The New England Contribution to Colonial American Presbyterianism

1948 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. J. Trinterud
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
New England ◽  
Church History ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
The Church

The contributions made to American Presbyterianism during the colonial period by those of its members who were of New England stock have never been adequately recognized. For various reasons this contribution was so greatly minimized during the nineteenth century that even today an essentially false picture of the origins of American Presbyterianism has become currently accepted. Typical of the nineteenth-century propaganda which was later to be accepted as fact, was the attitude of Samuel Miller, the first professor of Church History at Princeton Seminary. In 1833, Miller wrote a series of open letters to Presbyterians as part of the Old School party's polemic against the New England element in the Church.

Joseph Milner and his Editors: Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Evangelicals and the Christian Past

2017 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAUL GUTACKER
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
English Language ◽  
Church History ◽  
Church Of Christ ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

Joseph Milner's ‘History of the Church of Christ’ (1794–1809) was the most popular English-language church history for half a century, yet it remains misunderstood by many historians. This paper argues that Milner's Evangelical interpretation of church history subverted Protestant historiographical norms. By prioritising conversion over doctrinal precision, and celebrating the piety of select medieval Catholics, Milner undermined the historical narratives that undergirded Protestant exceptionalism. As national religious identities became increasingly contested in the 1820s and 1830s, this subversive edge was blunted by publishers who edited the ‘History’ to be less favourable toward pre-Reformation Christianity.

scholarly journals Manning's Ultramontanism and the Catholic Church in British Politics

1989 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 332-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey P. von Arx
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Church History ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Roman Catholicism ◽  
Papal States ◽  
Italian Unification ◽  
Roman Catholics ◽  
The Church

After his conversion to Roman Catholicism, the first major controversy in which Henry Edward Manning found himself involved as a member of his new church concerned the Roman Question, or the Temporal Power; that is, the political status and future of the Papal States. Now the question of the temporal power of the pope, and the amount of controversy it engendered, is one of those issues in nineteenth century church history whose significance it is difficult for us to understand. By the mid-nineteenth century, especially in relation to the movement for Italian unification, the temporal power of the popes looks to us like an historical anachronism. To Roman Catholics today, it is obvious that the ability of the church to preach the gospel has been enhanced and its mission in the world correspondingly facilitated by being disembarrassed of the burden of political control in central Italy. How to explain, then, the tremendous controversy the Roman Question aroused over so long a period in the second half of the nineteenth century, and the conviction, especially of the papacy's defenders, that the preservation of the Papal States was critical for the survival, not only of religion, but, as we shall see, of civilization in the West?

The Administration, Collection and Distribution of Tithes in the Archbishopric of Mexico, 1800-1860

1966 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. Costeloe
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Process Of Change ◽  
Administrative Organization ◽  
Gradual Process ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Church

The System of tithe collection in operation in the Archbishopric of Mexico at the beginning of the nineteenth century was the result of a gradual process of change and development throughout the colonial period. In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the responsibility for the collection and distribution of the tithes had rested both with the Church and the viceregal authorities. However, as soon as the yield was thought to be sufficient to maintain the diocese without royal subsidy, the Church was left to organize the collection. The territory covered by the see was divided into a number of areas and the right to levy tithes within these was auctioned to the highest bidder. This method was only allowed in respect of the tithes paid by the Spaniards and mestizos, for those of the Indians had to be collected directly. This latter collection was carried out on behalf of the Church by two canons who were given the title of Jueces Hacedores. Soon the Church began to extend the system of direct collection and the areas that were farmed out became fewer and fewer until finally the last one was abolished in 1782. As the revenue increased with the development of the colony, an administrative organization was evolved.

scholarly journals Fragility and Resilience: Church History and Myth in Nineteenth-Century Ethiopia

Aethiopica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Habtamu M. Tegegne
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Church History ◽  
Central Focus ◽  
Study Material ◽  
History And Myth ◽  
The Church

The growth of a myth of ancient origins pertaining to the church and monastery of Märṭulä Maryam and the exploration of its content and context form the central focus of this study. Material related to the church’s apparent ancient origin provides appropriate data through which to illustrate at once the themes of historical fragility and resilience. Märṭulä Maryam consolidated its mythical history by suppressing the memory of its actual founder, thus altering the tradition of the church itself. This study will demonstrate that efforts to completely erase the memory of Märṭulä Maryam’s founder and its original history were wholly in vain. Such acts of suppression inevitably leave indelible traces of the true past, not to mention the fact that its actual history is well secured within the records of other Ethiopian churches, as well as in those of Märṭulä Maryam itself.

History and Theology of Call

2021 ◽  
pp. 49-112
Author(s):  
Donna Giver-Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Church History ◽  
Social Gospel ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Protestant Reformation ◽  
Social Convention ◽  
Priesthood Of All Believers ◽  
Women Preachers ◽  
The Church

Chapter 2 examines the scriptural text through word definition and interpretation and traces the concept of call throughout, with attention to nuances of meaning. Next, this chapter explores the theological tradition of how call has been interpreted and articulated from the time of Jesus to the nineteenth century, in theological doctrines of call and vocation and in ecclesial practice and social convention. By identifying theological themes of call throughout Church history—from “sacrifice” in the Early Church to “monasticism” in the Middle Ages, from “priesthood of all believers” during the Protestant Reformation to “spiritual revelation” and “extraordinary call” of the Revival–Social Gospel era—this chapter traces the development of the institutionalized call from inclusive to more exclusive of women preachers. Then, in the rhetorical and homiletical witness of the church, this chapter uncovers how a prejudiced trope has restricted women’s call and place in the pulpit. And, finally, it reveals how women utilized rhetorical techniques and tactics in order to challenge convention and claim their call to preach.

Learning Against Religion, Learning as Religion: Mark Pattison and the ‘Victorian Crisis of Faith’

1981 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 311-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan Nimmo
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Church History ◽  
Crisis Of Faith ◽  
Reason And Faith ◽  
Anglican Theology ◽  
A Minor ◽  
The Church ◽  
Lincoln College

In the drama of English church history in the nineteenth century, the reverend Mark Pattison, Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, from 1861 to 1884, has hitherto been accorded a minor and somewhat transient role. He has appeared in two guises: first, as an Oxford Tractarian who, compelled by Newman’s secession in 1845 to choose between the Church of England and of Rome, opted for the former, but found his faith so unsettled by the process that he eventually lost it altogether; and secondly, as one of the contributors to that landmark—and landmine—of Anglican theology, Essays and Reviews. The argument of this paper is that his role was in fact both more constant and more considerable: an exploration of conflict between learning and religion, reason and faith; a conflict which in one way or another spanned his life, and in which reason did not merely criticise and challenge religion, but also aspired to replace it. In these two forms the conflict of learning and belief was, it need hardly be said, a key element in the so-called ‘Victorian crisis of faith’; insofar as Pattison’s career embodied it, he becomes a representative figure of the experience of his time, and so takes his stand, if not at the centre, then certainly in the foreground of the ecclesiastical stage.

Public Orders into Moral Communities: Eighteenth-Century Fast and Thanksgiving Day Sermons in the Dutch Republic and New England

2004 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 218-239
Author(s):  
Peter van Rooden
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
New England ◽  
The United States ◽  
Church History ◽  
Dutch Republic ◽  
Civil Authority ◽  
Political Communities ◽  
New England Colonies

In the eighteenth century, both in the Dutch Republic and in the colonies of New England, collective repentance and social reconciliation with God were institutionalized in great common rituals. In both polities, Fast and Thanksgiving Days were proclaimed by civil authority, and these occasions brought people together into churches to hear ministers interpret their common situation. These rituals were the main way in which the New England colonies and the Dutch Republic expressed their unity as political communities. It was this aspect of these sermons that made them of interest to nineteenth-century American and Dutch historians. In the nineteenth-century Kingdom of the Netherlands, N. C. Kist, the first holder of the newly instituted chair of Church History at Leiden University, finished his career with his two-volume Neêrlands Bededagen en Biddagsbrieven, offering both an interpretation and an antiquarian overview of all the Fast Days proclaimed in the Netherlands. In the United States, William de Loss Love published his exquisite The Fast and Thanksgiving Days of New England in 1895, similarly offering both an antiquarian list of all Fast and Thanksgiving Days and an analysis. Kist was deeply involved with the nation-building project of the early nineteenth-century Kingdom of the Netherlands. De Loss Love, the first chaplain of the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, was as inspired by modern nationalism as Kist was. Both scholars interpreted the Fast-day ritual as an indication of the high moral purpose and commitment to the nation of their ancestors.

Henry Boynton Smith and Church History in Nineteenth-Century America

2016 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette G. Aubert
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Church History ◽  
Church Of Christ ◽  
Central Position ◽  
Nineteenth Century America ◽  
German Education ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Doctrine ◽  
American Society ◽  
The Church

Henry Boynton Smith (1815–1877) was one of the few nineteenth-century American scholars committed to disseminating German methods of ecclesiastical historiography to a country known for its anti-historical tendencies. However, modern scholars have generally overlooked his significant contributions in this area. Hence exploring his scholarly reception and specifically his History of the Church of Christ, in Chronological Tables will fill a niche in the historiography of church history.Philip Schaff (1819–1893), the renowned church historian and founder of the American Society of Church History, was one of the few contemporaries of Smith who understood that Smith's scholarship was on a par with that being produced in Germany. Schaff specifically praised Smith's chronological tables—evidence of Smith's German education among some of the best German historians of the period, including Leopold von Ranke and August Neander. This essay reviews Smith's History of the Church of Christ, in Chronological Tables in the context of the newly emerging scientific history and describes his contribution to nineteenth-century American scholarship. Smith is worthy of attention for establishing a central position for the history of doctrine and for promoting the field of church history and the use of chronological tables in nineteenth-century America.

scholarly journals Early African Christianity–A Thematic Analysis

2020 ◽  
pp. 264-273
Author(s):  
Aidan Kwame Ahaligah
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Church History ◽  
Religious Culture ◽  
Early Church ◽  
African Theology ◽  
African Christianity ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
The Church

This article is devoted to a thematic analysis of early or ancient African Christianity and its influence on ecclesial practices and thinking in contemporary Africa. Drawing on literature in the history of the church in antiquity this paper re-tells the story of how Africa and Africans in the first millennium developed and shaped World Christianity. Specifically, it discusses the contributions made to the early Church by the African Fathers of the faith, Origen and Augustine. The paper contest sentiments and perceptions that Christianity is a “white mans” religion and to reclaim African Christianity’s identity as a global religious culture which has existed since antiquity. Moreover, it argues that a lot is lost, with its attendant misinterpretations, when Christianity in Africa is only viewed as a result of the fruits of the nineteenth-century missionary activities. The paper contributes to the study of African Church history, the contextualisation/inculturation of the gospel, and African theology.

Divided between Heart and Mind: the Critical Period for Protestant Thought in America

1987 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. G. Hart
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
New England ◽  
Critical Period ◽  
The United States ◽  
Church History ◽  
Theological Seminary ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The World ◽  
Heart And Mind

In 1854, Philip Schaff, professor of church history at Mercersburg Theological Seminary and minister of the German Reformed Church, reported to his denomination on the state of Christianity in America. Although the American Church had many shortcomings, according to Schaff the United States was ‘by far the most religious and Christian country in the world’. Many Protestant leaders, however, took a dimmer view of Christianity's prospects. In the middle decades of the nineteenth century, a nagging sense prevailed that traditional theology was no longer capable of integrating religion and culture, or piety and intelligence. Bela Bates Edwards, a conservative New England divine, complained of the prevalent opinion ‘that an intellectual clergyman is deficient in piety and that an eminently pious minister is deficient in intellect’. Edwards was not merely lamenting the unpopularity of Calvinism. A Unitarian writer also noted a burgeoning ‘clerical skepticism’. Intelligent and well-trained men who wished to defend and preach the Gospel, he wrote, ‘find themselves struggling within the fetters of a creed by which they have pledged themselves’. An 1853 Memorial to the Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church summed up the doubts of Protestant clergymen when it asked whether the Church's traditional theology and ministry were ‘competent to the work of preaching and dispensing the Gospel to all sorts and conditions of men, and so adequate to do the work of the Lord in this land and in this age’.

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