The Mercersburg Theology

The Mercersburg Theology

Author: James Hastings Nichols

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2004-01-08

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 1556353162

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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.


A Companion to the Mercersburg Theology

A Companion to the Mercersburg Theology

Author: William B. Evans

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2019-05-09

Total Pages: 116

ISBN-13: 1498207456

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This volume tells the story of a mid-nineteenth-century theological movement emanating from the small German Reformed Seminary in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, where John Williamson Nevin and Philip Schaff taught. There they explored themes--such as the centrality of the incarnation for theology, the importance of the church as the body of Christ and the sphere of salvation, liturgical and sacramental worship, and the organic historical development of the church and its doctrines--that continue to resonate today with many who seek a deeper and more historically informed expression of the Christian faith that is both evangelical and catholic.


The Mercersburg Theology and the Quest for Reformed Catholicity

The Mercersburg Theology and the Quest for Reformed Catholicity

Author: W. Bradford Littlejohn

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2009-07-01

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 1621892476

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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.


Thinking with the Church

Thinking with the Church

Author: B. A. Gerrish

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 2010-02-22

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 080286452X

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Thinking with the Church offers twelve substantial essays from B. A. Gerrish, renowned historian, theologian, and Calvin scholar. In this collection, he focuses on the Calvinist tradition and the interpretation of historical theology as a critical engagement with past leaders of Christian thought and their opponents. / In the first two parts the essays focus on philosophical theology, considering questions such as What is religion? and What is revelation? Part three turns directly to historical interpretation of the Calvinist tradition, viewed in the very diverse work of three of its foremost representatives Calvin himself, Friedrich Schleiermacher, and Charles Hodge. Finally, in the fourth and fifth sections Gerrish deals with particular Christian doctrines in which the diversity of the Calvinist tradition is apparent the atonement, the Eucharist, and grace. Historical interpretation is the foundation throughout, but Gerrish does not exclude the critical engagement that belongs to the task of historical theology.


Font of Pardon and New Life

Font of Pardon and New Life

Author: Lyle D. Bierma

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021-06-15

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 0197553893

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Font of Pardon and New Life is a study of the historical development and impact of John Calvin's doctrine of baptism, both adult (or believer) baptism and infant baptism. Did Calvin intend to teach a kind of baptismal forgiveness and regeneration, that is, did he believe that the external sign of baptism actually conveys the spiritual realities it signifies? If baptism does serve in some way as an instrument of divine grace for Calvin, what then are the roles of the Word, the Holy Spirit, divine election, and individual faith? Are spiritual blessings conferred only in adult (believer) baptism or also in the baptism of infants? Did Calvin's teaching on baptismal efficacy remain constant throughout his lifetime, or did it undergo significant change? What impact did it have on the Reformed confessional tradition that followed him? Lyle D. Bierma approaches these questions by examining Calvin's writings on baptism in their entirety, proceeding chronologically through Calvin's life and writings including his Institutes, commentaries on the Bible, catechisms, polemical treatises, and consensus documents. Bierma concludes that Calvin understood baptism as a means or instrument of both assurance and grace. His view underwent some change and development over the course of his life but not to the extent that some in the past have suggested. The overall trajectory of his baptismal theology was one of increasing clarity and refinement of basic themes already present in incipient form in the Institutes of 1536.


The Principle of Protestantism

The Principle of Protestantism

Author: Philip Schaff

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2004-05-03

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 1592446787

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This series is the first modern edition of the main body of Mercersburg theology. It includes all the important works, large and small, of John W. Nevin, Philip Schaff, and lesser Mercersburg figures, covering the significant doctrines and issues of the movement. Each volume includes critical or explanatory notes, relevant introductions, and bibliographies of modern works. With few exceptions, the early texts are reproduced in unabridged form. Since the original Mercersburg materials are now extremely scarce, and almost impossible to assemble in their entirety, the Lancaster Series forms an invaluable resource for historians of American Christianity and, in particular, for serious students of theology. It will commend itself to all those who wish to understand the nineteenth-century background of contemporary Protestantism. Both of the Mercersburg theologians, Schaff and Nevin, looked forward to a new age of the church - an age which would call into unity and catholicity all the divisions of the body of Christ.


The Old Protestantism and the New

The Old Protestantism and the New

Author: Brian Gerrish

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2004-11-11

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 056708048X

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A study of the fundamental religious ideas of the Reformation and their relationship to liberal Protestantism.


The Doctrine of Scripture

The Doctrine of Scripture

Author: Brad East

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2021-08-27

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 1532664982

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When Holy Scripture is read aloud in the liturgy, the church confesses with joy and thanksgiving that it has heard the word of the Lord. What does it mean to make that confession? And why does it occasion praise? The doctrine of Scripture is a theological investigation into those and related questions, and this book is an exploration of that doctrine. It argues backward from the church’s liturgical practice, presupposing the truth of the Christian confession: namely, that the canon does in fact mediate the living word of the risen Christ to and for his people. What must be true of the sacred texts of Old and New Testament alike for such confession, and the practices of worship in which they are embedded, to be warranted? By way of an answer, the book examines six aspects of the doctrine of Scripture: its source, nature, attributes, ends, interpretation, and authority. The result is a catholic and ecumenical presentation of the historic understanding of the Bible common to the people of God across the centuries, an understanding rooted in the church’s sacred tradition, in service to the gospel, and redounding to the glory of the triune God.


Worship, Tradition, and Engagement

Worship, Tradition, and Engagement

Author: David S. Dockery

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2018-04-20

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 1498298508

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Worship, Tradition, and Engagement is designed to honor the life, scholarship, and influence of Timothy George, the founding dean of Beeson Divinity School. Timothy George is one of the premier evangelical scholars and leading statesmen of this generation. This volume reflects on the many themes of Dean George's life and ministry, including theology, church history, gospel, church, worship, tradition, and engagement. The book, edited by David S. Dockery, James Earl Massey, and Robert Smith, Jr., includes essays by some of the most notable scholars and leaders of our day, including Kevin Vanhoozer, Robert P. George, Albert Mohler, Graham Cole, Gerald Bray, Elizabeth Newman, Richard Mouw, Thomas Guarino, Will Willimon, and several others. Each author makes a distinctive and significant contribution to this important project, bringing depth and breadth to this thematic volume designed to honor scholar and Christian leader, Timothy George.