The Mercersburg Theology and the Quest for Reformed Catholicity

The Mercersburg Theology and the Quest for Reformed Catholicity PDF Author: W. Bradford Littlejohn
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1606082418
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
In the mid nineteenth century, Reformed churchmen John Nevin and Philip Schaff launched a fierce attack on the reigning subjectivist and rationalist Protestantism of their day, giving birth to what is known as the "Mercersburg Theology." Their attempt to recover a high doctrine of the sacraments and the visible Church, among other things, led them into bitter controversy with Charles Hodge of Princeton Seminary, as well as several other prominent contemporaries. This book examines the contours of the disagreement between Mercersburg and Hodge, focusing on four loci in particular-Christology, ecclesiology, sacramentology, and church history. W. Bradford Littlejohn argues that, despite certain weaknesses in their theological method, the Mercersburg men offered a more robust and historically grounded paradigm for the Reformed faith than did Hodge. In the second part of the book, Littlejohn explores the value of the Mercersburg Theology as a bridgehead for ecumenical dialogue, uncovering parallels between Nevin's thought and prominent themes in Anglican, Catholic, and Orthodox theology, as well as recent debates within Reformed theology. This thorough study of one of the most creative movements in American theology offers an alluring vision of the quest for Reformed catholicity that is more relevant today than ever.

The Mercersburg Theology and the Quest for Reformed Catholicity

The Mercersburg Theology and the Quest for Reformed Catholicity PDF Author: W. Bradford Littlejohn
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1606082418
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 215

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the mid nineteenth century, Reformed churchmen John Nevin and Philip Schaff launched a fierce attack on the reigning subjectivist and rationalist Protestantism of their day, giving birth to what is known as the "Mercersburg Theology." Their attempt to recover a high doctrine of the sacraments and the visible Church, among other things, led them into bitter controversy with Charles Hodge of Princeton Seminary, as well as several other prominent contemporaries. This book examines the contours of the disagreement between Mercersburg and Hodge, focusing on four loci in particular-Christology, ecclesiology, sacramentology, and church history. W. Bradford Littlejohn argues that, despite certain weaknesses in their theological method, the Mercersburg men offered a more robust and historically grounded paradigm for the Reformed faith than did Hodge. In the second part of the book, Littlejohn explores the value of the Mercersburg Theology as a bridgehead for ecumenical dialogue, uncovering parallels between Nevin's thought and prominent themes in Anglican, Catholic, and Orthodox theology, as well as recent debates within Reformed theology. This thorough study of one of the most creative movements in American theology offers an alluring vision of the quest for Reformed catholicity that is more relevant today than ever.

The Principle of Protestantism as Related to the Present State of the Church

The Principle of Protestantism as Related to the Present State of the Church PDF Author: Philip Schaff
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Christian union
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description


The Mystical Presence

The Mystical Presence PDF Author: John Williamson Nevin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Lord's Supper
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description


The German Roots of Nineteenth-Century American Theology

The German Roots of Nineteenth-Century American Theology PDF Author: Annette G. Aubert
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199915326
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
This book explores the influences of German theology on Emanuel Gerhart and Charles Hodge, two Reformed theologians who addressed questions concerning method and atonement theology in light of modernism and new scientific theories.

John Williamson Nevin

John Williamson Nevin PDF Author: Darryl G. Hart
Publisher: P & R Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
This biography, written by a provocative, prolific historian, gives readers insights into Nevin's critique of the revivalist tradition and shows how it applies today. Hart recovers a nearly forgotten nineteenth-century theologian and demonstrates his ongoing relevance. This book is extensively documented, and includes a substantial bibliographical essay and an index. Nevin (1803-1886) taught at Mercersburg Seminary when he wrote The Anxious Bench (1843) and The Mystical Presence (1846), volumes dealing with revivalism and the Lord's Supper, respectively. The last ten years have seen a revival of interest in this theologian, who was a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and who substituted for Hodge during his two-year study-leave in Europe.

The Anxious Bench

The Anxious Bench PDF Author: John Williamson Nevin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Evangelistic work
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Book Description


Imputation and Impartation

Imputation and Impartation PDF Author: William B. Evans
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 160608478X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 311

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Book Description
This book explores the history of the theme of 'union with Christ' in the Reformed tradition. After chapters on the legacy of Calvin and Reformed Orthodoxy, the author uncovers three trajectories in American Reformed theology in which salvation as union with Christ is understood in remarkably different ways. The subsequent twentieth-century history of the theme is also explored. This detailed examination of New England Calvinism, Princeton Calvinism, and the Mercersburg Theology highlights the historic diversity present in Reformed thought, and the implications of that diversity for contemporary Evangelical and Reformed thought.

Incarnation and Sacrament

Incarnation and Sacrament PDF Author: Jonathan Bonomo
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1498272304
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 103

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Book Description
The nineteenth century Eucharistic controversy between Charles Hodge and John Williamson Nevin is an important episode in the history of American Christianity. Hodge and Nevin battled over issues that lie at the heart of Christian faith and piety, such as: Why did God become man? What bearing does the incarnation of Christ have on the redemption of the world? How are believers on earth united with the ascended Christ who is in heaven? Is Christ really present in the Lord's Supper? And if so, then how is he made to be present? These are just a few of the age-old questions that Charles Hodge and John W. Nevin sought to answer, and over which they came to vigorously contend. Incarnation and Sacrament provides an in-depth historical and theological analysis and assessment of the controversy that arose between these two great nineteenth century American theologians. By doing so, it aims to provide some illumination on the theological heritage of the Protestant churches in the United States of the twenty-first century.

The Mystical Presence

The Mystical Presence PDF Author: John W. Nevin
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 3752574925
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
Reprint of the original, first published in 1867.

The Mercersburg Theology

The Mercersburg Theology PDF Author: James Hastings Nichols
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1556353162
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
The Mercersburg theology was a protest against many of the ÒPuritan tendencies dominant in American religion in the mid-nineteenth century. Its spokesmen emphasized the catholic heritage in Protestantism and fostered the ecumenical hope of a reunion of Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, and Orthodoxy. They presented a high church sacramental conception, as opposed to the predominant revivalistic, individualistic, and sectarian habit of mind. The movement was generally disapproved as Romanizing and its popular influence was accordingly minimal. The two creative writers were John Williamson Nevin, the theologian, and Philip Schaff, the historian and liturgical scholar, who taught together at the college and seminary of the German Reformed Church at Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. Their books, tracts, and periodical articles had only a limited circulation and are no longer generally accessible, having been little regarded in the intervening years. The general stance of the Mercersburg men was parallel to that of the high church Lutherans of Germany and the Tractarians in the Church of England. The movement was the chief American counterpart to these developments, since the American Episcopalian disciples of the Tractarians could scarcely be compared to Nevin and Schaff in theological stature. The Americans were more philosophically oriented than the Anglo-Catholics, utilizing the concepts of Schelling and Hegel to interpret the classical doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation and to define the relation of private judgment to Church tradition. They were also mediators to America of much of the mid-nineteenth-century German theological scholarship. The Americans were also more conscious than the Tractarians of the implications for theology of the new historical consciousness prevalent in Germany. Schaff set forth the idea of the historical development in the same year as Newman's famous essay on the subject. But while the conception undercut the Tractarian position for Newman, the Mercersburg theology was built upon a parallel view. The evangelical catholicism of Mercersburg was most widely influential through the liturgy produced under Schaff's leadership, which has maintained a limited local continuity to this day.