target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_522ce249-aca1-5cc0-a220-e6aa4ae299a9">53. Nichols, Romanticism in American Theology, 162.
54. Nevin, Antichrist, below, 218–19n61.
55. Schaff, What is Church History?, MTSS, vol. 3, 314.
56. Nevin, “Bible Christianity,” 365.
57. See Littlejohn, Mercersburg Theology, 20–4.
58. Hatch, Democratization of American Christianity, 3–4.
59. Nordbeck and Zuck, ed., “Introduction” to “The State of the Church” (1863), in Consolidation and Expansion, 521.
60. Gunnemann, The Shaping of the United Church of Christ, 180.
61. Ibid, 180–81.
62. Ibid, 181.
63. Appel, The Life and Work of John Williamson Nevin, 113.
64. Gunnemann, The Shaping of the United Church of Christ, 174.
65. Charles Finney is often credited as the originator of decisionist techniques, which he employed during his evangelistic meetings. These “new measures” included the use of an anxious bench at the front of the gathering space—special seats for singling out persons who felt a special urgency about their salvation, protracted meetings, daily meetings, the use of informal, instead of reverential, language, especially in prayer. See Hambrick-Stowe, Charles G. Finney, 38–9.
66. English Standard Version.
67. Hatch, Democratization of American Christianity, 179–83.
68. Conser, Church and Confession, 3–10.
69. James Hastings Nichols offers an excellent summary of the debate over the Church Question within the German Reformed Church in Romanticism in American Theology, 152–54.
70. See further Adam S. Borneman’s presentation of Nevin’s developed theology of the church as the “historical extension of the Incarnate Christ,” Christ, Sacrament, and American Democracy, 89–110.
71. “S.R.,” Weekly Messenger, October 15, 1845 cited by Nichols, Romanticism in American Theology, 153.
72. “Mercersburg Theology,” Protestant Quarterly Review (1846), 83, quoted in Nichols, Romanticism in American Theology, 153.
73. Hambrick-Stowe, Colonial and National Beginnings, 17.
74. Richards, History of the Theological Seminary, 217–18.
75. Ibid., 217.
76. Brad Littlejohn provides a concise introduction to the biography and general theological contributions of John Nevin in the first volume of this series: series introduction to The Mystical Presence, vii–xiv.
77. Many have contributed to the study of the ecclesiology of John Nevin, including the following PhD dissertations: Andrew D. Black, “A ‘Vast Practical Embarrassment’: John W. Nevin, the Mercersburg Theology, and the Church Question” (Dayton, 2013); John T. Cordoue, “The Ecclesiology of John Williamson Nevin: A Catholic Appraisal” (Catholic University of America, 1969); Sam Hamstra Jr., “John Williamson Nevin: The Christian Ministry” (Marquette University, 1990); Nathan D. Mitchell, “Church, Eucharist and Liturgical Reform” (University of Notre Dame, 1981); Francis P. Ryan, “John Williamson Nevin: The Concept of Church Authority” (Marquette University, 1968); George H. Shriver, “‘Philip Schaff’s Concept of Organic Historiography’ in Relation to the Realization of ‘Evangelical Catholicism’ within the Christian Community” (Duke University, 1961); Theodore L. Trost, “Philip Schaff’s Concept of the Church with Special Reference to his Role in the Mercersburg Movement, 1844–1864” (Edinburgh University, 1958).
78. Appel, Life and Work, 443.
79. Ibid., 439.
80. At the time E. V. Gerhart (1817–1904) was professor of theology and president of Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio. In 1868 he would become professor of systematic theology at Mercersburg Seminary. His Institutes of Christian Religion was published by A. C. Armstrong and Son (New York, 1891). Discussions of Gerhart’s theological development can be found in Yrigoyen, “Emanuel V. Gerhart: Apologist for the Mercersburg Theology,” and (in the period leading up to his election as president of the college) Layman, general introduction to Born of Water and the Spirit, 31–33. A selection of Gerhart’s works will be presented in an upcoming volume of MTSS.
81. Appel, Life and Work, 442; see Hart, John Williamson Nevin, 173–74.
82. The Provisional Liturgy was published in 1857, concluding a lengthy political and ecclesiastical process that began in 1849 when Nevin, Schaff, and a dozen or so others were commissioned by the denomination to develop a liturgy for ordinary occasions of public worship. Once completed, Nevin was relieved but not “hopeful as to the success of the work.” See Appel, Life and Work, 503; Maxwell, Worship and Reformed Theology gives a study of the work and product of the commission.
83. Littlejohn, Mercersburg Theology, 2.
84. Ibid., 61.
document 1
Editor’s Introduction
Nevin wrote The Anxious Bench in response to a well-documented event. The Reverend William Ramsey of Philadelphia was an ordained Presbyterian
