Archibald Alexander Hodge

Biography

He was born on July 18, 1823 to Sarah and Charles Hodge in Princeton, New Jersey. He was named after Charles' mentor, the first principal of Princeton Seminary, Archibald Alexander.

Hodge attended the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in 1841 and then Princeton Theological Seminary in 1847.

He served as a missionary in India for three years (1847–1850). He held pastorates at Lower West Nottingham, Maryland (1851–1855), Fredericksburg, Virginia (1855–1861), and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (1861–1864). In 1864 he accepted a call to the chair of systematic theology in Western Theological Seminary (later Pittsburgh Theological Seminary) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There he remained until in 1877 he was called to Princeton to be the associate of his father, Charles Hodge, in the distinguished chair of systematic theology. He took on the full responsibilities of the chair of systematic theology in 1878.

He died on November 12, 1886 in Princeton, New Jersey from "a severe cold ... which settled in his kidneys".

Influence

At the time of his death, he was a trustee of the College of New Jersey and a leader in the Presbyterian Church. His interests extended beyond religion. He touched the religious world at many points. During the years immediately preceding his death he did not slacken his work, but continued his work of writing, preaching, lecturing, making addresses, coming into contact with men, influencing them, and by doing so widening the influence of Christianity. Among the most influential was an article titled Inspiration that began a series in the Presbyterian Review which established the discipline of biblical theology as a historical science. This article was coauthored with B. B. Warfield in 1880.

Characteristics

Hodge's distinguishing characteristic as a theologian was his power as a thinker. He had a mind of singular acuteness, and though never a professed student of metaphysics, he was essentially and by nature a metaphysician. His theology was that of the Reformed confessions. He had no peculiar views and no peculiar method of organizing theological dogmas; in this he may be identified with his father, who claimed at the end of his life that he had taught and written nothing new. Though he taught the same theology that his father had taught before him, he was independent as well as reverent. His first book and that by which he is best known was his Outlines of Theology (New York City, 1860; enlarged ed., 1878; reprinted 1996, ISBN 0-85151-160-0), which was translated into Welsh, modern Greek, and Hindustani. The Atonement (Philadelphia, 1867; reprinted 1989, ISBN 0-685-26838-1) is still one of the best treatises on the subject. This was followed by his commentary on the Westminster Confession of Faith (1869, ISBN 0-8370-0932-4), a very useful book, full of clear thinking and compact statement. He contributed some important articles to encyclopedias – Johnson's, McClintock and Strong's, and the Schaff-Herzog (the Schaff-Herzog encyclopedia furnished the kernel from which this article developed). He was one of the founders of the Presbyterian Review, to the pages of which he was a frequent contributor.

Sermons

In the pulpit, Hodge was a man of marked power. As he was not under the necessity of making fresh preparation every week, he had but few sermons, and he preached them frequently. They were never written; nor were they deliberately planned as great efforts. They grew from small beginnings and, as he went through the process of thinking them over as often as he preached them, they gradually became more elaborate and became possessed of greater literary charm.

Publications

Articles