Charles Hodge, John Williamson Nevin, and Bishop Ridley on the Lord's Supper

We are preparing a review of Bishop Nicholas Ridley's view of the LORD's Supper (caps intended) and we believe that Calvin and Ridley will be closely allied in a way that American Presbyterianism has missed and a way that Anglo-Romewardizers have missed.

Dr. Hodge is to the left and Dr. Nevin to the lower right.

As an aside, at Princeton Seminary, I might add that Dr. Hodge was a classmate and good friend of Bishops John Johns (Virginia) and Charles McIllvaine (Ohio), evincing a fraternal and Johannine-theology towards them without a compromise of his own perspectives.

A model for our times, Dr. Hodge, aside from his premiere and still-must-read-3-Volume-Systematic Theology for moderns, affords us leadership from the grave.

This also will provide insights for our Confessional Lutheran readers. This will have little interest to Baptists, or worse, the Charisphilic huffer-puffers and enthusiasts.

This issue, the LORD's Supper, was a hill which Bishop Ridley was forced to defend and it was a hill on which he died, in burning flames, 16 October 1555. He did not run into battle like rash enthusiasts and rude hotheads (as we find today). He did not turn a blind eye or deaf ear to the issue like revivalist evangelicals and anti-Reformation and Gnostic Anglicans. Rather, Dr. Ridley went prepared by way of careful biblical exegesis, relentless if not at times humourous logic, wide reading in patristics (an Anglican characteristic), and the refinements that come from extensive debate. It was a fight that did not mar his testimony and, despite his differences with the Antichrist of Rome, he continued to provide food, sustenance, care and abiding respect for "Mother Bonner," the mother of his enemy, Dr. Bonner, Bishop of London who would preside at the trial examinations of Ridley. (Bp. Bonner of London is to the right.) Dr. Ridley insisted that "Mother Bonner" sit at the head of the table, even when members of the House of Lords dined in his quarters.

This doctrine of the LORD's Supper was not and is not an "isolated doctrinal island," but had and has connections to the wider orbit of theology, then as now.

We are thankful for Dr. Matthison's contribution of primary sources on this intra-mural Presbyterian debate.

http://www.ligonier.org/blog/2009/08/charles-hodge-vs-john-williamson-nevin-on-the-lords-supper.html

Charles Hodge vs. John Williamson Nevin on the Lord's Supper
August 31, 2009 @ 7:50 AM
Posted By: Keith Mathison

In 2002, I published a book entitled Given For You: Reclaiming Calvin's Doctrine of the Lord's Supper. On page 136, I made the following statement:

One of the most fascinating theological debates to occur in nineteenth-century antebellum America was the eucharistic debate between John Williamson Nevin and Charles Hodge that resulted from the publication of Nevin's book, The Mystical Presence.

Nevin's book was published in 1846. In April 1848, Hodge responded in a review published in the Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review. In September 1850, Nevin published a 128 page response to Hodge in the Mercersburg Review.

Since all of these documents are now available for free online, I thought it might be helpful to those interested in the debate to provide the links in one location. In order to read this important debate, just click on the links below:

Nevin - The Mystical Presence

Hodge - 1848 Book Review

Nevin - 1850 Response to Hodge Review

It may also be helpful to those interested in the subject to note a similar discussion that took place in the Southern Presbyterian Church. In 1876, the Southern Presbyterian theologian John Adger published an article titled "Calvin Defended Against Drs. Cunningham and Hodge" in the Southern Presbyterian Review. That article is also now available online. The links to Adger's article and to the relevant essays by Cunningham and Hodge to which he is responding are listed below.

Cunningham - 1862 Essay

Hodge - 1871 - 73 Reformed Doctrine of the Lord's Supper (Systematic Theology, Vol. 3)

Adger - 1876 Article [Adger's article is the sixth article in the list]

For a good introduction to Calvin's view in his own words, see his Short Treatise on the Lord's Supper.