Coena Mystica: Debating Reformed Eucharistic Theology

by John Williamson Nevin, Charles Hodge, Linden J. DeBie (Editor), W. Bradford Littlejohn (Editor), Anne T. Thayer (Foreword by)

Overview

Coena Mystica contains the never-before-reprinted text of John Williamson Nevin's response to Charles Hodge's devastating critiques of his 1846 magnum opus, The Mystical Presence. Initially appearing in twelve issues of the little-known Weekly Messenger of the German Reformed Church and almost entirely neglected by historians since, Nevin's response included the full text of Hodge's article, with his rejoinders interspersed every few pages. These articles, in addition to providing a lively and illuminating debate on the roots of Reformed eucharistic theology, take the disputants into such fields as the nature of the church, the development of doctrine, the person and work of Christ, and the merits of German idealism. The quality of the historical argument and theological acumen here displayed makes this exchange one of the landmark theological controversies of the nineteenth century, a gift to historians of the period, students of Reformed theology, and anyone seeking to better understand the contentious legacy of the Protestant Reformation. The present critical edition carefully preserves the original text, while providing extensive introductions, annotations, and bibliography to orient the modern reader and facilitate further scholarship. The Mercersburg Theology Study Series is an attempt to make available for the first time, in attractive, readable, and scholarly modern editions, the key writings of the nineteenth-century movement known as the Mercersburg Theology. An ambitious multi-year project, this aims to make an important contribution to the scholarly community and to the broader reading public, who can at last be properly introduced to this unique blend of American and European, Reformed and Catholic theology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781621896241
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	04/17/2013
Series:	Mercersburg Theology Study Series , #2
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	246
File size:	850 KB

About the Author

John Williamson Nevin (1803-1886) was a leading nineteenth-century Reformed theologian. Originally trained in the Presbyterian Church, he took up a teaching post at Mercersburg Seminary of the German Reformed Church in 1841, and spent the rest of his life teaching and writing in that denomination.

Charles Hodge (1797-1878) was the premier American Presbyterian theologian of his era. Through his fifty-year tenure at Princeton Seminary, his editorship of the Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review, his three-volume Systematic Theology, and a host of books and articles, he exerted a decisive influence on conservative American Protestantism throughout the nineteenth century and beyond.

Editor:
Linden J. DeBie has taught at Seton Hall University and New Brunswick Theological Seminary. He is the author of Speculative Theology and Commonsense Religion: Mercersburg and the Conservative Roots of American Religion (Pickwick, 2008), and editor of the first volume of the Mercersburg Theology Study Series.

General Editor:
Brad Littlejohn has an MA in Theology from New Saint Andrews College (2009), and MTh in Theological Ethics from the University of Edinburgh (2010), where he is currently completing a PhD in Theological Ethics. He is the author of The Mercersburg Theology and the Quest for Reformed Catholicity (Pickwick, 2009).
Sam Hamstra Jr. is the Affiliate Professor of Church History and Worship at Northern Seminary. He is the editor of several studies, most recently The Reformed Pastor: Lectures on Pastoral Theology by John Williamson Nevin, and has authored several works on worship, including What’s Love Got to Do With It? How the Heart of God Shapes Worship.



John Williamson Nevin (1803–1886), professor successively at Western Theological Seminary, the Theological Seminary of the German Reformed Church at Mercersburg, and Franklin and Marshall College. He was a leading nineteenth-century theologian and founding editor of Mercersburg Review.

Charles Hodge (1797-1878) was one of the most influential American theologians of the nineteenth century. A professor at Princeton Theological Seminary from 1820 until his death, Hodge was a champion of Calvinistic confessionalism, or "old Princeton Theology." His three volume 'Systematic Theology' is a classic statement of nineteenth century American Calvinism.
Linden J. DeBie received his doctorate in the philosophy of religion from McGill University. He is author of numerous academic books and articles having to do with philosophy, religion, and history. This is his first novel.
W. Bradford Littlejohn is President of the Davenant Trust and the author of The Mercersburg Theology and the Quest for Reformed Catholicity (Pickwick, 2009), as well as two forthcoming books and several articles on Richard Hooker and the English Reformation.

Table of Contents

Foreword Anne Thayer vii

Editorial Approach and Acknowledgments Bradford Littlejohn Linden DeBie ix

Biographical Essay: Parallel Lives, Antagonistic Aims Linden DeBie xiii

Introduction Linden DeBie xxxix

1 Nevin Introduces the Debate 1

2 The Views of Zwingli and Calvin 10

3 Christ's Real Presence in the Lord's Supper 27

4 Nevin on the Ancient Reformed Creeds 41

5 Sacramental Doctrine of Calvin 52

6 Sacramental Doctrine of the Reformed Confessions 71

7 What It Means to Receive the Body and Blood of Christ 84

8 The Sacramental Efficacy of the Lord's Supper 100

9 The Modern Theory Debated 117

10 Departures from Chalcedonian Orthodoxy 132

11 Departures from Reformed Orthodoxy 147

12 Final Criticisms 160

Bibliography 175

Subject and Author Index 183

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This debate on the Lord's Supper is by no means of narrow denominational interest only; for Hodge and Nevin represent doctrinal and sacramental views that are ardently defended to this day—not least in ecumenical discussions. We thus have here a welcome and instructive addition to what is already proving to be a useful series of carefully introduced and edited texts."
—Alan P. F. Sell, University of Wales Trinity Saint David

"Too often in contemporary theology . . . the Eucharist is identified with its Zwinglian variant, according to which the sacrament is largely a spiritual memorial. In the nineteenth century, this view was championed by Charles Hodge, who eschewed the higher sacramentalism of Calvin. By contrast, his erstwhile student John Williamson Nevin attempted to restate the higher Calvinistic account of communion. The battle of journal articles that ensued, reprinted here for the first time since the nineteenth century, is a window into this debate."
—Oliver Crisp, Fuller Theological Seminary

"These are essential documents pertaining to one of the most important theological debates in American history. They remain of great interest today for not only deepening how Reformed churches might understand the Lord's Supper in accord with Calvin, but also for the possibility of Reformed ecumenical convergence with churches from which they have long been divided. . . . The editors have performed a great service to theology and the church."
—George Hunsinger, Princeton Theological Seminary

"No theological debate in nineteenth-century America displayed more erudition, logical acumen, and knowledge of European scholarship than the clash between Hodge and Nevin over the sacraments. The editors of this volume not only provide stunningly good introductions, but they also arrange the material in an ingenious way that deepens our insights into the issues and enables us to easily follow the discussion."
—E. Brooks Holifield, Emory University

Editorial Reviews

"This debate on the Lord's Supper is by no means of narrow denominational interest only; for Hodge and Nevin represent doctrinal and sacramental views that are ardently defended to this day—not least in ecumenical discussions. We thus have here a welcome and instructive addition to what is already proving to be a useful series of carefully introduced and edited texts."
—Alan P. F. Sell, University of Wales Trinity Saint David

"Too often in contemporary theology . . . the Eucharist is identified with its Zwinglian variant, according to which the sacrament is largely a spiritual memorial. In the nineteenth century, this view was championed by Charles Hodge, who eschewed the higher sacramentalism of Calvin. By contrast, his erstwhile student John Williamson Nevin attempted to restate the higher Calvinistic account of communion. The battle of journal articles that ensued, reprinted here for the first time since the nineteenth century, is a window into this debate."
—Oliver Crisp, Fuller Theological Seminary

"These are essential documents pertaining to one of the most important theological debates in American history. They remain of great interest today for not only deepening how Reformed churches might understand the Lord's Supper in accord with Calvin, but also for the possibility of Reformed ecumenical convergence with churches from which they have long been divided. . . . The editors have performed a great service to theology and the church."
—George Hunsinger, Princeton Theological Seminary

"No theological debate in nineteenth-century America displayed more erudition, logical acumen, and knowledge of European scholarship than the clash between Hodge and Nevin over the sacraments. The editors of this volume not only provide stunningly good introductions, but they also arrange the material in an ingenious way that deepens our insights into the issues and enables us to easily follow the discussion."
—E. Brooks Holifield, Emory University

From the Publisher