Abstracts Of Regent WTS Doctoral Dissertations -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 72:2 (Fall 2010)
Article: Abstracts Of Regent WTS Doctoral Dissertations
Author: Anonymous


Abstracts Of Regent WTS Doctoral Dissertations

A Trans-Atlantic Study: Charles Hodge And Emanuel V. Gerhart On Theological Method And The Doctrine Of The Atonement With Special Consideration Given To The Influence Of Nineteenth-Century German Theology

Annette G. Aubert

This dissertation examines the significant nineteenth-century continental European theological influence, including Vermittlungstheologie, upon two strands of American Reformed theology, the Mercersburg theology of Emanuel V Gerhart and the Princeton theology of Charles Hodge. The thesis of this study is that the American Reformed theology of the nineteenth century is better appreciated when interpreted in light of the wider European intellectual and religious context. In developing their theological works, Gerhart and Hodge took into account the tradition of the church and the modern continental theological developments. In investigating Gerhart’s and Hodge’s theological method and doctrine of atonement, this study engages with the German sources of Schleiermacher, mediating theologians, Hengstenberg, and other nineteenth-century German scholars who had some influence on their theological views. This organic and transatlantic approach offers a deeper understanding of the American Reformed theology of Gerhart and Hodge and in particular addresses the question of continuity and discontinuity between nineteenth-century theological method and Protestant orthodox thought in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

The introduction surveys the historiography, purpose, and methodology of this study. Chapter 1 traces some intellectual and social aspects of antebellum America, addresses Old Princeton’s connection with Alexander von Humboldt and Arnold Guyot, and surveys the influence of the German university and German scholarship on Americans. Here the discussion of the transmission of the works of German mediating theology is relevant, since it shows the relationship between German theology and antebellum American theologians. Chapter 2 examines briefly how Schleiermacher was received in America, and in

reviewing Schleiermacher’s dogmatic changes in approach to theology discusses his theological method and the doctrine of the atonement. Chapter 3 introduces mediating theology’s theological agenda, in particular outlining the theology of Ullmann, Tholuck, Hagenbach, and Dorner in relation to theological method and the atonement. Chapters 4 and 5 assess Gerhart’s theological method and the influence of mediating theology on his thought. Chapters 6 and 7 examine Hodge’s theological method and the doctrine of the atonement in light of his analysis and engagement with German scholarship and his work as exegete. Chapter 8 is a summary...

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