A transatlantic 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

This dissertation examines the nineteenth-century continental European theological influence, including Vermittlungstheologie, upon the Mercersburg theology of Emanuel V. Gerhart and the Princeton theology of Charles Hodge. The thesis of this study is that the theology of American Reformed theology in 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 modem 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, the 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 Dourer 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 of this study.