Romanticism in American Theology

This is a study of religious thought and life in America in the generation before the Civil War. It focuses on Nevin and Schaff, who pioneered in America the theological reinterpretations stimulated by German idealism in philosophy and the new theories of historical development. They were also spokesmen of the romantic interest in Christian traditions, community, and sacraments and in this interest opposed the antihistorical individualism predominant in American religion. Charles Hodge, Orestes Brownson, Horace Bushnell, R. J. Wilberforce, and the American Lutherans all debated with them. Nevin and Schaff were the chief nineteenth-century American prophets of the contemporary ecumenical movement.

This new edition of James Hastings Nichols' classic study of the Mercersburg Theology will be welcomed enthusiastically by students of American theology and religious history. Who would have thought that the reappearance of 'Romanticism in American Theology' could be described as 'timely'? But with fresh interest in the thought of John W. Nevin and Philip Schaff breaking forth in many corners of both church and academy, it is important to have this standard monograph back in print. Nichols' description of Nevin and Schaff's engagement with Schliermacher and the leading edges of German philosophy, in opposition to main currents of American evangelicalism, remains as compelling as ever.

-- Charles Hambrick-Stowe, Northern Seminary

James H. Nichols was Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Chicago Divinity School. He authored several books on church history and religious topics including 'Primer for Protestants' (1947), 'Democracy and the Churches' (1951), and 'The History of Christianity, 1650-1950' (1956).