John Williamson Nevin: American TheologianOxford University Press, 1997 - 169 pages This study of the life and thought of John Williamson Nevin (1803-1886) offers a revised interpretation of an important nineteenth-century religious thinker. Along with the historian, Phillip Schaff, Nevin was a leading exponent of what became known as the Mercersburg Movement, named for the college and theological seminary of the German Reformed Church located in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. The story is a neglected aspect of American studies. Richard Wentz provides a kind of post-modern perspective on Nevin, presenting him as a distinctively American thinker, rather than as a reactionary romantic. Although influenced by German philosophy, historical studies, and theology, Nevin's thought was a profound response to the American public context of his day. He was, in many respects, a public theologian, judging the prevailing development of American Christianity as a new religion that was fashioning its own disintegration and that of American culture at large. Nevin's reinterpretation of catholicity in the American context opened the way for a radical understanding of religion and of American public life. |
Contents
Introduction | 3 |
The Likeness Preserved The Life and Work of John Williamson Nevin | 9 |
What Is Systematic Theology? | 31 |
Public Character of Theology | 49 |
A Radical arid Realized Catholicity | 66 |
Toward a Theology of History | 82 |
A Theatre for the World Nationalism and the American Republic | 98 |
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Common terms and phrases
abstract according to Nevin American religion American Republic American theologian Anxious Bench appositional become Bellah Binkley Brownson's catechism character Charles Grandison Finney Charles Hodge Christ Christianity claims constitution of grace context course creation creed culture dialectic divine doctrine Dorner eschatology essay Eucharist existence experience fact faith Finney German Reformed Church gospel Horace Bushnell human humankind Ibid Incarnation John Nevin John Williamson Nevin liturgy living Marshall College means Mercersburg Review Mercersburg Theology mind mission moral movement mystery Mystical Presence mystical union nation Nevin wrote Nevin's theology Nevin's thought nineteenth century nurtured objective Orestes Brownson outward person perspective Philip Schaff pietistic political Princeton principle private judgment Protestant Protestantism radical catholicity rationalistic reality redemption represented response revivalism ritual Roman Catholicism sacramental salvation Sect System sectarian self-interest sense separately considered significance social soul supernatural symbolic systematic theater thinkers thinking tion tradition true truth University Press utilitarian utilitarian individualism wholeness