Mercersburg Stuff

A few years ago I blogged a ton of quotes from various books on the Mercersburg school of theology.  These are mainly books that came out in the early part of the 20th century, some of which were written by students of Nevin and Schaff.  They are likely out of print now, and thus the quotes might be of some interest to everyone.  I just put them all on my new blog in one easy-to-use category.  You can check them out here.

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Against Theological Abstraction: John Nevin on the Enduring Force of the Atonement

One of the key features of the Mercersburg theology is its opposition to theological abstraction.  Nevin and Schaff (but especially Nevin) contended that nineteenth century American Evangelical religion had become impoverished through viewing the incarnation, cross, and resurrection of Christ merely as events which occurred in the past but which are now over and done with.  Against this, the Mercersburg theologians contended that a proper conception of the Christian faith mandates that the realities of the redemption wrought by Christ in the world must be viewed as always remaining in force, the effects of which continue on here and now through the mediating body of Christ, the Church, in her ministry of Word and Sacrament.  

This opposition to theological abstraction comes out in full force in Nevin’s critique of the theological shallowness which he saw as forming the foundation of sectarianism in his 1848 work, Antichrist, or the Spirit of Sect and Schism:

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The Bench and the Catechism

In his work The Anxious Bench, John W. Nevin combats the revivalistic conception of conversion and religious growth which he saw as represented by the “Anxious Bench.” The Anxious Bench was basically an altar call on steroids which was made popular especially by itinerant evangelists like Charles Finney during a period in the nineteenth century commonly referred to in American Religious history as the Second Great Awakening.  Nevin viewed the Bench as the symbol (or even the sacrament, though he does not put it this way) of an entire revivalistic religious system which is prone to fragmentation.  Nevin set over against this “system of the Bench” what he refers to as the “system of the Catechism.” By this Nevin does not mean simply the catechism as a set of questions and answers to be memorized, but the entire theory of Christian conversion and religious growth that the catechism represents, that is, the churchly, sacramental, organic conception of Christian faith and life.  As Nevin articulates it, the system of the catechism is nothing other than the original Reformed and Lutheran understanding on how disciples of Christ are made and how Christian growth is brought about.

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That Christ Might be All in All: the Career, Historiography, and Ecumenical Hope of Philip Schaff

In this paper I begin with a brief outline Schaff’s life and career, after which I offer a treatment of his theory of historical development and attempt to demonstrate the impact which this theory had on his idea of “evangelical catholicism” and his undying ecumenical labor and hope.

That Christ Might be All in All: the Career, Historiography, and Ecumenical Hope of Philip Schaff

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The Christology of John Williamson Nevin and its Impact on the Mercersburg System

In this paper I attempt to briefly summarize Nevin’s Christology and the impact it had on the main features of his theological system.  Of course, much more needs to be said than is possible in an under 20 page paper for an adequate treatment of the Mercersburg Theology.  Nevertheless, I hope this brief paper can provide a decent introduction to the main features of Nevin’s thought. 

The Mercersburg system, in my opinion, provides a very compelling theological foundation for a distinctively Reformed ecumenism, which is why I am submitting this paper for discussion here.  I may follow this up later with a paper on Philip Schaff’s view of Church History and its place in his ecumenical hope, as well as another paper on the Liturgical implications of the Mercersburg Theology.

the-christology-of-john-williamson-nevin.pdf

If you are unacquainted with Nevin, I recently wrote up a very brief sketch of his theological career, available here.

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Select Bibliographical Information for those Interested in Beginning Research on Mercersburg

As a follow up to my previous post on John W. Nevin, I figured I’d offer a select list of works which I believe would be most helpful to anyone wanting to study more of Nevin, Schaff, and the Mercersburg theology.  I apologize for the lack of complete bibliographical information and/or links, but I trust that anyone with internet access can easily find the works mentioned here on Amazon or other sites.

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Very Brief Introduction to the Theological Career of John Williamson Nevin and a few Additional Thoughts on the Mercersburg Theology

If you frequent this site, one figure you may hear me (and others) reference from time to time is a theologian by the name of John Williamson Nevin.  Gabe wrote a very good post a few days ago which is filled with helpful quotations from both Nevin and Philip Schaff.  Recongnizing that Nevin’s name may be a bit unfamiliar to some, I offer this very brief introduction to Nevin’s theological career in order to aid those who may have never been exposed to him previously.  I plan to post a few essays I’ve written in order to expound the main features of the Mercersburg theology (named for the system of thought advocated by Nevin and Philip Schaff) here in the near future, and my hope for this introduction to Nevin’s career is simply to offer a small bit of historical context for these.

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