The German Roots of Nineteenth-Century American Theology

The transatlantic relationship between nineteenth-century American Reformed theology and German Protestant thought has largely been neglected in American religious studies. The German Roots of Nineteenth-Century American Theology explores the influence of mediating theology (Vermittlungstheologie) on Reformed thought in the United States. Annette Aubert offers the first detailed examination of German theological influences on Mercersburg’s Emanuel Vogel Gerhart (1817-1904) and Princeton’s Charles Hodge (1797-1878). Aubert discusses the influences of Ernst Hengstenberg, Friedrich Schleiermacher, and the German mediating theologians, especially in terms of theological method and the doctrine of atonement in light of nineteenth-century modernism and scientific theories. By reassessing Hodge’s theological method and Gerhart’s significant contributions, she shows how systematic theology, in an age of modern science, could no longer strictly adhere to past definitions of theology and dogmatic works. This book shows how Gerhart and Hodge engaged with the ideas of their German counterparts to articulate theological definitions and methods. Showing that reformed theologians in nineteenth-century America profited enormously from the dogmatic, historical, and biblical works of German scholarship, Aubert’s work makes an important contribution to both transatlantic religious and Protestant theological studies.