DOI: 10.1057/9781137443298.0001 Reason and Faith at Early Princeton
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Reason and Faith at Early Princeton: Piety and the Knowledge of God Owen Anderson Associate Professor, School of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies at Arizona State University, USA DOI: 10.1057/9781137443298.0001
reason and faith at early princeton Copyright Owen Anderson, 2014. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-44328-1 All rights reserved. First published in 2014 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN in the United States a division of St. Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN: 978 1 137 44329 8 PDF ISBN: 978-1-349-49530-6 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. First edition: 2014 www.palgrave.com/pivot doi: 10.1057/9781137443298
DOI: 10.1057/9781137443298.0001 To Logos Theological Seminary, Phoenix, Arizona.
Contents Preface Acknowledgments vii ix Introduction 1 1 Context and Goals of Early Princeton 6 2 The Tennents and Revivals 20 3 Jonathan Edwards 35 4 John Witherspoon 46 5 Archibald Alexander 60 6 Samuel Miller 74 7 Charles Hodge 83 8 The Reformed Influence on Common Sense Philosophy 90 9 The Fall and Original Sin 110 Conclusion 134 Glossary of Names and Terms 138 Bibliography 145 Index 150 vi DOI: 10.1057/9781137443298.0001
Preface This book is a prequel to my recent Reason and Faith in the Theology of Charles Hodge. It tells the origins of Princeton University and Seminary in order to help in our understanding of American education, American religion, and the knowledge of God and good and evil. At Princeton this took the form of training pious ministers who in turn would teach piety to others. The idea of piety is greater than the idea of morality. It includes morality but goes further to include the knowledge and love of God. I put knowledge of God before love of God because a person may think he/she loves God while, in fact, loving a misconception of God (a conceptual idol). Therefore, to teach piety is to teach knowledge about God and the good. These are not new subjects originating at Princeton. Indeed, they can be traced to the very beginning of the Academy. However, they are subjects that were not retained at the Academy, and may no longer be retained at Princeton. This is because to know God and the good is different from teaching opinions about God and the good. This distinction between knowledge and opinion (even true opinion) is one of the basic questions concerning the study in this book. Just as skepticism became the ruling position at the Academy of Athens, so too this has occurred in our setting. Skepticism says that knowledge as certainty is not possible, only opinions, probability, and plausibility. Faith is accommodated to skepticism when it is taken to mean blind faith, rather than faithfulness or knowledge of what is not seen with the eyes. DOI: 10.1057/9781137443298.0002 vii
viii Preface I have relied heavily on ebooks in both of these books because they were written while I was involved in extensive traveling. In this way I could always have my library with me. My time at Princeton University as a research fellow and at Princeton Seminary as a visiting scholar has shaped this work in numerous ways. One of these is to give me access to original documents in their libraries. Perhaps even more important is a sense of history and the context of ideas as they are lived out in concrete ways both in an individual s life and in institutions. As original ideas are abandoned and replaced institutions change, and this can be not only studied but also felt. The lives of so many persons who contributed in a multitude of ways to these institutions are still present and are still a witness to the ideas and values that motivated these contributions. Princeton has not continued with its original goals. Its foundation in piety and orthodoxy did not withstand the challenges it faced from competing worldviews. An implication of our study is to answer what else is needed as a foundation to provide for a lasting vision and institution. Although the original Log College has not been preserved, its commitment to an education in piety and the knowledge of God and the good even in modest circumstances remains. I have benefited from such an education. DOI: 10.1057/9781137443298.0002
Acknowledgments I would like to acknowledge Arizona State University for the sabbatical leave that allowed me to research and write this book. I completed this book while working as a research fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton University, and as a visiting scholar at Princeton Seminary. Both of these institutions provided me with unparalleled research opportunities and colleagues. The James Madison Program deserves my special thanks. I would also like to thank the Center for Critical Inquiry and Cultural Studies for their grant. Many persons have contributed to my thinking about this subject over the years. These include my parents and my mentor Surrendra Gangadean. I am reminded that there are many ways that I need to continue to grow. Although my children are young, they are not only an inspiration to me but also their questions about basic things remind me of the importance of natural theology. DOI: 10.1057/9781137443298.0003 ix