KAPC GA Exam Study Guide (History of American Presbyterianism) graduated from the institution. The men went on to play leading roles in the ecclesiastical and educational life of the day. Its spirit continued after it closed its doors and eventually moved to Princeton, NJ from Neshaminy, PA. It later became Princeton University in 1896. 6. Elaborate on the key persons of the 1st Great Awakening Movement. Theodore Jacob Frelinghuysen, a pastor of Dutch Reformed Church, advocated that "(a Christian) must have a proof of their repentance and rebirth in their daily lives" and he had much influence on Gilbert Tennant, who was the son of William Tennant. Gilbert Tennent (1703-64). Adopted a style of preaching that was aimed at experiential piety. His strain of Presbyterian devotion was more informal and subjective. Tennent began with very evident success to preach the necessity of conversion and new life. Revivals began breaking out in 1729 and 1730 when Gilbert Tennent began preaching using the story of his brother John’s joyous discovery of spiritual relief. This was followed a decade later by the blossoming of revivals with George Whitfield. 1734 – Jonathan Edwards began to preach with life-changing power. During 1st year more than 300 in his community professed conversion. George Whitefield – made many trips from England to the American colonies between 1738 and 1770. George Whitefield’s arrival in North America in 1739 was a mixed blessing. Whitefield’s itinerant preaching between 1739 and 1741 aggravated the antagonism within the church for those who were already suspicious of the Log College and its graduates. This threatened the relationship between the minister and his congregants. Also, Whitefield threatened Presbyterian propriety. His preaching was highly emotional and theatrical, looking like manipulation. He preached in a threatening manner “the terrors of the law.” 7. Discuss the ramifications of the Great Awakening Movement in American Society. In spite of its emotional excesses, which occasionally almost produced hysteria, the Great Awakening had a long lasting influence on America. Hitherto Christianity in the colonies had been a rather austere enterprise for the spiritual select; now the gospel came home to the common man with power. The Great Awakening decided that American should be a predominantly Christian land. It stimulated moral earnestness, missionary zeal, philanthropy, cooperation across denominational lines, and the founding of educational institutions. 201
KAPC GA Exam Study Guide (History of American Presbyterianism) It gave new value and confidence to the average man and so contributed to the development of democracy in America. It strengthened the non-established churches more than the established, and so helped to prepare for religious freedom. But later revivalism’s emphasis on emotion often undermined sober religious thinking, and its almost exclusive interest in individuals greatly weakened the idea of the church. The Awakening rekindled earlier interest in missions to Indians. Some of the nobles spirits that modern Christianity has produced are to be found among the early American missionaries to the Indians. David Brainerd. 8. Discuss the contribution of the Presbyterian Church and its influence on the 1st Great Awakening. Gilbert Tennent and William Tennent Jr, both Presbyterian ministers, were influenced by Frelinghuysen’s preaching and were similarly committed to Puritan piety and they led revivals among Presbyterians in the Philadelphia vicinity. Some within Presbyterian circles voiced opinions of opposition to the new forms of preaching and piety. 9. Discuss the division of the Presbyterian Church into ‘Old Side’ and ‘New Side’ during the 1st Great Awakening AND Discuss the development of the New Brunswick Presbytery in 1738 and its progression to the Synod of New York in 1745. Gilbert Tennent preached “The Danger of an Unconverted Ministry” two months before the next Synod meeting. This was largely responsible for the eventual division in the church between the Old Side and New Side Presbyterians. Tennent was adamant that each presbytery retain its own sovereignty in the examination and ordination of its members. Tennent and Samuel Blair refused to work toward compromise. Although in 1740 there was no split, in 1741 there was a clear division between the proand anti-revival parties. Protestation of 1741 – formal declaration of an intent to divide the American church into its Old Side and New Side branches. It advocated a return to the Westminster Standards and Directories as the basis for membership in Synod. It explicitly renounced the revivalist party in New Brunswick. “The decision to bar New Brunswick’s members, then, was in effect, on more a procedural move to restore harmony than it was a judicial decision to remove men from the ministry” “The Old and New Sides…were two variants of the American Presbyterian Church, not two different Presbyterian denominations” (64). 1745 – New Brunswick Presbytery together with Presbyteries of New York and New Castle formed the Synod of New York. 10. Discuss the Reunification of the Presbyterian Church in 1758. 202
KAPC GA Exam Study Guide (History of American Presbyterianism) Soon after the division, both sides exchanged friendly overtures and both sides moderated their views and they were reunified in 1758. The Philadelphia Synod conceded that their complaint against Gilbert Tennant and his supporters was more to a few representative individuals and that their views were not official acts. The New Side also conceded by accepting 1) not to make irresponsible accusations against the Old Side ministers 2) not to enter into the congregation of another parish without official invitation; and 3) to have more respect for the authority of church courts. Based on the concessions of both sides and based on their standard, WCF, the two sides were reconciled under the newly named Synod of New York and Philadelphia. 11. Discuss the events of May 17th, 1775 Background is American Revolution. Presbyterians were patriotic in their devotion for the cause of American independence. The Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia on May 17, 1775. Emotions were high because a month earlier the first blood was spilt in Lexington, Virginia. 24 pastors and 5 elders gathered that day. The Synod fasted and prayed and told congregations to do the same. The Synod drafted a pastoral letter, which wielded a strong, though restrained influence for the patriot side while still at that early date expressing loyalty to George III himself. This action was the first instance of a pronouncement by the church’s highest judicatory on a political or social issue. The practice would increase amid the fervor of evangelical reformed in the early 19th century and would expand vastly in the late 19th and especially 20th century. 12. List the effects of the 2nd Great Awakening movement on the American society This revival was not localized to Kentucky but, in more moderate form, became quite general throughout the nation. It greatly checked the “free though” and infidelity that had followed the Revolution. Sunday schools now first became widespread in the United States. Home missions, foreign missions, and seminaries and divinity schools for ministerial education developed greatly in the following decades. 13. Elucidate on the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and its denominational development. Cumberland Presbyterian Church originated out of the 2nd Great Awakening. They ordained men whose education was said to be unsatisfactory and who rejected part of the WCF, as teaching “fatalism.” In 1810 a majority of the Cumberland Presbytery created an entirely different denomination, also known as the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. A happy event of the twentieth century was the reunion in 1906 by organic merger of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America and the majority of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, by that time grown to be a large and influential denomination. 14. Describe the Presbyterian environment in 1800's In 1800 the Presbyterian Church was perhaps the most influential single denomination in the country. It had a learned ministry; a sizeable membership that was distributed, though not uniformly, over the 203
KAPC GA Exam Study Guide (History of American Presbyterianism) country as a whole, with many of the rapidly expanding frontiers; an effective central government supplied by the new General Assembly; prestige from its unquestioned patriotism; and – together with many of the other churches – renewed spiritual vigor from the recent revival. The church was growing rapidly. By 1800 there were twenty six presbyteries, as compared with sixteen some ten years before. In 1789, the year of the first Assembly, there had been 419 churches as compared with 511 in 1803. The greatest task facing the church for many years to come was the evangelization of the frontier. The new General Assembly soon directed all congregations to make annual collections for home missions and to forward them to the Assembly. The church was determined to try to do its part to win America to Christ. 15. Discuss the proceedings for Unification, then division, of Presbyterians and Congregationalists AND the historical meaning of the Plan of Union of 1801 and its strengths and weaknesses. The issues of Christian mission and social witness were binding obligations on the Christian conscience. Churches were beginning to ask profound theological questions concerning the nature of the church and the meaning of church membership. Presbyterians and Congregationalists were at the center of the voluntary society structures. Since both inherited Calvinistic doctrines and used a simple Puritan type of worship they had relations with ach other. They chiefly differed in church government. The Second Great Awakening inspired the Presbyterians to send missionaries into the frontiers of central and western New York, where they met missionaries sent by the New England Congregationalists. Would the two groups set up rival organization in the needy field or could some method be found of eliminating competition? Jonathan Edwards (younger) suggested in 1800 a Plan of Union. In 1801 the Plan was adopted by both the General Association of Connecticut and the General Assembly. The Plan made it possible for congregations to be connected with both the Congregational and the Presbyterian denominations at the same time, and to be served by pastors of either. Presbyterian churches might be represented in the Congregational associations by their elders, while Congregational churches could be represented in the Presbyterians by committeemen. They were derisively dubbed “Presbygational.” It was one thing to have the two form a new denomination but to have churches belonging to two that were distinct opened the way for difficulties. In 1837 the Old school party felt it was time to abrogate the Plan of Union. They stated this was retroactive and so four synods which were organized under the Plan of Union were no longer a part of the church. This single act removed a large part of the New School party from the church. One church became two separate denominations. 16. Discuss the Background of the establishment of many Seminaries in the early 19th century. The rapidly expanding work of the church contributed to a serious shortage of ministers but the Presbyterian Church did not yield to the temptation to relax its traditional high standards of ministerial 204
KAPC GA Exam Study Guide (History of American Presbyterianism) education. Some of those expanding works of the church was religious newspapers and journals. Also organized the American Bible Society – sought to place a Bible in every home in the land. There were both foreign and home missionary societies. 1809 the GA asked the presbyteries which of three possibilities they preferred: (1) one strong seminary in a central location (2) one seminary for the North and one for the South (3) one seminary in each synod. They wanted the first and the GA organized a seminary at Princeton. 17. Explain the double division of the New and Old Schools caused by the Slavery issue. The Presbyterian church split into four over the slavery issue. The Old School side in the north, although conservative on theology, was antislavery whereas the New School side in the south, although holding to the newer theology, was proslavery. 18. Explain in detail the causes for the division of the Presbyterian Church into the Old School and the New School during 1800's. The Old School, reflecting denominational traditions and interest, became dissatisfied, with the Plan of Union in 1801 with the Congregationalists, charging that the churches erected under the Plan were not truly Presbyterian at all, and that adequate control and discipline of them by the church courts was impossible. Old School wanted the Presbyterian Church to have its own denominational church boards, responsible to the General Assembly and not work in nondenominational agencies. New school, many members of which were of Congregational background and training, were quire satisfied with the Plan of Union, and the nondenominational voluntary societies. Both schools disagreed on matters of doctrine. Jonathan Edwards had restated some doctrines of Calvinism but his followers said that he “improved” them. Some of them were Samuel Hopkins and Nathaniel Taylor. These guys were introducing theological modifications that the Old School in the south did not like. Indirectly slavery was an issue involved in the division. There were those who belonged to the Old School who lived in the north – they disagreed with the slavery issue of those Old School who lived in the south. 19. Discuss the events after the division of 1838 in the Progressive church (the New school) They were shocked that the four synods were expelled from the denomination. The vast majority of New School people, though they had not chosen a separate denominational existence, decided to stay together and a distinctive denomination consciousness gradually developed among them. 205
KAPC GA Exam Study Guide (History of American Presbyterianism) They ended up forming their own General Assembly and sympathetic Presbyterians joined them. They both had the official name “The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.” But they were completely separate and sometimes hostile to each other. New School Presbytery and Congregationalists themselves began to catch more of the spreading denominational spirit. By 1852, New School Presbytery was beginning to organize their own denominational boards and in the same year Congregationalists held at Albany their first general meeting since 1648 and withdrew from the Plan of Union. Half of the New School membership was in New York State – one of chief centers of presbyterian antislavery sentiment. New School General Assembly was quiet on slavery question. In 1853 and 1855 it pressed the issue. As a result in 1857 the Southern constituency withdrew to organize “The United Synod of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.” The one Presbyterian church of 1837 was now divided into three – Old School with congregations in North and South; New School in the north, New School in the south. 20. Discuss the events after the division of 1838 in the Conservative church (the Old School) Charles Hodge definitively set forth the Old School view that the Christian church itself is a missionary society and should conduct the missionary enterprise directly under its own control. With the decline of the voluntary society system in later years this became the view of the New School and then later reunited Presbyterian Church. In 1838 the Old School side created the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, directly under the control of the General Assembly. They decided how they would structure their new missionary and other activities – not by creating independent voluntary societies, but by inserting the new functions into the system of four ascending judicatories inherited from the Reformation era. The Old School party – “Spring Resolutions” – adopted and then Southern commissioners withdrew. Would the Old School lend moral support to the Union sentiment or not? There were now four churches. 21. Discuss the establishment of Fundamentalism in the 1900's. As the liberal theology from the Continent crossed the Atlantic into the US and rapidly polluted the gospel, an atmosphere of fear gripped the American conservative Christians believing that basic elements of the Christian faith were being undermined. Thus, beginning in 1909, a series of 12 booklets titled The Fundamentals: A Testimony of the Truth began to appear. This series of booklets confirmed the five basic tenets of Christian faith: 1) Virgin birth of Christ; 2) Physical resurrection; 3) Biblical Inerrancy; 4) Propitiatory sacrificial death; and 5) Immanent, physical second advent of Christ. Two wealthy Christians financed for some 2,500,00 booklets to be distributed free of charge. The news agencies of the Presbyterian denominations actively discussed these publications. In the General Assembly of 1910 and 1916, and 1923 these five point doctrines were accepted as essential doctrines of the denomination. The Theological tradition based on these doctrines to oppose the liberalism is now known as Fundamentalism. 206
KAPC GA Exam Study Guide (History of American Presbyterianism) 22. Elucidate the trend toward liberalism in Princeton Seminary during 1920's While the war between the Fundamentalism and Liberalism was peaking, Princeton Seminary attempted to reorganize. Because of the prevalence of theological pluralism, the Auburn Affirmation was accepted in December of 1923. Supported by the Assembly, the Board of Directors appointed Prof. Stevenson (who taught Practical Theology) who was pluralist (form of liberalism); as the president, he changed the makeup of Princeton faculty to be more represented by pluralist professors. Because of such independent administrative action by the president, much confusion resulted. Stevenson and the Assembly pressured Dr. Gresham Machen and other conservative professors to leave the seminary. 1928 Committee reported that problem with Princeton Seminary is ultimately its governance. Particularly since Princeton had two boards that oversaw its work. They had a board of trustees (financial matters) and they had a board of directors (oversaw faculty and the curriculum). Board of trustees are more tolerant and board of directors are more conservative. Recommendation was to abolish two boards and to form one new board. New board would be comprised of 1/3 form board of directors, 1/3 board of directors and 1/3 of entirely new people. In the 1/3 of new people, there were people who had signed the Auburn Affirmation. This sealed the deal for Machen. Is that overreacting for Machen? He thought with their election, that that was the end of Princeton. This is so devastating to Machen because he had already written Christianity and Liberalism. He says if you are a liberal, you are not a Christian. To have liberals on the board and to have power over the Princeton, signals the end of Princeton because it’s having nonChristians governing the seminary. 23. Discuss the World Council of Churches (WCC) and North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council (NAPARC). World Council of Churches (WCC) WCC began with 147 representatives from 44 countries meeting in Amsterdam in 1948. Its origin can be traced to the 19th century church mission efforts, student movements, and social reform movements. They tried to bring unity within church and social involvement. It was an ecumenical effort that: 1) could not escape the liberal theology and religious syncretism; 2) emphasized social changes (social salvation) rather than salvation of individual souls; and 3) visibly lean more toward holy communion ceremony than evangelical. North American Presbytery and Reformed Council (NAPARC) By 1974, the liberal theology of WCC and NCC had infiltrated the Presbyterian Church. Thus, led by Dr John Galbrith and Dr. Aiken Taylor, OPC advocated to have its own Council composed of Conservative Presbyterian churches and Reformed churches of North America. The charter members of this Council were OPC, PCA, PRCES, CRC, RPCNA (KAPC also joined in 1983). 207
KAPC GA Exam Study Guide (History of American Presbyterianism) 24. Discuss the establishment of Korean-American Presbyterian Church (KAPC) As President Johnson opened the door for immigration in 1966, many Koreans immigrated starting early 1970's. As Korean immigration population grew, the Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hap-Tong) established Presbyteries in the US. These presbyteries and other independent presbyteries wanted to unite together to establish independent Korean-American General Assembly in the US, but was rejected by General Assembly in Korea. Thus, effort to establish General Assembly in the USA increased; in 2/1978, 32 members composed of ministers and elders gathered at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. They elected Rev In Jae Lee as the first director and also the first president. At the time, the President of WTS, Dr. E Clowney, gave the benedictory statement. The KAPC joined the NAPARC in 1983. 208
KAPC GA Exam Study Guide (History of American Presbyterianism) American Presbyterian Identifications Identify and Explain the Following: 1. Francis Makemie (1658-1708): a. Acknowledged as the founder of American Presbyterianism (from Ireland); oftened referred to as the “Father of American Presbyterianism” b. Ordained as a missionary and migrated to Maryland in 1683. c. He formed the Presbytery of Philadelphia in 1706, the first presbytery in America 2. William Tennent (1676-1746): a. Served in Presbyterian church in America. b. He began tutoring young men who were preparing to enter the Presbyterian ministry – by 1735 these efforts had become sufficiently formalized that Tennent built a simple log building that became known as the Log College. c. Received criticism by many British and New England trained ministers that the college was academically deficient and also that some graduates were responsible for the irresponsible enthusiasm overtaking the colonies during the Great Awakening. d. The Presbyterian divide split into the Old Side and the New Side as the New Side left the synod in 1741. Tennent continued to work for the New Side New Brunswick Presbytery. 3. Gilbert Tennent (1703-1764): a. Presbyterian minister and revivalist during the Great Awakening. b. Influenced by Theordorus Frelinghyusen who emphasized personal piety and evangelistic fervor and this led to Gilbert Tennent being a leader among the vigorous minority within the Presbyterian Church. c. Conflicts between pro and anti-revivalists led to the formation of a separate Presbyterian within the Synod of Philadelphia. Tennent was the chief spokesman for supporters of the Great Awakening. d. The Old Side and New Side split happened in 1741 but later Tennent wanted to work toward reconciliation. Therefore he retracted some thing and in 1758 the two sides were reunited. e. Tennent saw that radical pietism and emotionalism of the Moravians going too far. 4. Charles A. Briggs (1834-1913): a. Biblical scholar and Presbyterian minister b. Taught at Union Theological Seminary in New York c. Throughout the 1880s he published works that championed the higher-critical method and questioned the orthodox of Princeton theology. d. In 1891 he gave the inaugural address at Union called “The Authority of Holy Scripture” that precipitated one of the most famous heresy trials in American religious history. In it he denied the verbal inspiration, inerrancy and authenticity of Scripture. i. 1891 GA vetoed his professorial appointment ii. 1892 – his presbytery acquitted him of heresy iii. 1893 GA found him guilty and suspended him from the ministry e. Union seminary became divorced from Presbyterian church 5. Cotton Mather (1663-1728): a. Socially and politically an influential New England Puritan leader; played a big role in the Salem Witch Trials; 6. David Brainerd (1718-1747): a. American missionary to native Americans in Pennsylvania and author of a spiritual diary that remain in print 7. Charles Hodge (1787-1878): a. Arguably the premier Reformed theologian of America’s nineteenth century. He taught at 209
KAPC GA Exam Study Guide (History of American Presbyterianism) Princeton for more than fifty years. He was called in 1822 as the third professor to teach at Princeton b. Hodge and his colleagues interpreted the Augustinian/Calvinistic tradition to American life and culture and thereby shaped the Princeton theology, a nineteenth-century style of theological thought that excelled in scriptural faithfulness, scholarly acumen and cultural discourse. c. His work focuses on biblical studies and theological discourse. He was not suited for pastoral work. d. He was a leader in the Old School wing of American Presbyterianism 8. Theodore Jacob Frelinghuysen (1691-1747): a. Dutch Reformed minister who immigrated to America in 1720 and brought with him pietism. He demanded high standards of morality from his congregants. b. His evangelical fervor and his itinerancy contributed to the onset of the Great Awakening in the Middle Colonies c. He put effort into establishing greater autonomy by seeking approval from the Classis of Amsterdam for the organization of a coetus in America (Dutch Reformed Church in America). 9. Jonathan Dickinson (1688-1747): a. He persuaded his congregational church to join the presbytery of Philadelphia; He was strongly opposed to the rigid confessionalism of Scots-Irish Presbyterians who wished to impose full subscription to the Westminster Standards as a test of orthodoxy; he argued for strict examination of the ministerial candidate’s religious experience; he sided with the New Side Presbyterian revivalists 10. Harry E. Fosdick (1838-1969): a. Liberal Baptist preacher; in 1922 he preached a sermon entitled, “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” Wrote that belief in virgin birth was unessential, belief in the inerrancy of Bible was outmoded; He became the focal point of controversy within the PCUSA. He became pastor at Park Avenue Baptist Church. 11. J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937): a. Trained in Old Princeton with Warfield. Devoted much time and energy to writing about Paul in order to answer critics in establishing the continuity between Jesus and Paul. b. Best known for his participation in the fundamentalist-modernist controversy; he wrote Christianity and Liberalism (1923) and argued that liberalism and historic Christianity are two distinct religions; in 1929 when Princeton Seminary was reorganized to ensure a more inclusive theological spectrum, Machen withdrew and founded WTS. c. IN 1933 he formed the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions with other conservative Presbyterians which was proscribed n 1934 – he didn’t sever his connections and was tried and suspended from Presbyterian Church in 1935. He plated a role in formed OPC. 12. Nathaniel W. Taylor (1786-1858): a. He was a professor of theology at Yale Divinity School; his “new haven theology” asserted that “sin consists in the sinning” a further departure from the Reformed understanding of original sin; b. Taylor had exception to the imputation of Adam’s sin that would affect his understanding of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness since the two doctrines go hand in hand c. He questioned the vicarious atonement, insisting that Christ did not die in place of the elect but did so to show God’s displeasure with sin; 13. Samuel Hopkins (1721-1803): a. Edward’s disciplines were known as the New Divinity School; or Hopkinsianism b. Modified New England Calvinism to weaken even more than Edwards implicitly had the forensic character of the atonement and the legal penalty that all people inherit because of Adam’s sin 210
KAPC GA Exam Study Guide (History of American Presbyterianism) 14. Samuel Mills (1783-1818): a. American missionary; he was part of group that formed the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions; His missionary service confined to Mississippi Valley 15. Jonathan Edwards (1703-1794): a. Influential preacher who preached a sermon on justification that revived his congregation; a pattern of revivals swept through that colonies in those years b. He defended the revivals; Edwards argued that it was a true work of the Spirit of God; as the revivals went on he struck a moderate pose, criticizing those who were overzealous in favor of the revivals as well as those who opposed it outright; he wanted to defend the centrality of the affections in religious experience c. Though formal ties didn’t exist New Side Presbyterians looked up him for leadership and sustenance d. He had the greatest impact upon New England theology and Congregationalism 16. John Witherspoon (1722-1794): a. Presbyterian minister; he was an opponent of moderatism which deemphasized the distinctive theological dogmas of the church; he used Scottish Common Sense Realism (fundamental truths of Christianity are consistent with common sense and that those truths are clearly based ns elf evident axioms” b. 1768 he accepted invitation of New Side Presbyterians to serve as president of the College of NJ; he brought Scottish Common Sense realism with him and trained his students ; through his influence it entered mainstream American thought ; c. First moderator of Presbyterian GA 17. Archibald Alexander (1772-1851): a. First professor at Princeton and founder of Princeton theology b. He was elected moderator of GA in 1807 c. Support belief that Presbyterian pastors not only experience a call to ministry but also receive rigorous intellectual training d. He taught Scottish Common Sense philosophy e. He staunchly defended Old School Presbyterian doctrines; he was a decided moderate in the Old-New school debates; he wanted to keep the unity of the church; eventually he joined majority in abrogating the plan of Union 18. Charles G. Finney (1792-1875): a. Presbyterian revivalist; became known as the father of modern revivalism b. He left a promising legal career when he was converted; under his preaching a series of revivals broke out; he exercised new measure such as the anxious seat, protracted meetings, allowing women to pray in public – these brought his national fame c. From 1827-32 his revivals swept through urban centers d. He was a New School Calvinist; his preaching stressed the moral government of God, the ability of people to repent and make themselves new hearts, the perfectibility of human nature and society and the need for Christians to apply their faith to daily living 19. James McGready (1758-1817): a. North Carolina minister b. He was a revivalist known for preaching the terrors of the law c. His preaching regularly prompted revivals characterized by many of the emotional excesses common in the First Great Awakening some four decades earlier d. He influenced Barton Stone who led the Cane Ridge revival (Stone was converted under McGready) 20. James H. Thornwell (1812-1862): a. Southern Presbyterian theologian; he wrote in support of the southern Presbyterian church leaving the northern church; he sought to defend traditional institutions and standards against liberal and ungodly assaults; he defended the south and its institutions including Slavery 211
KAPC GA Exam Study Guide (History of American Presbyterianism) b. Influence in ecclesiology; he articulated a jure divino view of Presbyterianism, Charles Hodge called this “hyper-high church Presbyterianism”; he believed that the polity of the church as well as its doctrine is limited o scripture teaching; he viewed the lay elder as just as much a presbyter in the biblical sense as the minister; elders should share equally with minister in the government of the church and in the ordination of ministers c. Church cannot surrender the discharge of its own divienly assigned responsibilities, it should not use boards or voluntary societies to carry out its mission d. The church should not be embroiled in political controversies or give its endorsement to movements for social reform 21. Rev. Injae Lee: a. During the Japanese occupation of Korea in the early part of the 20th Century, the Japanese government forced Shinto worship upon Korean people. As a seminarian, Rev. In Jae Lee actively campaigned against the Shinto worship, believing that the Shinto worship (bowing toward the Shinto shine) is a violation of the first three Commandments. As result of his opposition, he was arrested on May 13, 1940 in Pyung-yang (N. Korea) and was imprisoned for 5 years and 4 months. When he was released on August 17, 1945 (after the Japanese government's unconditional surrender to the U.S.), he and 16 other surviving prisoners suffered near starvation (see the photo taken after the release). b. It is estimated that some 200 churches were forced to close and about 2000 Christians were imprisoned--of which about 50 died in the prisons--for refusing to bow at the Shinto shrine. c. Subsequent to the prison release in 1945, Rev. Lee traveled throughout the Korean peninsula, preaching the Gospel and planting churches. He immigrated to America in 1974 at age 68 and remained active as a preacher and a church planter throughout the United States until his death in April 2000 at age 90 in Philadelphia. 22. OPC (Orthodox Presbyterian Church): a. Founded June 11, 1936 in the aftermath of the fundamentalist-modernist controversy b. Originally name Presbyetrian Church of America but was forced by court action to change name in 1939 to OPC c. OPC split when some wanted more congregational independency and pushed for fundamentalist ethic and accepted dispensationalism; d. Best known for its vigorous affirmation of the truths of historic Christianity and Reformed orthodoxy as they are expressed in Westminster Standards; utilizes three standing committees: world missions, home missions and Christian education 23. PCA (Presbyterian Church of America): a. Organized in December 1973 b. The second largest Presbyterian denomination in the US c. Strongly committed to missions to the equality in position and authority of ministers and ruling elders and too the rights of local congregations d. MTW – missions to the world send out career missionaries; MNA – Mission to North America (home missions counterpart) 24. KAPC (Korean American Presbyterian Church): a. Protestant Christianity began spreading in Korean in 1880s; Korean immigration to America began shortly after; b. Immigration and National Acts in 1965 – about 25,000 Korean immigrants per year came to US in 70s and 80s c. Korean America Presbyterian Church –draws its clergy from the Hap Tong tradition in Korean (associated with Chong Shin Theological University) has 295 congregations d. Korean American Presbyterian Church was formed in 1978 by Korean immigrants in the campus of Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia, PA. e. On its founding date the church consisted of 5 presbyteries. The denomination is a conservative, doctrinally driven church. In the end of 1990s the church consisted of 19 presbyteries not just in North and South America, but Russia, Europe. In 1983 it joined 212
KAPC GA Exam Study Guide (History of American Presbyterianism) the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council. In California the church maintains its own Seminary, but accepts other conservative Seminary graduate pastors after examination. The church has 33,000 members and 340 congregations. The church adheres to the Westminster Confession of Faith, Westminster Larger Catechism, Westminster Shorter Catechism. 25. 1967 Confession of Faith. a. Most recent theological standard of the PCUSA; was drafted as a brief contemporary confession of faith b. 20th century brought several changes in theological atmosphere of the Presbyterian church, which brought the church to the realization that the Westminster standards no longer adequately reflected its beliefs; there was increased appreciation for biblical criticism, social gospel, ecumenical movement and neo-orthodoxy. c. The overriding theme of the confession was Christian reconciliation. 26. Liberalization of Princeton Seminary in 1920 and separation of Westminster Theological Seminary, Faith Theological Seminary and Covenant Theological Seminary 213