American Presbyterian History

Where did the PCA come from?

Early American Presbyterian Churches

Jamaica Presbyterian Church (1672)

First Presbyterian Philadelphia (1698)

Francis Makemie

Irish - trained in Scotland and ordained as a missionary by Irish Presbytery of Laggan (1682)

1683 - arrives in america

eventually settles in Accomac, Virginia

recruited Scots and Scots-Irish pastors to plant churches in Maryland (1704-5)

1706 - first Presbytery in America

(Maryland, Deleware, Pennsylvania, and Virginia)

died in 1708

1716 - Synod overseeing 3 presbyteries

Philadelphia, New Castle (Maryland and Delaware), and Long Island

did not adopt doctrinal standards

1720s - beginning of subscription controversy

New Castle Presbytery required Westminster subscription

Led by John Thomson, the presbyters of New Castle believed that the only way to protect the doctrinal and moral purity of the church was for ministers to declare that they claimed the Westminster Standards as their confession of faith; that is, that the Standards summarized what they believed the Bible to teach.

Dickinson - forcing men to adopt creeds/confessions was casting aspersions on the sufficiency of Word and Spirit for resolving doctrinal disputes.

1729 - Synod votes for subscription

continued issues over exactly what that means

1738 - Synod votes to require all ministerial candidates to have a university degree from either an Old World college or university or from one of the two New England colleges, Harvard or Yale.

Old Side and New Side Division (1741 - 1758)

Old Side - opposed the Great Awakening

not because they disliked evangelism,

feared the disordering effects of itinerant ministry.

believed Whitefield and Gilbert Tennent, along with a number of lesser-known awakeners, invaded churches, seized pulpits, and urged church members to leave their original congregations.

New Sides view of subscription seen as too loose

New Side - felt that the Old Side missed New Birth in its focus on being orderly

personal encounter with Jesus

Gilbert Tennant

believed only those with conversion experience should be considered as ministerial candidates

Old Side ministers were blind guides and "crowds of Pharisees";

New Side Presbytery splits off in 1741

starts the College of New Jersey in 1746

will move to Princeton (1756)

Princeton Seminary (1812)

Merged in reaction to 7 Years War in 1758

Princeton accepted as a school by Old Side

New Side concedes confessional subscription as important and that irregular theological training should not be tolerated

John Witherspoon (1723-1794)

eventually becomes presient of Princeton (1768)

Scottish - introduces American Presbyterians to the Scottish Enlightenment

"Scottish Common Sense Realism"

James Madison, one of his students, will take these ideas and use them to influence the US Constitution

Reformations needed to accommodate church growth in 1770s-1780s and spread

Book of Church Order (1788)

established One General Assembly divided into three synods

Plan of Union (1801)

Presbyterians and Congregationalists agreeing to cooperate in planting churches in the Old Northwest Frontier

issues of churches being planted that were neither Pres or Cong

growing differences will lead to termination of agreement in 1837

Charles Finney

lawyer converted in 1821

studied and was ordained in 1824 as evangelist

New Measures

protracted meetings

anxious bench

emerged as leader of evangelical revivalism

New School vs Old School

New School

revivals were not due to the miraculous outpouring of God's Spirit, but simply the result of the proper applications of means.

interdenominational conscientiousness in benevolence societies

Strong Advocates of abolitionism

revised understanding of original sin, freedom of the will, regeneration, conversion, and sanctification,

Old School

people waited for God to pour out his Spirit in his own time.

create support societies through denominational boards

resistant to abolition, especially in South

supported Westminster Standards

Abrogating Act (1837)

cancelled Plan of Union Retroactively

eliminated 4 Synods

60,000 people kicked out

New School Presbyterian

PCUSA formed the following year

New School became the primarily northern church (PCUSA)

Auburn Declaration

justified its views as orthodox

System Subscription to Westminster Introduced

Standards taught the system of doctrine trine contained in the Scriptures, but that denied that every proposition tion or doctrine in the Standards was necessary for the system of doctrine trine to exist.

become more vigilant about doctrinal deviation

no official position on slavery until 1857

Union Seminary (1836)

important training seminary for New School pastors

Old School Presbyterian

James Henry Thornwell

two offices

Charles Hodge

three offices