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Charles Hodge Revisited
Charles Hodge Revisited: A Critical Appraisal of His Life and Work edited by John W. Stewart and James H. Moorhead Eerdmans, 2002 375 pp. $25, paper |
One is reminded of just how fickle a mistress Fame is when considering how the renown of certain historical figures only grows with time while the reputations of countless others fade when exposed to the light of posterity. The luster of Charles Hodge's fame has only dimmed with time. Hodge is remembered now chiefly for his boast that nothing new was ever taught at Princeton Seminary. The wooden prose of his massive three-volume Systematic Theology discourages all comers, and when his name is invoked at all, it is frequently as an object lesson in how conservative Calvinism can make one stand still even as the rest of American life and theology rushes by. Names like Finney, Bushnell, Schaff, and Moody pop to mind when the greats of 19th-century American Protestantism are discussed. Hodge is seldom mentioned in the same conversation, although he kept company with all of these men in print or in person during his lifetime.
Indeed, Hodge absolutely towered as a theological figure throughout the 19th century, not only in the United States but in Great Britain as well. For 56 years he taught at Princeton Theological Seminary, wielding such unparalleled influence among conservative Protestant theologians that he earned himself the nickname, "The Pope of Presbyterianism."
Hodge influenced more than a generation of American pastors and laypeople through a number of channels. During his teaching career, he taught more than 3,000 students, many of whom became memorable and important religious figures in their own right. He showed unusual savvy in his ability to manipulate the growing medium of print in the United States. In 1825 he founded the Princeton Review, a theological journal he would direct for nearly five decades while himself contributing more than 200 articles. By the time Hodge stepped down as editor in 1871, the Princeton Review stood as the second oldest quarterly publication in the United States, and enjoyed such an international reputation that the British Quarterly Review called it "beyond all question the greatest purely theological Review that has ever been published in the English tongue."
Apart from his work on the journal, Hodge completed five biblical commentaries, a major history of the American Presbyterian Church, a landmark critique of Darwinism, the immensely popular devotional The Way of Life, and perhaps his best-known work, the Systematic Theology, which stands as perhaps the first American-authored theological textbook to enjoy wide distribution and usage in the United States.
Perhaps the most vivid testimony to Hodge's immense influence can be seen in 1875, when Princeton Seminary celebrated Hodge's 50th anniversary as teacher. Over 400 former students, friends, and colleagues came from around the world to pay him homage. Princeton Seminary's own 50th-anniversary celebration paled in comparison to the outpouring of love and admiration exhibited for Hodge at this event. Countless others who could not attend sent letters, stating time and again the power he had wielded not only in their own lives but in American religious life in general.
In partial remedy to the neglect that has obscured Hodge's legacy in the 130 years since his death, a group of scholars gathered for a conference at Princeton Theological Seminary in the fall of 1997 to revisit his life and work. The lineup was something of an all-star team, bringing together outstanding scholars of 19th-century American theology, culture, politics, literature, and religious life. Revised versions of the papers offered at this conference have been collected in Charles Hodge Revisited, edited by John W. Stewart and James H. Moorhead.
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