135 - Sons Of the Prophets; Leaders In Protestantism From Princeton Seminary

Sons Of the Prophets;
Leaders In Protestantism From Princeton Seminary
Edited by Hugh T. Kerr
227 pp. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1963. $5.00.

These twelve biographical essays commemorate Princeton Seminary's sesquicentennial. The foreword reminds us that the seminary's establishment in 1812 marked a turning point in American theological education, since earlier ministerial training was pursued within college curricula or through private tutoring. The twelve essays do not aim to give a history of the Seminary or to reflect the course of American Presbyterianism. (Until such a volume appears, the reader has Leffert Loetscher's The Broadening Church, 1954). Rather, the present volume introduces us to selected leaders who have been closely associated with the Seminary.

136 - Sons Of the Prophets; Leaders In Protestantism From Princeton Seminary

They range from the founding father to the Czech theologian Hromadka, the only "son" still living.

John A. Mackay (who himself might have been included as the subject of an essay) contributes the first chapter on the Seminary's founder, Archibald Alexander. Written in Dr. Mackay's characteristic style and spirit, the essay is a warm appreciation-seeing in Alexander the twin purposes of the Seminary's first constitution, "piety and learning."

Leonard Trinterud presents Charles Hodge, the most influential Princeton theologian of the Nineteenth Century. While the essay relates the man to the immediate controversies of his time, one wishes that space had permitted more evaluation of Hodge's theology since, as Trinterud says, "it is widely believed that Charles Hodge lies buried in three volumes." No attention is given to Hodge's response to the new science of his day (as is done in John Dillenberger's Protestant Thought and Natural Science, 1960).

Theodore Bachmann introduces us to Samuel Schmucker, the Lutheran whose life illustrates the influence Princeton Seminary has had across denominational lines. This student of Alexander left Princeton with the desire to found a Lutheran seminary along similar lines-and was instrumental in the beginnings of Gettysburg Seminary and later of Gettysburg College.

James Nichols sketches the career of John Nevin, the one-time student of Hodge who became (with Schaff) the leader of the Mercersburg Theology and the formidable adversary of Hodge on the Reformed understanding of Church and sacrament. The interested reader can explore the subject further in Nichols' Romanticism in American Theology, 1961.

Hermann Morse gives us Sheldon Jackson, the personification of home missionary effort in the period of the great expansion-fifty years of service from midwest to Alaska.

If the Seminary's contribution to home missions is seen in Jackson, Richard Shaull selects Ashbel Simonton of Brazil as epitomizing Princeton's long concern for foreign missions. We note with interest that Simonton's passion for missions was awakened by Charles Hodge. Shaull's essay includes stimulating reflections on what today's missionary movement can learn from Simonton.

Bruce Morgan has a chapter on Stephen Colwell, a social prophet before the social gospel movement. Colwell was not a clergyman but a trustee of the Seminary-and a vigorous critic of the nineteenth-century Church for its failure to relate the Gospel to pressing social and economic issues. Appropriately, the seminary's chair in ethics is the Stephen Colwell Chair in Applied Christianity.

137 - Sons Of the Prophets; Leaders In Protestantism From Princeton Seminary

Roland Frye has a delightful and discerning chapter on Henry Van Dyke-pastor, pioneer in liturgical reform, prolific writer, university professor, diplomat. His most significant contribution is seen in the Book of Common Worship.

Clifton Olmstead deals with Francis Grimké, whose ministry in Washington brings us to the pressing social issue of our time, the Negro's place in America.

Howard Johnson reviews the long life of Walter Lowrie, the Presbyterian turned Episcopalian, whose career spanned from student days at the Seminary to his productive "retirement" in Princeton. Since Lowrie's contributions to Kierkegaard study need no introduction, the essay devotes more attention to his New Testament studies and to his work in early Christian art and liturgy.

Yasuo Furuya sketches the impact of Toyohiko Kagawa, the great social prophet of Japanese Christianity. Today's seminary student will be astonished to learn that, when Kagawa came to Princeton as a graduate student, he had already translated Schweitzer's Quest!

Finally, Charles West writes an appreciative sketch of Josef Hromadka of Prague, whose eight years in Princeton between 1939 and 1947 have left an indelible mark on all who know him. Hromadka focuses the present ideological conflict between East and West-and yearns for its resolution. This reviewer, a grateful student of Hromadka for six years, can footnote the essay with his own experience. Like West, he cannot accept as adequate Hromadka's analysis of the present situation-but neither can he forget the latter's contagious theology and warm humanity.

Where should a book of this kind end? One might say with the Biblical writer, "And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, etc." The foreword acknowledges that the selection of these twelve is somewhat arbitrary, for inevitably one wonders why others were not chosen also. Striking, for example, is the omission of B. B. Warfield-not only because he had a long impact as teacher, but also because in him one sees the older orthodoxy battling in vain against the currents of twentieth-century developments. And should the volume not have included at least one pastoral ministry as such? (Grimké is selected primarily for his voice in the racial issue.) Professor Kerr says such a choice would be "too invidious among such a large alumni body so notable in this category of ministry." This reviewer would suggest the pastoral ministry of the late Frank Niles, whose career included student days at Princeton University and Seminary, missionary service in China, and a notable pastorate in Princeton that deeply touched the life of college, community, and Seminary.

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Withal, this volume is a worthy "Festschrift" to the seminary, and it makes for enjoyable and profitable reading.

John Frederick Jansen
Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Austin, Texas