A very interesting read. I took this book on a camping trip in the mountains of North Carolina. I simply couldn't put it down. ( )

Biography on a lesser know Reformed Theologian. Lesser know probaably because he was not a Princton and alos because the German Reformed church has been absorbed. Yet here was a man who went toe to toe with Charles Hodge in a debate over communion and I think won. I alos think that Nevin was very wise in his thinking of the place of the church in the santification process of each Christian. particulary in a time when Charles Finney was leading the second great awakening, Nevin continue to empahisice the role of the churches place in the life of the beliver and that it could not just grow only through personal piety or para church organizations. It is a message that continually needs to be taught. Again, there is a healthy strain that will exist between personal piety and the place of the church. ( )

I've just finished reading the biography of John Williamson Nevin written by DG Hart.

Hart only briefly addresses the childhood of Nevin before charging into the narrative of Nevin's ministry. The bulk of the book is an attempt to explain what Nevin had to say, the context in which he said it, and the impact (or lack of) that his work had in the German Reformed Church and the American Evangelical church-at-large.

Hart's work is helpful and well worth the time spent learning about this amazing theologian from our reformed past. However, the greatest work in this volume is the conclusion, in which Hart does a masterful job of demonstrating the importance of Nevin's contribution, and even criticism, of the church in America. While the lion's share of church historians consider the late 19th century to be the "critical period" in church history, Hart argues forcefully that given a different (more appropriate?) set of criteria, it can be demonstrated that by the late 19th century, the church had long since passed the critical period. This critique (drawn by Hart from Nevin) is most fascinating since it demonstrates Nevin's incredible insight into his own period. But more to the point, Nevin's arguments against the American church are no less true today than they were in his day, making this work, and particularly Hart's conclusion, decisively relevant for today's reader.

I leave you with a quote from the conclusion:

"...if the church is primarily an agency of grace through word and sacrament, then when those means of salvation become marginal, Christianity has entered an era fraught with abiding significance."

Isn't this the American church of today? Hasn't it been the American church since at least the 2nd Great Awakening? ( )