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A Companion to the Mercersburg Theology: Evangelical Catholicism in the Mid-Nineteenth Century
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. "In their own day, the theologians at Mercersburg received scant attention. Over the last fifty years, with the assistance of insightful works like this Companion, that situation has been reversed--which has meant both better history and deeper theology. This particular volume is an ideal introduction to Nevin, Schaff, and company, even as it should also stimulate wider appropriation of these important voices from the past." --Mark Noll, University of Notre Dame, author, America's From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln "This masterful introduction is a most welcome addition to the growing body of literature on Mercersburg Theology. Evans presents its key figures and themes with a perceptive eye to their relevance to both historical and contemporary theological concerns. Both beginners and specialists will find much to appreciate here. --Anne T. Thayer, Lancaster Theological Seminary "The Reformed Catholicism of the nineteenth century Mercersburg Theology has found in William B. Evans an outstanding exegete. He provides deft commentary and careful exposition as he commends its ongoing importance for the life of the church. If you want a single short introduction to this important and influential group of American and German theologians, look no further. Evans has done the job with panache." --Oliver D. Crisp, Fuller Theological Seminary, and Professorial Fellow, University of St Andrews William B. Evans is the Eunice Witherspoon Bell Younts and Willie Camp Younts Professor of Bible and Religion at Erskine College in Due West, South Carolina. He is the author of Imputation and Impartation (Wipf & Stock, 2008), and What Is the Incarnation? (2013).
- GenresTheology
115 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 9, 2019
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April 23, 2020
This is a very good introduction to the Mercersburg Theology and its major characters. While Evans introduces the reader to Friedrich Augustus Rauch and Emanuel Vogel Gerhart, he understandably spends most of his time discussing Philip Schaff and (especially) John Williamson Nevin, the two most well known and prominent characters associated with Mercersburg. Evans organizes his discussion by setting the Mercersburg characters and thought within their historical context, as working within the German Reformed immigrant population of America in the 19th century, as well as the 2nd Great Awakening spiritual ethos rampant in their day. He shows the influence upon the Mercersburg men of the German Idealist philosophy of Hegel and others, as well as the mediating approach of some German theologians who sought to interpret Hegel in orthodox categories.
Evans proceeds by organizing his discussion under the major loci of Mercersburg emphases. He discusses its anti-revivalist, contra-Finney orientation. Against Finney's rationalistic, emotionally manipulative, individual-salvation, crisis-conversion model of Christianity, Nevin and Schaff et al emphasized the pastoral nurture of the Church and ordained ministers, preaching, sacraments, and catechism as the normal way in which Christ grows the church. Against an external, forensic and transactional view of salvation, whereby people are saved from judgment and hell by receiving the benefit of Christ's death, Nevin emphasized union with Christ as the telos of salvation, and thus it was union with the living, still-incarnate person of Christ, not merely the benefit of his saving work, that saves people. Schaff and Nevin also challenged the reigning view of the church in America in their day as a voluntary collection of saved but separate individuals who were free to interpret scripture as they saw fit (thus causing a proliferation of sects and splinters unprecedented in history). Against this, Mercersburg posited a view of the church as an organic unity and as the mediator of salvation in the world, the place where Christ was manifest in the world and in history. They viewed history as working toward its God-ordained aims of uniting all things in Christ, and theology and Church tradition was a process of development and growth, not of increasing apostasy until the Reformation. The Mercersburg movement had a high view of ordained ministry, of traditional worship, and of historic liturgy, all of which ran contrary to the highly democratized, extemporaneous, and "free" forms of worship in America in their day. They pointed out that many Americans reacted negatively to the hierarchy and tradition of Roman Catholicism, and yet the reigning views of individualistic rationalistic personal interpretation of Scripture meant that thousands of little Protestant popes were popping up all over and exercising nearly complete authority over their own little sects or denominations.
Evans ends with a great little reflection on why Mercersburg is still relevant today. He compares some of its emphases to the thought of theologians like Karl Barth and T.F. Torrance, Nouvelle Theologie, as well as such current theological movements as John Milbank and Radical Orthodoxy, the Finnish Lutheran school and Robert Jensen, and Hans Boersma and other protestant theologians with an interest in participation and thinking of salvation in ontological categories.
I highly recommend this little accessible volume to anyone who wants a brief but accurate introduction to the Mercersburg theology and its context. I would also recommend Brad Littlejohn's helpful little volume on Mercersburg, The Mercersburg Theology and the Quest for Reformed Catholicity.
Evans proceeds by organizing his discussion under the major loci of Mercersburg emphases. He discusses its anti-revivalist, contra-Finney orientation. Against Finney's rationalistic, emotionally manipulative, individual-salvation, crisis-conversion model of Christianity, Nevin and Schaff et al emphasized the pastoral nurture of the Church and ordained ministers, preaching, sacraments, and catechism as the normal way in which Christ grows the church. Against an external, forensic and transactional view of salvation, whereby people are saved from judgment and hell by receiving the benefit of Christ's death, Nevin emphasized union with Christ as the telos of salvation, and thus it was union with the living, still-incarnate person of Christ, not merely the benefit of his saving work, that saves people. Schaff and Nevin also challenged the reigning view of the church in America in their day as a voluntary collection of saved but separate individuals who were free to interpret scripture as they saw fit (thus causing a proliferation of sects and splinters unprecedented in history). Against this, Mercersburg posited a view of the church as an organic unity and as the mediator of salvation in the world, the place where Christ was manifest in the world and in history. They viewed history as working toward its God-ordained aims of uniting all things in Christ, and theology and Church tradition was a process of development and growth, not of increasing apostasy until the Reformation. The Mercersburg movement had a high view of ordained ministry, of traditional worship, and of historic liturgy, all of which ran contrary to the highly democratized, extemporaneous, and "free" forms of worship in America in their day. They pointed out that many Americans reacted negatively to the hierarchy and tradition of Roman Catholicism, and yet the reigning views of individualistic rationalistic personal interpretation of Scripture meant that thousands of little Protestant popes were popping up all over and exercising nearly complete authority over their own little sects or denominations.
Evans ends with a great little reflection on why Mercersburg is still relevant today. He compares some of its emphases to the thought of theologians like Karl Barth and T.F. Torrance, Nouvelle Theologie, as well as such current theological movements as John Milbank and Radical Orthodoxy, the Finnish Lutheran school and Robert Jensen, and Hans Boersma and other protestant theologians with an interest in participation and thinking of salvation in ontological categories.
I highly recommend this little accessible volume to anyone who wants a brief but accurate introduction to the Mercersburg theology and its context. I would also recommend Brad Littlejohn's helpful little volume on Mercersburg, The Mercersburg Theology and the Quest for Reformed Catholicity.
November 1, 2019
This review was first written on my blog, https://ofculpa.com/2019/11/01/a-comp...
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A typical seminary student or even a Bible & Religion major at a Christian college might hear the names John Nevin, Phillip Schaff, and Mercersburg Theologyin their studies. But these names are more than likely relegated to footnotes in the curriculum.
However, the resurgence of interest in this somewhat short-lived nineteenth century theological movement over the last few decades has allowed seasoned pastors, theologians, and other Christian ministry workers to learn more about these footnotes from their undergraduate and graduate studies.
William B. Evans is the perfect choice to write this volume on Mercersburg Theology. His dissertation deals with some of the issues that grabbed the interest of the Mercersburg Theologians, and he has a solid trail of scholarly articles examining the figures of themes of this movement.
For those who are just getting their feet wet with Merscerburg thought, Evans writes at an accessible level, which is purposeful for this volume. I myself am a recent explorer of Nevin and his colleagues. I read The Mystical Presence this past year as well as Jonathan Bonomo’s excellent Incarnation and Sacrament: The Eucharistic Controversy Between Charles Hodge and John Williamson Nevin and D.G. Hart’s Nevin: High-Church Calvinist. Like Bonomo’s work, Evans is aware of the philosophical, sociological, and theological issues of the period. But unlike Hart, Evans doesn’t romanticize Nevin or try to rescue him for his own historiographical agenda.
The book is a relatively short read, though it packs a punch with substantive, though accessible, content. At around 140 pages, this book would be a great addition to any church history or American religious history curriculum. In addition, the layout of the book is excellent. With the web of issues related to the Mercersburg movement, it would be easy to get lost in historical details, but Evans lays out the issues and narrative of Mercersburg with catchy chapter titles.
And, we get discussion questions at the end of each chapter! Woohoo!
Again, this book is comprehensive, and it has a little bit of something for everyone. The “Introduction” and “Dramatis Personae” chapters cover the basic history of the figures of Mercersburg. Of particular interest was the relatively unknown E.V. Gerhart, the leading systematized of Mercersburg Theology (31-35).
Evans is able to give a helpful introduction to the philosophical undercurrents of the Mercersburg period in the “Tale of a Two Continents” chapter. As a Philosophy major, I found this chapter quite fun to read.
An examination of the revivalism of the American religious landscape and how Nevin critiqued this phenomena in his The Anxious Bench occupies the chapter “Revivalism Engaged”. In my opinion, the issue of revivalism and excessive subjectivism in Christian piety is crucial to understanding Nevin’s project.
The two beefiest chapters are “Christ and Salvation” and “History and the Nature of the Church”. Here, Evans gives us the theological mindset of both Nevin and Schaff. I jotted down some questions in my reading. For example, Nevin doesn’t deny the doctrine of imputation (65-66), but does imputation occupy any place of importance in his soteriology or Christian piety? How ahead of his time is Nevin in his sensitivity to the flow of redemptive history (71)? With Nevin’s emphasis on the Holy Spirit, should he, like Calvin, but dubbed a theologian of the Holy Spirit? With the differences between Nevin and Schaff on justification and sanctification (75-77), did they ever discuss/debate their differences? Is Nevin’s distinction between the ideal church and the actual church (83-84) significantly different from the Reformed confessional distinction between the visible church and the invisible church (WCF XXV.1-2)? Is Nevin and Schaff’s optimism about the church in history (85-86) coherent with WCF XXV.4-5? What would a volume examining Nevin’s hermeneutical and exegetical practices look like given his disdain for a “Bible as storehouse of facts” perspective and his support of a sensus plenior reading of Scripture (92-93)? Finally, what accounts for Nevin pitting “the sacramental Calvin against the predestinarian Calvin” (107)?
The final chapter examining the issues of Mercersburg deals with ministry and liturgy. Here, Evans shows how Mercersburg and the Reformation part ways on the prioritizing of the word versus sacrament (119). My favorite section of this chapter was near the end when Evans tries to apply the mistakes of Mercersburg theologians when it came to liturgical reform in the German Reformed Church. Evans writes, “But was it wise, for example, to insist on excluding free prayer from services? Was it prudent to throw prescribed “altar” and “sacrifice” language in the faces of those who were sure to be offended by it? In short, could the Mercersburgers (and Nevin particular) have accomplished more in their context had they been more diplomatic? Such questions are difficult to answer, but there are likely some practical lessons here for theologians and liturgical reformers today.” (127) Indeed, I as a Pastor of a local Presbyterian congregation I need to exercise the patience and balance that Nevin and Schaff didn’t always demonstrate.
The “Epilogue” is perhaps Evans at his best as he ties everything together and explores how relevant Mercersburg Theology can be for us today. I think this chapter is worth the price of the book (which is a steal at $15 in paperback and $10 on Kindle).
As already iterated, this book is now the best introductory text to Mercersburg Theology. I would make it the first book to read before reading other secondary texts and then the primary texts from the Mercersburg men themselves.
*****
Note: I received a review copy of this work from the publisher. I was not obligated to give a positive review.
------------
A typical seminary student or even a Bible & Religion major at a Christian college might hear the names John Nevin, Phillip Schaff, and Mercersburg Theologyin their studies. But these names are more than likely relegated to footnotes in the curriculum.
However, the resurgence of interest in this somewhat short-lived nineteenth century theological movement over the last few decades has allowed seasoned pastors, theologians, and other Christian ministry workers to learn more about these footnotes from their undergraduate and graduate studies.
William B. Evans is the perfect choice to write this volume on Mercersburg Theology. His dissertation deals with some of the issues that grabbed the interest of the Mercersburg Theologians, and he has a solid trail of scholarly articles examining the figures of themes of this movement.
For those who are just getting their feet wet with Merscerburg thought, Evans writes at an accessible level, which is purposeful for this volume. I myself am a recent explorer of Nevin and his colleagues. I read The Mystical Presence this past year as well as Jonathan Bonomo’s excellent Incarnation and Sacrament: The Eucharistic Controversy Between Charles Hodge and John Williamson Nevin and D.G. Hart’s Nevin: High-Church Calvinist. Like Bonomo’s work, Evans is aware of the philosophical, sociological, and theological issues of the period. But unlike Hart, Evans doesn’t romanticize Nevin or try to rescue him for his own historiographical agenda.
The book is a relatively short read, though it packs a punch with substantive, though accessible, content. At around 140 pages, this book would be a great addition to any church history or American religious history curriculum. In addition, the layout of the book is excellent. With the web of issues related to the Mercersburg movement, it would be easy to get lost in historical details, but Evans lays out the issues and narrative of Mercersburg with catchy chapter titles.
And, we get discussion questions at the end of each chapter! Woohoo!
Again, this book is comprehensive, and it has a little bit of something for everyone. The “Introduction” and “Dramatis Personae” chapters cover the basic history of the figures of Mercersburg. Of particular interest was the relatively unknown E.V. Gerhart, the leading systematized of Mercersburg Theology (31-35).
Evans is able to give a helpful introduction to the philosophical undercurrents of the Mercersburg period in the “Tale of a Two Continents” chapter. As a Philosophy major, I found this chapter quite fun to read.
An examination of the revivalism of the American religious landscape and how Nevin critiqued this phenomena in his The Anxious Bench occupies the chapter “Revivalism Engaged”. In my opinion, the issue of revivalism and excessive subjectivism in Christian piety is crucial to understanding Nevin’s project.
The two beefiest chapters are “Christ and Salvation” and “History and the Nature of the Church”. Here, Evans gives us the theological mindset of both Nevin and Schaff. I jotted down some questions in my reading. For example, Nevin doesn’t deny the doctrine of imputation (65-66), but does imputation occupy any place of importance in his soteriology or Christian piety? How ahead of his time is Nevin in his sensitivity to the flow of redemptive history (71)? With Nevin’s emphasis on the Holy Spirit, should he, like Calvin, but dubbed a theologian of the Holy Spirit? With the differences between Nevin and Schaff on justification and sanctification (75-77), did they ever discuss/debate their differences? Is Nevin’s distinction between the ideal church and the actual church (83-84) significantly different from the Reformed confessional distinction between the visible church and the invisible church (WCF XXV.1-2)? Is Nevin and Schaff’s optimism about the church in history (85-86) coherent with WCF XXV.4-5? What would a volume examining Nevin’s hermeneutical and exegetical practices look like given his disdain for a “Bible as storehouse of facts” perspective and his support of a sensus plenior reading of Scripture (92-93)? Finally, what accounts for Nevin pitting “the sacramental Calvin against the predestinarian Calvin” (107)?
The final chapter examining the issues of Mercersburg deals with ministry and liturgy. Here, Evans shows how Mercersburg and the Reformation part ways on the prioritizing of the word versus sacrament (119). My favorite section of this chapter was near the end when Evans tries to apply the mistakes of Mercersburg theologians when it came to liturgical reform in the German Reformed Church. Evans writes, “But was it wise, for example, to insist on excluding free prayer from services? Was it prudent to throw prescribed “altar” and “sacrifice” language in the faces of those who were sure to be offended by it? In short, could the Mercersburgers (and Nevin particular) have accomplished more in their context had they been more diplomatic? Such questions are difficult to answer, but there are likely some practical lessons here for theologians and liturgical reformers today.” (127) Indeed, I as a Pastor of a local Presbyterian congregation I need to exercise the patience and balance that Nevin and Schaff didn’t always demonstrate.
The “Epilogue” is perhaps Evans at his best as he ties everything together and explores how relevant Mercersburg Theology can be for us today. I think this chapter is worth the price of the book (which is a steal at $15 in paperback and $10 on Kindle).
As already iterated, this book is now the best introductory text to Mercersburg Theology. I would make it the first book to read before reading other secondary texts and then the primary texts from the Mercersburg men themselves.
*****
Note: I received a review copy of this work from the publisher. I was not obligated to give a positive review.
December 15, 2022
Excellent Summation
I found elements of the Mercersburg project intriguing in seminary. It seemed to offer a deeper spirituality that balanced other elements of my theology. I was especially interested in their retrieval of Calvin’s sacramental theology of the Eucharist when Zwinglist memorialism was regnant. This companion to the movement offers a helpful summation along with looking at whether it has a contemporary application. Worth reading.
I found elements of the Mercersburg project intriguing in seminary. It seemed to offer a deeper spirituality that balanced other elements of my theology. I was especially interested in their retrieval of Calvin’s sacramental theology of the Eucharist when Zwinglist memorialism was regnant. This companion to the movement offers a helpful summation along with looking at whether it has a contemporary application. Worth reading.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews