Dr. Darryl Hart: "Almost All Old Princeton All the Time"

Princeton Seminary

H/T to Dr. Darryl Hart for his scholarly leadership, conservation of excellent memories,  and contributions to the preservation of “that old and scholarly” Princeton tradition.  A “careful breed,” my father frequently noted with approval.  "Good fences make for good neighbors," said Robert Frost in his famous poem;  Dr. Charles Hodge, amongst many others, raised the excellent fence between the (American) Enthusiasts and Confessional Churchmen.  We need to maintain the boundaries and be cautious about trespassory torts or theological harms. We commend www.oldlife.org to all reviewers here.

http://oldlife.org/2012/07/almost-all-old-princeton-all-the-time/comment-page-1/

Almost All Old Princeton All the Time

By D. G. Hart | Published: July 30, 2012

The new issue of Credo Magazine is out and it is dedicated almost entirely to the bi-centennial of Princeton Theological Seminary. Here’s an excerpt from Christopher Cooper:

While the Princeton theologians did not oppose the possibility of revival and welcomed them on occasion, they believed that it was neither the common, best, nor desirable mode available for the advancement of the Christian religion. Princeton’s Charles Hodge, for instance, pointed out several problems with revival. First, revivals tend to produce pastors and lay people who envision conversion as always sudden and sensible. Such revivalists take it for granted that children grow up unconverted and in need of the drama of a revival experience in order to enter the Christian fold. According to Hodge, such a scheme does not allow for the more regular, scriptural, and desirable method of Christian nurture. Under this system, parents immerse their children in prayers, catechesis, and Christian encouragement, so that they may be quietly, although no less supernaturally, converted without the pomp and circumstance of revival.

Second, Hodge argued that revivals generate an unscriptural form of piety that makes the exercise of strong emotions essential to true religion and worship. Such an opinion produces unstable Christians whose religious stability is gauged by their emotional state. This approach also demeans the ordinary means of grace that are given by God not to foster great emotional highs that are inevitably followed by lows, but to serve as a more constant encouragement to Christian pilgrims.

Hodge pointed out that revivals are, by their very nature, extraordinary occasions and are not meant to be relied upon by pastors and laypersons to whom God has given the task of parental nurture and pastoral ministry. Likewise, pastors today ought not to rely upon revival or the vestiges of revivalism, but would do well to instill within themselves confidence in the ordinary means of pastoral ministry and into their congregants a sense of responsibility for the nurture and edification of their children.

And in case readers are wondering, Old Lifers do make an appearance in this issue.