John Williamson Nevin

This biography, written by a provocative, prolific historian, gives readers insights into Nevin's critique of the revivalist tradition and shows how it applies today. Hart recovers a nearly forgotten nineteenth-century theologian and demonstrates his ongoing relevance. This book is extensively documented, and includes a substantial bibliographical essay and an index. Nevin (1803-1886) taught at Mercersburg Seminary when he wrote The Anxious Bench (1843) and The Mystical Presence (1846), volumes dealing with revivalism and the Lord's Supper, respectively. The last ten years have seen a revival of interest in this theologian, who was a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and who substituted for Hodge during his two-year study-leave in Europe.

The nineteenth century Eucharistic controversy between Charles Hodge and John Williamson Nevin is an important episode in the history of American Christianity. Hodge and Nevin battled over issues that lie at the heart of Christian faith and piety, such as: Why did God become man? What bearing does the incarnation of Christ have on the redemption of the world? How are believers on earth united with the ascended Christ who is in heaven? Is Christ really present in the Lord's Supper? And if so, then how is he made to be present? These are just a few of the age-old questions that Charles Hodge and John W. Nevin sought to answer, and over which they came to vigorously contend. Incarnation and Sacrament provides an in-depth historical and theological analysis and assessment of the controversy that arose between these two great nineteenth century American theologians. By doing so, it aims to provide some illumination on the theological heritage of the Protestant churches in the United States of the twenty-first century.

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. 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.

In 1843, the first edition of Nevin's The Anxious Bench was published. It has been called the most probing critique of Finneyism ever written. The background to the treatise was Nevin's general dislike of Finneyism, and also a major schism in the German Reformed Church in 1830. In that year a Finneyite revivalist, John Winebrenner, had led a breakaway movement from the German Reformed Church to form a new denomination, the so-called Church of God. Finneyism had made big inroads into the German Reformed Church, much to Nevin's disgust--Banner of Truth.

The place of the Mercersburg Theology in American religious history has been widely recognized.... It is usually viewed as one of the unique movements in 19th century American Protestantism, principally because it challenged many of the prevailing theological ideas and practices of the time. Two surveys of American religious history have described it as a theologically and liturgically creative high church movement (Robert T. Handy) and as the most creative manifestation of the Catholic tendency (Sydney E. Ahlstrom) among 19th century American Protestants.