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Mercersburg Theology Study Series #Volume 1
The Mystical Presence: And The Doctrine of the Reformed Church on the Lord's Supper
The Mystical Presence (1846), John Williamson Nevin's magnum opus, was an attempt to combat the sectarianism and subjectivism of nineteenth-century American religion by recovering the robust sacramental and incarnational theology of the Protestant Reformation, enriched with the categories of German idealism. In it, he makes the historical case for the spiritual real presence as the authentic Reformed doctrine of the Eucharist, and explains the theological and philosophical context that render the doctrine intelligible. The 1850 article "The Doctrine of the Reformed Church on the Lord's Supper" represents his response to his arch critic, Charles Hodge of Princeton Seminary, providing what is still considered a definitive historical treatment of Reformed eucharistic theology. Both texts demonstrate Nevin's immense erudition and theological creativity, contributing to our understanding not only of Reformed theology, but also of the unique milieu of nineteenth-century American religion.
The present critical edition carefully preserves the original text, while providing extensive introductions, annotations, and bibliography to orient the modern reader and facilitate further scholarship.
The Mercersburg Theology Study Series is an attempt to make available for the first time--in attractive, readable, and scholarly modern editions--the key writings of the nineteenth-century movement known as the Mercersburg Theology. An ambitious multi-year project, this aims to make an important contribution to the academic community and to the broader reading public, who may at last be properly introduced to this unique blend of American and European, Reformed and Catholic theology.
"No single book on sacramental thought from nineteenth-century America has attracted more attention in the past half century than The Mystical Presence . . . This new edition by Linden J. DeBie and W. Bradford Littlejohn clarifies [Nevin's] importance by placing his work in its American context, showing his engagement with European theologians, and locating him in his own theological tradition . . . Nevin's work will continue to make a mark, and this new edition brings to bear the latest scholarship."
-E. Brooks Holifield
Emory University
"Karl Barth's commentary on Romans was not the first bomb to fall on the playground of theologians. John Williamson Nevin's The Mystical Presence had a similar effect on the nineteenth-century American church. His appeal for a return to the sacramental views of the sixteenth-century Reformed confessions was a voice in the wilderness in an era of decidedly low-church sympathies. This wonderful new edition clearly reveals the relevance of Nevin's controversial book in both his day and ours."
-Keith A. Mathison
Reformation Bible College
Author:
John Williamson Nevin (1803-1886) was a leading nineteenth-century American theologian. Originally trained in the Presbyterian Church, he took up a teaching post at Mercersburg Seminary of the German Reformed Church in 1841, and spent the rest of his life teaching and writing in that denomination, though his controversial work brought him fame (and infamy) well beyond its borders.
Editor:
Linden J. DeBie has taught at Seton Hall University and New Brunswick Theological Seminary. He is the author of Speculative Theology and Common-Sense Religion: Mercersburg and the Conservative Roots of American Religion (Pickwick, 2008).
General Editor:
W. Bradford Littlejohn is currently completing a PhD in Theological from the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of The Mercersburg Theology and the Quest for Reformed Catholicity (Pickwick, 2009).
The present critical edition carefully preserves the original text, while providing extensive introductions, annotations, and bibliography to orient the modern reader and facilitate further scholarship.
The Mercersburg Theology Study Series is an attempt to make available for the first time--in attractive, readable, and scholarly modern editions--the key writings of the nineteenth-century movement known as the Mercersburg Theology. An ambitious multi-year project, this aims to make an important contribution to the academic community and to the broader reading public, who may at last be properly introduced to this unique blend of American and European, Reformed and Catholic theology.
"No single book on sacramental thought from nineteenth-century America has attracted more attention in the past half century than The Mystical Presence . . . This new edition by Linden J. DeBie and W. Bradford Littlejohn clarifies [Nevin's] importance by placing his work in its American context, showing his engagement with European theologians, and locating him in his own theological tradition . . . Nevin's work will continue to make a mark, and this new edition brings to bear the latest scholarship."
-E. Brooks Holifield
Emory University
"Karl Barth's commentary on Romans was not the first bomb to fall on the playground of theologians. John Williamson Nevin's The Mystical Presence had a similar effect on the nineteenth-century American church. His appeal for a return to the sacramental views of the sixteenth-century Reformed confessions was a voice in the wilderness in an era of decidedly low-church sympathies. This wonderful new edition clearly reveals the relevance of Nevin's controversial book in both his day and ours."
-Keith A. Mathison
Reformation Bible College
Author:
John Williamson Nevin (1803-1886) was a leading nineteenth-century American theologian. Originally trained in the Presbyterian Church, he took up a teaching post at Mercersburg Seminary of the German Reformed Church in 1841, and spent the rest of his life teaching and writing in that denomination, though his controversial work brought him fame (and infamy) well beyond its borders.
Editor:
Linden J. DeBie has taught at Seton Hall University and New Brunswick Theological Seminary. He is the author of Speculative Theology and Common-Sense Religion: Mercersburg and the Conservative Roots of American Religion (Pickwick, 2008).
General Editor:
W. Bradford Littlejohn is currently completing a PhD in Theological from the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of The Mercersburg Theology and the Quest for Reformed Catholicity (Pickwick, 2009).
- GenresTheologyEcclesiology
386 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 25, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 12, 2020
This volume contains both Nevin’s Mystical Presence and extracts from his debate with Hodge (including some comments by Hodge).
Part 1: The Mystical Presence
Argument: if the Incarnation is the fact and principle of a new supernatural order of life, then the church can be no abstraction.
Outward social worship is essential to piety.
Chapter 1: The Reformed or Calvinistic Doctrine of the Lord’s Supper
Nevin’s burden is that the Supper cannot be separated from the life-giving Person of Christ, and as such it cannot be an abstraction from the church. Of course, Nevin will also avoid any claim to eating the local humanity of Christ. Our life as a whole cannot be separated from how we commune with our savior.
In the first chapter Nevin says we are “mystically inserted into Christ.” I’m not sure what he means by that. I understand why people chant “pantheist” when they read Nevin. They are wrong, of course, but I get it. If we read on to the next sentence, it clarifies: a real participation in the living Christ by which we are transformed into his image.
Our union with Christ: it is not simply that of a common humanity derived from Adam. While we share the consequences of Adam’s fall, we don’t have a direct communion with his person.
Further, the relation is more than a moral union. Throughout this opening chapter Nevin insists that this view on union will preserve the Reformed church from rationalism. Lest he be seen as capitulating to Rome, he offers the standard criticisms of transubstantiation.
Nevin is aware of the connotations of “substance” in his discussion on Calvin. He doesn’t give up on it, though. He wants a strong “union” with Christ, per Calvin, that allows a “substantial vigor to flow down.”
Heidelberg: questions 75-79. It rejects an oral manducation but nonetheless affirms a participation in the body and blood of Christ. Question 76 makes it clear that Christ is in heaven, but the Holy Spirit unites us to his body, flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone. Nevin drives the point home that to reduce “besides that” to a mere moral union is to introduce a gross tautology. Granting that the language is not carnal, Nevin points out that if it were only to signify a mental projection, then Ursinus and Olevianus were extremely careless and dangerous in their language.
Ursinus: we reject an imaginary figure but affirm the true body of Christ, albeit in heaven.
Modern Puritan Theory
Older Reformed view: it is an exhibition of saving grace. For the elect, inward and outward aren’t divorced, but through the power of the Holy Spirit, but are made to flow together to the believer. It includes the idea of an objective force.
Modern Puritan (by which he means New England) view: Christ is present the same way he is present everywhere.
The heart of the matter: with Calvin do we say that we have participation and communion with Christ’s humanity, or is that semi-popish mysticism?
Calvin Among the Hegelians
I don’t think Nevin was a Hegelian, nor do I think that 99% of the people who use that charge know what Hegel taught. Notwithstanding, I understand why people get nervous. Let’s not dismiss him too quickly. He does a good job in showing how far Calvin’s language can take us and where exactly it breaks down.
The organic law: Nevin doesn’t develop this point directly, but moves into something resembling Theseus’s Ship and the problem of an oral manducation. The point is that the principle of life cannot be reduced to the body.
The Doctrine Positively Stated
1. The union from our first parent descends from his entire person, body and soul.
2. Our union with the savior is not a naturalistic one; nevertheless, it is a union with the whole savior, the Word made flesh.
3) The power of Christ’s life passes into his people, the Church. The Church is located in history and experiences growth.
4) The humanity of Christ is the indispensable medium of our participation in him.
5) The medium is faith, but we still have a real communion with the Person of the savior.
6) Christ’s Spirit constitutes the form and power of his presence.
If Christ’s vivific power flows from the theandric Spirit (Filioque!!!), this Christ’s being both truly man and God, and if it is flowing into our souls, how does Hodge get around Calvin’s teaching? Hodge operated under a common psychology that the soul and mind were synonymous. This meant he could say that all of this happens as an exhibition before the mind. Nevin doesn’t hold to that. Nevin holds to a more correct psychology that sees the soul as a totality of the whole person, not reducible to either mind or body.
Criticisms
While there are aspects of Puritanism that can be legitimately critiqued, Nevin is sometimes broad and sloppy in his criticism of “the Puritan principle.”
The editors overplay the “Calvin vs. Calvinist” scheme at times. It is true Nevin rejected a merely extrinsic forensic element in our soteriology. Further, it is true that Nevin was on point with Calvin in the Supper. This does not mean, however, that Calvin’s view of union with Christ can be played off against imputation, as they suggest in note 17 of chapter 1.
Part 1: The Mystical Presence
Argument: if the Incarnation is the fact and principle of a new supernatural order of life, then the church can be no abstraction.
Outward social worship is essential to piety.
Chapter 1: The Reformed or Calvinistic Doctrine of the Lord’s Supper
Nevin’s burden is that the Supper cannot be separated from the life-giving Person of Christ, and as such it cannot be an abstraction from the church. Of course, Nevin will also avoid any claim to eating the local humanity of Christ. Our life as a whole cannot be separated from how we commune with our savior.
In the first chapter Nevin says we are “mystically inserted into Christ.” I’m not sure what he means by that. I understand why people chant “pantheist” when they read Nevin. They are wrong, of course, but I get it. If we read on to the next sentence, it clarifies: a real participation in the living Christ by which we are transformed into his image.
Our union with Christ: it is not simply that of a common humanity derived from Adam. While we share the consequences of Adam’s fall, we don’t have a direct communion with his person.
Further, the relation is more than a moral union. Throughout this opening chapter Nevin insists that this view on union will preserve the Reformed church from rationalism. Lest he be seen as capitulating to Rome, he offers the standard criticisms of transubstantiation.
Nevin is aware of the connotations of “substance” in his discussion on Calvin. He doesn’t give up on it, though. He wants a strong “union” with Christ, per Calvin, that allows a “substantial vigor to flow down.”
Heidelberg: questions 75-79. It rejects an oral manducation but nonetheless affirms a participation in the body and blood of Christ. Question 76 makes it clear that Christ is in heaven, but the Holy Spirit unites us to his body, flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone. Nevin drives the point home that to reduce “besides that” to a mere moral union is to introduce a gross tautology. Granting that the language is not carnal, Nevin points out that if it were only to signify a mental projection, then Ursinus and Olevianus were extremely careless and dangerous in their language.
Ursinus: we reject an imaginary figure but affirm the true body of Christ, albeit in heaven.
Modern Puritan Theory
Older Reformed view: it is an exhibition of saving grace. For the elect, inward and outward aren’t divorced, but through the power of the Holy Spirit, but are made to flow together to the believer. It includes the idea of an objective force.
Modern Puritan (by which he means New England) view: Christ is present the same way he is present everywhere.
The heart of the matter: with Calvin do we say that we have participation and communion with Christ’s humanity, or is that semi-popish mysticism?
Calvin Among the Hegelians
I don’t think Nevin was a Hegelian, nor do I think that 99% of the people who use that charge know what Hegel taught. Notwithstanding, I understand why people get nervous. Let’s not dismiss him too quickly. He does a good job in showing how far Calvin’s language can take us and where exactly it breaks down.
The organic law: Nevin doesn’t develop this point directly, but moves into something resembling Theseus’s Ship and the problem of an oral manducation. The point is that the principle of life cannot be reduced to the body.
The Doctrine Positively Stated
1. The union from our first parent descends from his entire person, body and soul.
2. Our union with the savior is not a naturalistic one; nevertheless, it is a union with the whole savior, the Word made flesh.
3) The power of Christ’s life passes into his people, the Church. The Church is located in history and experiences growth.
4) The humanity of Christ is the indispensable medium of our participation in him.
5) The medium is faith, but we still have a real communion with the Person of the savior.
6) Christ’s Spirit constitutes the form and power of his presence.
If Christ’s vivific power flows from the theandric Spirit (Filioque!!!), this Christ’s being both truly man and God, and if it is flowing into our souls, how does Hodge get around Calvin’s teaching? Hodge operated under a common psychology that the soul and mind were synonymous. This meant he could say that all of this happens as an exhibition before the mind. Nevin doesn’t hold to that. Nevin holds to a more correct psychology that sees the soul as a totality of the whole person, not reducible to either mind or body.
Criticisms
While there are aspects of Puritanism that can be legitimately critiqued, Nevin is sometimes broad and sloppy in his criticism of “the Puritan principle.”
The editors overplay the “Calvin vs. Calvinist” scheme at times. It is true Nevin rejected a merely extrinsic forensic element in our soteriology. Further, it is true that Nevin was on point with Calvin in the Supper. This does not mean, however, that Calvin’s view of union with Christ can be played off against imputation, as they suggest in note 17 of chapter 1.
September 25, 2014
Like a lot of people, I found John Nevin through Keith Mathison’s work on the Eucharist. I think (think!) I’ve read through all the secondary literature relating to Mercersburg Theology, and I’ve made my way through a fair bit of the primary sources as well. If your only exposure to Mercersburg is vis-à-vis Old Princeton, I’d suggest you avoid the temptation to read Nevin as one primarily reacting to Hodge. Nevin’s polemic, in my view, is fuelled not so much by puritanism Per se, but by what he sees as the outworking of puritanism; namely, a radical individualism/subjectivism which is seen most clearly in the excesses of the Second Great Awakening. In the end, here’s what I’ve learned from Professors Nevin & Schaff: The Pope and Finney aren’t so different. In both cases, their sacraments aren’t sacramental enough and their catholicism isn’t catholic enough.
July 21, 2025
Wipf and Stock Publishers sent me a copy of “The Mystical Presence” by John Williamson Nevin in exchange for an honest review.
The Sacraments are one of the four issues that Calvin listed as the primary issues of the Reformation in his legendary treatise “The Necessity of Reforming the Church.” Differences in sacramental theology have led to lasting divisions in the body of Christ. The Lord’s Supper was the key issue that prevented unity between the Reformed and Lutherans. Baptists and other Evangelicals stand separate from other Christian traditions because of their views of baptism. Suffice it to say, the sacraments are treated as really important in the church, and rightly so. Within the modern Reformed tradition (especially in America), there is a noticeable disparity between what many believe now and what the Reformed have historically taught and confessed. This led to defenders of the novel view of memorialism butting heads with defenders of the traditional Reformed view of spiritual presence (embodied by the Princeton and Mercersburg schools of thought, respectively). This is where this book enters the picture.
In four chapters, Nevin treats the traditional Reformed view. On the whole, it is an excellent work. On this issue, Nevin was clearly right and Hodge was clearly wrong. I’ll add some caveats/cautions. There are certain individuals who hype up this book as the greatest theology book ever, widely recommend reading it, etc., especially to those new to studying theology. I’d caution against such sweeping recommendations. Despite being only four chapters, it’s lengthy and dense at points. In short, it’s not a good introductory work to Reformed sacramentology. Instead, start with John Calvin’s “Short Treatise on the Lord’s Supper” or John Knox’s “A Summary, According to the Holy Scriptures, of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.”
On the whole, I recommend this book for people used to reading theology and looking for a deeper dive into the Lord’s Supper. If you’re new to theology, just book mark this, skip it for now, and come back to it later.
The Sacraments are one of the four issues that Calvin listed as the primary issues of the Reformation in his legendary treatise “The Necessity of Reforming the Church.” Differences in sacramental theology have led to lasting divisions in the body of Christ. The Lord’s Supper was the key issue that prevented unity between the Reformed and Lutherans. Baptists and other Evangelicals stand separate from other Christian traditions because of their views of baptism. Suffice it to say, the sacraments are treated as really important in the church, and rightly so. Within the modern Reformed tradition (especially in America), there is a noticeable disparity between what many believe now and what the Reformed have historically taught and confessed. This led to defenders of the novel view of memorialism butting heads with defenders of the traditional Reformed view of spiritual presence (embodied by the Princeton and Mercersburg schools of thought, respectively). This is where this book enters the picture.
In four chapters, Nevin treats the traditional Reformed view. On the whole, it is an excellent work. On this issue, Nevin was clearly right and Hodge was clearly wrong. I’ll add some caveats/cautions. There are certain individuals who hype up this book as the greatest theology book ever, widely recommend reading it, etc., especially to those new to studying theology. I’d caution against such sweeping recommendations. Despite being only four chapters, it’s lengthy and dense at points. In short, it’s not a good introductory work to Reformed sacramentology. Instead, start with John Calvin’s “Short Treatise on the Lord’s Supper” or John Knox’s “A Summary, According to the Holy Scriptures, of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.”
On the whole, I recommend this book for people used to reading theology and looking for a deeper dive into the Lord’s Supper. If you’re new to theology, just book mark this, skip it for now, and come back to it later.
September 8, 2013
I've read other editions of this work, but if you are going to choose one, let this be the one. There will be much help from the editors along the way, especially when it comes to the 19th century German idealism and speculative theology peppered throughout.
August 21, 2016
The only reason this isn't getting 5 stars is because of the German idealism, which bleeds through on every page. Despite that flaw, this is an indespensible book on the historic Reformed doctrine of the Supper and its systematic and biblical logic.
January 4, 2013
Read the "Mystical Presence" many years ago, and have now just read the exchange with Hodge included in this edition.
December 21, 2015
One of the best books I have ever read.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews