Old School–New School controversy: Difference between revisions

|Description = The P.C.U.S.A. split in 1837 to become New School Presbyterians and Old School Presbyterians.

The '''Old School–New School controversy''' was a [[Schism (religion)|schism]] of the [[Presbyterian Church in the United States of America]] whichthat took place in 1837 and lasted for over 20 years. '''The Old School''', led by [[Charles Hodge]] of [[Princeton Theological Seminary]], was much more conservative theologically and did not support the [[Revival meeting|revival movement]]. It called for traditional Calvinist orthodoxy as outlined in the [[Westminster standards]].

'''The New School''' derived from the reinterpretation of [[Calvinism]] by New England [[Congregationalism in the United States|Congregationalist]] theologians [[Jonathan Edwards (theologian)|Jonathan Edwards]], [[Samuel Hopkins (1721–1803)|Samuel Hopkins]] and [[Joseph Bellamy]], and wholly embraced revivalism. Though there was much diversity among them, the Edwardsian Calvinists commonly rejected what they called "Old Calvinism" in light of their understandings of God, the human person, and the Bible.

Similarly, ecumenical "home missions" efforts became more formal under the auspices of the [[American Home Missionary Society]], founded in 1826. This missions emphasis resulted in new churches being formed with either Congregational or Presbyterian forms of government, or a mixture of the two, supported by older established churches with a different form of government. Often clergy came into conflict with their own congregations over issues of [[ecclesiology]] and [[polity]]. It also resulted in a difference in doctrinal commitment and views among churches in close fellowship, leading to suspicion and controversy.{{citation needed|date=June 2013}}

When the [[Harvard Divinity School]] [[Hollis Chair of Divinity|Hollis Professor of Divinity]] [[David Tappan]] died in 1803 and the president of Harvard Joseph Willard died a year later, in 1804, acting president [[Eliphalet Pearson]] and overseer of the college [[Jedidiah Morse]] demanded that orthodox men be elected.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Balmer|first1=Randall|title=The Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism|date=2001|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|location=Louisville, KY|isbn=9780664224097|page=393|edition=1st|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=syUupeVJOz4C&dq=jedidiah+morse+and+harvard&pg=PA393|access-date=7 January 2016}}</ref> But, the Unitarian [[Henry Ware (Unitarian)|Henry Ware]] was elected in 1805. This marked the shift at Harvard from the dominance of traditional, [[Calvinist]] ideas to the dominance of liberal, [[Arminianism|Arminian]] ideas (defined by traditionalists as [[Unitarian-Universalism|Unitarian]] ideas).<ref name=Dorrien/>{{rp|4–5}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Field|first1=Peter S.|title=Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Making of a Democratic Intellectual|date=2003|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|location=Lewiston, NY|isbn=9780847688425|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HXHbEWJacwwC|access-date=7 January 2016|language=en}}</ref>{{rp|24}} After the appointment of Ware, and the election of the liberal [[Samuel Webber]] to the presidency of Harvard two years later, Eliphalet Pearson and other conservatives founded the [[Andover Theological Seminary]] as an orthodox, trinitarian alternative to the Harvard Divinity School.<ref name=Dorrien/>{{rp|4–5}}

In the U.S. the [[Second Great Awakening]] (1800–30s1800–1830s) was the second great religious revival in United States history and consisted of renewed personal salvation experienced in revival meetings. Presbyterian Rev. [[Charles Finney]] (1792–1875) was a key leader of the evangelical revival movement in America. From 1821 onwards he conducted revival meetings across many north-eastern states and won many converts. For him, a revival was not a miracle but a change of mindset that was ultimately a matter for the individual's free will. His revival meetings created anxiety in a penitent's mind that one could only save his or her soul by submission to the will of God, as illustrated by Finney's quotations from the Bible. In the West (now Upper South) especially—at [[Cane Ridge, Kentucky]] and in [[Tennessee]]—the revival strengthened the [[Methodism|Methodists]] and [[Baptists]]. The [[Churches of Christ]] and [[Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)]] arose from the [[Restoration Movement|Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement]]. It also introduced into America a new form of religious expression—the Scottish [[camp meeting]].

The controversy reached a climax at a meeting of the [[Presbyterian general assembly|general assembly]] in Philadelphia in 1836 when the Old School party found themselves in the majority and voted to annul the Plan of Union as unconstitutionally adopted. They then voted to expel the [[Presbyterian synod|synod]]s of [[Western Reserve]] (which included Oberlin as a part of [[Lorain County, Ohio]]), Utica, Geneva, and Genesee, because they were formed on the basis of the Plan of Union. At the General Assembly of 1837, these synods were refused recognition as lawfully part of the meeting. These and others who sympathized with them departed and formed their own general assembly meeting in another church building nearby, setting the stage for a court dispute about which of the two general assemblies constituted the true continuing Presbyterian church.<ref>{{Cite thesis|title="The Bond of Union"|last=Wallace|first=Peter|year=2004|chapter=Catholicity and Conscience|chapter-url=http://www.peterwallace.org/dissertation/1division.htm}}</ref> The [[Supreme Court of Pennsylvania]] decided that the Old School Assembly was the true representative of the Presbyterian church and their decisions would govern.<ref>Commonwealth v. Green, 4 Wharton 531, 1839 Pa. LEXIS 238 (1839).</ref>

Theologically, '''The New School''' derived from the reconstructions of [[Calvinism]] by New England Puritans [[Jonathan Edwards (theologian)|Jonathan Edwards]], [[Samuel Hopkins (1721–1803)|Samuel Hopkins]] and [[Joseph Bellamy]] and wholly embraced revivalism. Though there was much diversity among them, the Edwardsian Calvinists commonly rejected what they called "Old Calvinism" in light of their understandings of God, the human person and the Bible.

Prominent members of the New School included [[Nathaniel William Taylor]], [[Eleazar Thompson Fitch|Eleazar T. Fitch]], [[Chauncey A. Goodrich|Chauncey Goodrich]], [[Albert Barnes (theologian)|Albert Barnes]], [[Lyman Beecher]] (the father of [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]] and [[Henry Ward Beecher]]), [[Henry Boynton Smith]], Erskine Mason, [[George Duffield (Presbyterianminister, born 1794)|George Duffield]], [[Nathan S.S. Beman|Nathan Beman]], [[Charles Finney]], George Cheever, [[Samuel Fisher (clergyman)|Samuel Fisher]],<ref>{{Cite book | last=Kimball | first=Alfred R. | yearurl=chttp://archive. 1908org/details/samuelfisherddac00kimb | title=Samuel Fisher, D.D. : an account of his life and services |date=1908 |publisher= n[S.pl.}} ''Available: [https://archives.n.org/details/samuelfisherddac00kimb via|others=New InternetYork Archive].''Public Library}}</ref> and Thomas McAuley.

As the debate over slavery and abolition ratcheted up in the 1840s and 1850s, both the New School and the Old School began to experience internal tensions, largely along North-South (abolitionism vs. pro-slavery) lines. As the [[ABCFM]] and [[American Home Missionary Society|AHMS]] refused to take positions on slavery, some Presbyterian churches joined the abolitionist [[American Missionary Association]] instead, and even became Congregationalists or [[Free Presbyterian Church Synod of the United States|Free Presbyterians]]. African-American Presbyterian pastor [[Theodore S. Wright]] helped to form anti-slavery societies, such as the [[American Anti-Slavery Society]] and the [[American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society]]. New School Presbyterian Rev. [[Henry Ward Beecher]], advocated for rifles ("[[Beecher's Bibles]]") to be sent through the [[New England Emigrant Aid Company]] to address the [[Bleeding Kansas|pro-slavery violence in Kansas]]. While [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]]'s ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'' made the case against slavery, her husband continued to teach at [[Andover Theological Seminary]].

Despite the tensions, the Old School Presbyterians managed to stay united for several more years. However, in the summer of 1861, the Old School General Assembly, in a vote of 156 to 66, passed the [[Gardiner Spring Resolutions]] which called for the Old School Presbyterians to support the Federal Government. In order to attempt to alleviate the situation, the Assembly added language which clarified that the term "Federal Government" referred to "not any particular administration, or the peculiar opinions of any particular party," but to "the central administration....appointed and inaugurated according to the forms prescribed in the Constitution of the United States..." Inevitably, though, the Southern Old School Presbyterians still departed, and on December 4, 1861, the first General Assembly of the new [[Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America]] was held in Augusta, Georgia.<ref>Hart & Meuther, pg. 150</ref> Thus at the beginning of the Civil War there were four related branches of American Presbyterians: The Northern New School, the Northern Old School, the Southern New School, and the Southern Old School.

Eventually, in 1867, the Plan of Union was presented to the General Synods of both the Old School and New School Presbyterians in the North. With some Presbyterians on the border states having left the PC-USA in favor of the PCUS, opposition was reduced to a small faction of Old School holdovers such as [[Charles Hodge]] (raising concerns over the New School's fairly loose stance regarding [[confessional subscription]]), who, while preventing as much of a decisive victory in favor of reunion at the 1868 General Assembly, nevertheless failed to prevent the Old School General Assembly from approving the motion that the Plan of Union be sent to the presbyteries for their approval. The Plan of Union was eventually approved, and in 1869, the Old and New Schools reunited.

Amongst Northern Presbyterians, the effect of the reunion was felt soon after. The PC-USA eventually found itself becoming increasingly ecumenical and supporting various social causes. At the same time, the PC-USA also became increasingly lax in doctrinal subscription, and New School attempts to modify Calvinism would become embodied in the 1903 revision of the Westminster Standards. In time, the PC-USA would eventually welcome the Arminian [[Cumberland Presbyterians]] into their fold (1906), and incidences{{verify spelling|date=September 2022|reason=''incidence'' is normally used only in the singular form, perhaps ''incidence'', ''incidents'', or ''instances'' was intended}} such as the [[Charles Augustus Briggs|Charles A. Briggs]] trial of 1893 would become simply a precursor of the [[fundamentalist–modernist controversy]] of the 1920s.

*Parker, Harold M., Jr. ''The United Synod of the South: The Southern New School Presbyterian Church'' (1988)

[[Category:19th-century CalvinismReformed Christianity]]