Overview
Charles Hodge (1797-1878) was one of nineteenth-century America's leading theologians, owing in part to a lengthy teaching career, voluminous writings, and a faculty post at one of the nation's most influential schools, Princeton Theological Seminary. Surprisingly, the only biography of this towering figure was written by his son, just two years after his death. Paul C. Gutjahr's book is the first modern critical biography of a man some have called the ""Pope of Presbyterianism."" Hodge's legacy is especially important to American Presbyterians. His brand of theological conservatism became vital in the 1920s, as Princeton Seminary saw itself, and its denomination, split. The conservative wing held unswervingly to the Old School tradition championed by Hodge, and ultimately founded the breakaway Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The views that Hodge developed, refined, and propagated helped shape many of the central traditions of twentieth- and twenty-first-century American evangelicalism. Hodge helped establish a profound reliance on the Bible among Evangelicals, and he became one of the nation's most vocal proponents of biblical inerrancy. Gutjahr's study reveals the exceptional depth, breadth, and longevity of Hodge's theological influence and illuminates the varied and complex nature of conservative American Protestantism.
Full Product Details
Author: Paul C. Gutjahr (Associate Professor of English, Associate Professor of English, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN)
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:
Width: 23.40cm
, Height: 2.60cm
, Length: 15.60cm
Weight: 0.717kg
ISBN: 9780199895526
ISBN 10: 019989552
Pages: 518
Publication Date: 05 April 2012
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
<br> Gutjahr's biography is worthwhile for anyone who is seriously interested in Charles Hodge. --Interpretation<p><br> Gutjahr's fine biography stands as a welcome challenge to a historiography that tends to oversimplify and dehumanize both Hodge and his cherished conservative orthodoxy. --The Journal of American History<p><br> Gutjahr's biography renders Charles Hodge's confessional Calvinism in all its intricacy and combativeness, but it also restores the humaneness of the man, his friendships, affections, travels, ambitions, and frailties. Having spent ten years with Hodge, Gutjahr has gained from that intimacy a remarkably panoramic view of nineteenth-century American Protestant thought. It is an impressive achievement. --Leigh E. Schmidt, Charles Warren Professor of the History of Religion in America, Harvard University<p><br> Charles Hodge was an unwritten chapter in American religious history until he met his biographer in Paul Gutjahr. This monumental, carefully researched, and thoroughly readable study of the 'Pope of Presbyterianism' fills a large gap in the history of conservative Protestant theology in America and offers keen insight into an intellectual tradition whose legacy can be traced to the present day. --David Morgan, Professor of Religion, Duke University<p><br> Charles Hodge, one of the most influential religious thinkers in nineteenth-century America, has been the subject of considerable specialized research but few general studies. Paul Gutjahr has now remedied this lack with an unusually capable book that both explains why Hodge's conservative Calvinism exerted its great influence and why the theologian became such a beloved figure to so many (including some of his foes). It is a most welcome biography. --Mark Noll, author of America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln<p><br>
<br> Gutjahr's biography is worthwhile for anyone who is seriously interested in Charles Hodge. --Interpretation<p><br> Gutjahr's fine biography stands as a welcome challenge to a historiography that tends to oversimplify and dehumanize both Hodge and his cherished conservative orthodoxy. --The Journal of American History<p><br>
Gutjahr offers a contextual reading of the theologian in his original setting, based on deep research in the Princeton University archives. ... makes for a highly readable account. Gutjahr offers fresh insight into Hodge's compromised position on slavery, which the Princeton scholar first defended on scriptural grounds before belatedly joining the abolitionist cause. * Andrew Atherstone, Churchman *
Author Information
Paul C. Gutjahr is Associate Professor of English at Indiana University. He also teaches American Studies and Religious Studies. He has written and edited numerous books and articles, including: An American Bible: A History of the Good Book in the United States, 1776-1881; Popular American Literature of the 19th Century; and Illuminating Letters: Typography and Literary Interpretation.
