications has become evident over the past decade. Comer founded Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon and pastored the church for nearly two decades. In 2021, he passed on pastoral leadership of Bridgetown to one of his apprentice pastors and began leading the resourcing organization he had founded, Practicing the Way resources<\/a>. He has published several bestselling works on spiritual living, including the 2019 ECPA (Evangelical Christian Publishers Association) bestseller, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry<\/a><\/em>, and the 2024 New York Times bestseller, Practicing the Way<\/a><\/em>, which was awarded ECPA\u2019s 2025 Christian Book of the Year. This latter publication distills and diffuses his model of discipleship widely to evangelical audiences and has been the target of recent Reformed Evangelical ire.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n Burk is not the only Reformed Evangelical to express reservations about Comer. Tim Challies may have been the first to sound the alarm about the Comer project in his September 2024 review<\/a> of Practicing the Way<\/em>. In what has become a repeated refrain among later Reformed Evangelical critiques, Challies alerted readers to the \u201cunderstanding appeal\u201d of Practicing the Way<\/em>. The way this gets coded, for people who are in danger of falling under the spell of Comerism, is that there is a \u201cgnostic\u201d quality to his ideas. Comerism appeals broadly to seekers and those who fall in what some Reformed Evangelicals might cast as more superficial streams of evangelicalism. His ideas resonate with the modern imagination while being subversive to traditional Reformed Protestantism.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n It is his cryptic understanding of the gospel and objection to PSA that initially aroused Challies\u2019s suspicion:<\/p>\n Comer writes often about the gospel and expresses the importance of telling others about it. He is somewhat vague about the content of his gospel, though he makes it clear that it is not the gospel of Evangelical churches\u2014a gospel of penal substitutionary atonement.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Challies is similarly concerned by how Comerism leads to a spiritual-but-not-religious mindset. He conveyed that Comerism \u201cseems to exclude what we might understand as a traditional local church\u201d, hinting at a congruence between Comerism and the Emergent Church movement. Suffusing his readers with a fear that the specter of the Emergent Church has once again fallen upon them, Challies plays on anxieties:<\/p>\n I would not necessarily say that Comer is creating Emergent 2.0, but I do see that he is advocating something that expresses similar concerns and rejects similar components of Evangelicalism, and something that shares similar influences and is built on a similar foundation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In other words, while not identical to the Emergent Church, Comerism must be a near cousin to it.[9]<\/a><\/p>\n In March of 2025, the Reformed Evangelical resource ministry 9Marks published Daniel Schreiner\u2019s review<\/a> of Practicing the Way<\/em>. Early on, the review included a sharp warning to censure Comer\u2019s influence. \u201cPracticing the Way <\/em>departs so much from biblical faithfulness and emphasis that I warn my church members against reading it and following its advice.\u201d Schreiner continued by offering nine warnings for those who go ahead and read Practicing the Way <\/em>anyway. Each warning recognizes a general premise that is true about Comer\u2019s approach or arguments, but then subtly turns to how Comer did not quite say it how one of their own Reformed Evangelicals would have or how Schreiner himself would have.[10]<\/a><\/p>\n Another leading Reformed Evangelical, Kevin DeYoung, similarly published a lengthy cautionary review<\/a> of Practicing the Way <\/em>in late May of 2025, less than a month after ECPA awarded it the Christian Book of the Year. DeYoung\u2019s review situated Comer within the Renovar\u00e9 tradition founded by Richard Foster in 1988, and it demonstrated Comer\u2019s many connections and dependence upon spiritual gurus like Dallas Willard, Henri Nouwen, Eugene Peterson, John Ortberg, Kallistos Ware and others from mainstream, Anabaptist, and Eastern-Orthodox streams of evangelicalism.[11]<\/a><\/p>\n DeYoung expressed concern about Comer\u2019s use of ideas like \u201cthe Way\u201d and \u201capprenticeship.\u201d In Practicing the Way<\/em>, Comer employed his understanding of these ideas to repair and redefine foundational Christian notions that post-reformation Protestantism had distorted. To DeYoung and other Reformed Evangelicals, Comer conveys a gnostic-like awareness (read secret understanding) as he retrieves primitive Christian mysticism for a simple way of discipleship that emphasizes spiritual habits of Christian living.<\/p>\n DeYoung stridently warned Reformed readers about Comer. While Comer\u2019s understanding of Christian discipleship appears to map readily across multiple traditions, DeYoung cautioned that Comer is not Reformed nor are his ideas.<\/p>\n I know that most people reading John Mark Comer are likely not Reformed, so many of them will not care whether that label applies to his project (in fact, they may be glad if it doesn\u2019t!). But most people who read Kevin DeYoung probably are Reformed. And to those people I want to underline\u2014gently, but clearly\u2014that Practicing the Way<\/em> is not a Reformed approach to spiritual formation. If the genius of the book is that it can be laid on top of almost any broadly Christian tradition, that is also the book\u2019s biggest danger.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n DeYoung\u2019s review was platformed by like-minded Reformed Evangelicals Denny Burk<\/a> and Justin Taylor<\/a>, who are among those amplifying a message that Comer\u2019s ideas are heterodox and harmful to the renewal of evangelical Christianity.[12]<\/a><\/p>\n For those skeptical that this is part of the Reformed Evangelical project, heed Challies warning:<\/p>\n There is much in his book that is true and useful. Yet there is much that is false and unhelpful and therefore much to be concerned about. I am especially concerned that people who feel that longing for more\u2014that sense that there must be more to the Christian life than this\u2014will allow their disquiet to draw them into his teachings, into his practices, and ultimately, perhaps, right out of recognizable Christianity. What he offers is not merely a different perspective on the Christian life or an alternate set of practices, but a different gospel and ultimately a different faith.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Reformed Evangelicals have scrutinized and surveilled John Mark Comer for some time, and his recent Instagram post presented a tactical opportunity to attack him.<\/p>\n Comer\u2019s Apology and Rishmawy\u2019s Appeal<\/strong><\/p>\n Following the blowback from the initial Instagram post, Comer circled around with an Instagram Story issuing an apology for his \u201ccarelessly worded post\u201d. He went on to clarify his views with a thoughtful confession of belief in biblical and creedal authority. He succinctly interwove a holistic understanding of the trinitarian redemptive act from incarnation to crucifixion. Finally, he articulated his concerns about Western views of atonement theory.<\/p>\n Not long after which, TGC published an appeal from Derek Rishmawy<\/a>. Rather than marginalizing or scorning Comer, Rishmawy offered a historical and theological argument clarifying the merit and necessity of PSA. Rishmawy clearly wished to de-escalate and beckon Comer to recognize an \u201cevangelical\u201d and \u201corthodox\u201d [read these as synonymous] understanding of atonement theory, one that necessitates adherence to crucicentrism. So not all Reformed Evangelicals are trying to ostracize Comer.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, other Reformed Evangelicals do not believe that Comer meets their criteria of evangelical orthodoxy. Since Comer is not a crucicentrist, he forfeits the right to a seat at the center of evangelical power and leadership. Rather, these Reformed Evangelicals seek to exile him to the margins of evangelical authority. They have hinted that he is on the pathway to universalism and denying the existence of hell. In other words, he is the second coming of Rob Bell.<\/p>\n In recent digital tracts against Comer, Reformed Evangelicals have cast him as a wolf in sheep\u2019s clothing who lurks to ensnare and lull away a sleepy Reformed Evangelical flock from Reformed Evangelical orthodoxy. While the ostensible premise for Comer\u2019s censure is doctrinal infidelity to PSA, one might credit an amorphous gnostic texture from definitional ambiguities and innovations in his thought on apprenticeship to \u201cthe Way\u201d, and a fear that he reintroduces the specter of the Emergent Church as two further causes for Reformed Evangelicals to object to the rise of this new evangelical darling.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Denny Burk (@dennyburk), \u201cJust saw this on Instagram from John Mark Comer. He\u2019s Celebrating what he believes to be the downfall of Jesus\u2019 penal substitutionary atonement.\u201d, X, 08\/09\/2025, https:\/\/x.com\/DennyBurk\/status\/1954323989721133333<\/a>. Denny Burk (@dennyburk), \u201cYes, I know. I have seen what you are arguing in the book. In any case, my post isn\u2019t about your book. It\u2019s about Comer\u2026\u201d, X, 08\/09\/2025, https:\/\/x.com\/DennyBurk\/status\/1954392138369679689<\/a>. Andrew Remington Rillera, Lamb of the Free<\/em>: Recovering the Varied Sacrificial Understanding of Jesus\u2019s Death (Cascade, 2024).<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> See Mark A. Noll, \u201cIntroduction,\u201d Evangelicals<\/em>, edited by Mark A. Noll, David W. Bebbington, and George M. Marsden (Eerdmans, 2019), 6, 34. David W. Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain<\/em> (Unwin and Hyman, 1989), 1\u201317.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Anselm, Cur Deus Homo<\/em> in Anselm of Canterbury: The Major Works<\/em>, Oxford World\u2019s Classics (Oxford University Press, 2008). Joseph T. Cochran, \u201cRedemption in Hebrews\u201d in Jonathan Edwards and Hebrew: A Harmonic Interpretation of Scripture<\/em>, New Directions in Jonathan Edwards Studies, Volume 9, edited by Harry S. Stout, Kenneth P. Minkema, and Adriaan C. Neele (Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2025), 177\u201397.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> For a helpful overview of various analogies of atonement, see James Beilby and Paul R. Eddy, editors, The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views<\/em> (Intervarsity Press, 2006). Also see Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ<\/em> (Eerdmans, 2017). On merchant capitalism, see James Fulcher, Capitalism: A Very Short Introduction<\/em>, Second Edition (Oxford University Press, 2015), 1ff.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> On Comer\u2019s complicated relationship to evangelicalism, see John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way<\/em>, 35\u201336.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Molly Worthen, Spellbound: How Charisma Shaped the American History from the Puritans to Trump <\/em>(Forum Books, 2025).<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> See Bridgetown.church and practicingtheway.org. John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry<\/em> (Waterbrook, 2019). John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way<\/em> (WaterBrook, 2024).<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> Tim Challies, \u201cJohn Mark Comer and Practicing the Way\u201d, challies.com, September 25, 2024, https:\/\/www.challies.com\/book-reviews\/john-mark-comer-and-practicing-the-way\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> Tim Challies, \u201cJohn Mark Comer and Practicing the Way\u201d, challies.com, September 25, 2024, https:\/\/www.challies.com\/book-reviews\/john-mark-comer-and-practicing-the-way\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n [10]<\/a> Daniel Schreiner, \u201cEngaging with \u2018Practicing the Way\u2019: Nine Thoughts on John Mark Comer\u2019s Best Seller,\u201d 9Marks.org, March 12, 2025, https:\/\/www.9marks.org\/review\/engaging-with-practicing-the-way-nine-thoughts-on-john-mark-comers-bestseller\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n [11]<\/a> Kevin DeYoung, \u201cIs This the Way? A Review of Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer\u201d, ClearlyReformed.org, May 21, 2025, https:\/\/clearlyreformed.org\/is-this-the-waya-review-of-practicing-the-way-by-john-mark-comer\/<\/a>. Also see, Kevin DeYoung (@RevKevDeYoung), \u201cI can understand why many people are drawn to the mystical tradition found in Comer\u2019s \u2018Practicing the Way.\u2019\u201d, X, May 21, 2025, https:\/\/x.com\/RevKevDeYoung\/status\/1925143304212983935<\/a>.<\/p>\n [12]<\/a> Kevin DeYoung, \u201cIs This the Way? A Review of Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer\u201d, ClearlyReformed.org, May 21, 2025, https:\/\/clearlyreformed.org\/is-this-the-waya-review-of-practicing-the-way-by-john-mark-comer\/<\/a>. Denny Burk (@DennyBurk), \u201cI don\u2019t know what Comer believes about judgment and hell, but he often goes out of his way to explain away notions of divine wrath and punishment.\u201d X, May 21, 2025, https:\/\/x.com\/DennyBurk\/status\/1925151045560209641<\/a>. Justin Taylor (@between2worlds), \u201cKevin DeYoung reviews John Mark Comer\u2019s popular Practicing the Way\u201d, X, May 21, 2025, https:\/\/x.com\/between2worlds\/status\/1925182175277670812<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reformed Evangelical Concerns About Comer Escalate Over a hot summer August weekend in 2025, evangelicals on X engaged in a lively conversation about crucicentrism when Denny Burk went after John Mark Comer for his views on Penal-Substitutionary Atonement (PSA). Burk expressed less immediate concern with the biblical, theological, and social implications of Andrew Remington Rillera\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4665,"featured_media":122219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12068,43,8571],"tags":[12065,5212,12062,8288,11741,503],"class_list":["post-122213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comer","category-evangelicalism","category-joey-cochran","tag-comerism","tag-denny-burk","tag-john-mark-comer","tag-kevin-deyoung","tag-reformed-evangelicals","tag-tim-challies"],"yoast_head":"\nJohn Mark Comer\u2019s Rise<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Reformed Evangelical Critiques of Comer<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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