In addition to the previous decade of controversy surrounding the Adopting Act, during the Synod of 1738, Thomson submitted a proposal to Synod, which was approved with a great majority, that students who had a private education, meaning not having studied at . . . Continue reading →
Francis Makemie (1657–1707) has been considered to be the Father of American Presbyterianism. Originally from Northern Ireland, he was ordained in Scotland in 1681 and was commission by his Presbytery to plant churches in the Chesapeake Bay area. Makemie, however, came in . . . Continue reading →
The American Presbyterian Church was formed on the soil of the New World and the conflicts it experienced were the growing pains of a young church. At the time of the first presbytery, the three main branches of Scottish Presbyterianism in the . . . Continue reading →
Much of the scholarship of the period focuses on the ethnic divisions and ecclesiastical backgrounds of each of the members of the church. Scholars attribute the various conflicts to the diversity of convictions that each group of ministers brought to the table.19 . . . Continue reading →
Indirectly, with all due concessions for logical consequences, divine providence, and human nature, I’m going to tell you why there are packs of feral children killing 73-year-old men in the streets of Philadelphia today. To do so I’ll have to tell you . . . Continue reading →
D. G. Hart, Distinguished Associate Professor of History at Hillsdale College and visiting Professor of Church History at Westminster Seminary California, will be giving a course on Roman Catholics in America (CH555), August 2–5, 2022 | 1:00pm–4:15pm (PDT). This course covers the . . . Continue reading →
The Presbycast (Brad “Chortles Weakly” Isbell and Wresbyterian) put up the bat signal yesterday so I filled in for the redoutable Chris Drew. There was some confusion over the number of episodes in which I have appeared. The correct number is 25. . . . Continue reading →
The expression “mainline church” is drawn from an old-money neighborhood in Philadelphia known as “the main line.” The mainline churches were what are sometimes called the “tall steeple” church along the mainline. Scholars of American Christianity sometimes speak of the “Seven Sisters . . . Continue reading →
Many Americans born after 1960 have trouble imagining that for much of the country’s history the Bible was a chief source of national identity. Older Hollywood directors sometimes get it right. Take “Liberty Heights” (1999), written and directed by Barry Levinson (born . . . Continue reading →
Locke and Shaftesbury opened an intellectual world firmly in the deist camp, even though deism itself was more an outlook and reading list than a card-carrying affiliation. Franklin later described his religious sensibility as the sort of minimalist belief he found in . . . Continue reading →
As much as the debates in Commonweal and the Times revealed that Roman Catholics were not of the same mind about the church’s relationship to modern society, those disputes were mild compared to a revival of antiliberalism from Roman Catholic intellectuals. In . . . Continue reading →
Integralism and Protestant theocracy are twin movements of which our readers should be aware. The first is a Romanist movement. The second is a movement among a small but visible band Protestants who seek a similar outcome. Roman Integralism Romanist “integralists” like . . . Continue reading →
How pervasive is Christian nationalism in the United States? Before answering, a more pressing question is: What is it? Here the people paid to define our terms are all over the place. Christian nationalism can involve a national church like the Church . . . Continue reading →
On June 9, 1886, a funeral was held in a church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The deceased, John Williamson Nevin (1803–86), was a pastor, professor, and theologian in the German Reformed Church. Friends and family were in attendance as well as several theologians and professors of differing fame and reputation. None of this was unusual for a theologian’s funeral in nineteenth-century America. There was, however, at least one irregularity: A. A. Hodge (1823–16) gave one of the eulogies.1 Hodge’s late father, Charles Hodge (1797–1878), and Nevin were involved in one of the most prominent sacramental controversies in nineteenth-century America, yet the younger Hodge eulogized the very man who contested with his father decades before. Even now, the controversy and theologies that gave rise to it live on long after the death of the major figures. Continue reading →
This is the eighth session of Bob Godfrey’s Adult Sunday School series at the Escondido URC. In this session he discusses the dramatic changes in American culture in the last few years wherein America has abandoned Christendom, a way of looking at . . . Continue reading →
This is the seventh session of Bob Godfrey’s Adult Sunday School series at the Escondido URC. In this session he explores the challenges faced by Christendom due to the Enlightenment and how it took shape in America. He argues that Christianity as . . . Continue reading →
In 1562, Jean Ribault, a naval officer under Admiral Gaspard de Coligny and a Huguenot, began a voyage to the land that is now southeastern United States. He established a colony on Parris Island, South Carolina called Charlesfort. The settlement failed in . . . Continue reading →
According to a significant number of scholars of American history, one of the most serious weaknesses in the self-described 1619 Project, which argues that racism and slavery was a central motivation for the origin of the American Republic, is that it is factually inaccurate. Continue reading
Removal of the David D’Angers statue of Thomas Jefferson from City Hall would be a direct attack on a symbol of the democratic values New Yorkers hold dear. The statue specifically honors Jefferson for his greatest contribution to America, indeed, to humankind: . . . Continue reading →
On a hot, drowsy August Saturday, a copy of the New York Times Magazine devoted entirely to something called The 1619 Project landed on my doorstep, and immediately grabbed my attention. It took me little time to comprehend the project’s purpose, or . . . Continue reading →