But under the influence of Neander, he was gradually breaking away from "Puritanic Presbyterianism", and, in 1840, having resigned his chair in Allegheny, he was appointed professor of theology in the (German Reformed) Theological Seminary at Mercersburg, and thus passed from the Presbyterian Church into the German Reformed Church. He soon became prominent: first by his contributions to its organ, the Messenger; then by The Anxious Bench—A Tract for the Times (1843), attacking the vicious excesses of revivalistic methods; and by his defence of the inauguration address, The Principle of Protestantism, delivered by his colleague Philip Schaff, which aroused a storm of protest by its suggestion that Pauline Protestantism was not the last word in the development of the church but that a Johannine Christianity was to be its out-growth, and by its recognition of Petrine Romanism as a stage in ecclesiastical development. To Dr. Schaff's 122 theses of The Principle of Protestantism Nevin added his own theory of the mystical union between Christ and believers, and both Schaff and Nevin were accused of a "Romanizing tendency".[2][3]
Nevin characterized his critics as pseudo-Protestants, urged (with Dr. Charles Hodge, and against the Presbyterian General Assembly) the validity of Roman Catholic baptism, and defended the doctrine of the "spiritual real presence" of Christ in the Lord's Supper, notably in The Mystical Presence: a Vindication of the Reformed or Calvinistic Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist (1846); to this Charles Hodge replied from the point of view of rationalistic puritanism in the Princeton Review of 1848.[2]
In 1849, the Mercersburg Review was founded as the organ of Nevin and the "Mercersburg Theology"; and to it he contributed from 1849 to 1883. In 1851, he resigned from the Mercersburg Seminary in order that its running expenses might be lightened; and from 1841 to 1853 he was president of Marshall College at Mercersburg. With Dr. Schaff and others, he was on the committee which prepared the liturgy of the German Reformed Church, which appeared in provisional form in 1857 and as An Order of Worship in 1866. In 1861–1866, he was instructor of history at Franklin and Marshall College (into which Marshall College had been merged), of which he was president in 1866–1876. He died in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on June 6, 1886.[2]
The Incarnate Word: Selected Writings on Christology (v. 4)
Born of Water and the Spirit: Essays on the Sacraments and Christian Formation (v. 6)
The Development of the Church: “The Principle of Protestantism” and other Historical Writings of Philip Schaff (v. 3)
One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, Tome 1: Nevin’s Writings on Ecclesiology (1844–1849) (v.5)
One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, Tome 2: Nevin’s Writings on Ecclesiology (1851–1858) (v. 7)
The Early Creeds: The Mercersburg Theologians Appropriate the Creedal Heritage (v. 8)
The Heidelberg Catechism: The Mercersburg Understanding of the German Reformed Tradition (v. 10)
Philosophy and the Contemporary World: Mercersburg, Culture, and the Church (v. 11)
Retrieving Catholicity in American Protestantism: Essays in Church History (v. 12)
References
Notes
^These works have been republished in modern editions by CrossReach Publications
^These volumes are the critical editions of the Mercersburg theology, published by Wipf and Stock, 2012—, and contain, in whole or in part, monographs or essays by Nevin.
Appel, Theodore (1889), The Life and Work of John Williamson Nevin, Philadelphia{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link). containing Nevin's more important articles.
Borneman, Adam S (2011), Church, Sacrament, and American Democracy: The Social and Political Dimensions of John Williamson Nevin's Theology of Incarnation, Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock.
DeBie, Linden (2023), John Williamson Nevin: Evangelical Catholic, Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick. A thorough exposition of Nevin’s life and work, and up-to-date on the most recent scholarship.
Evans, William B. (2019), A Companion to the Mercersburg Theology: Evangelical Catholicism in the Mid-Nineteenth Century, Eugene, Oregon: Cascade. While Evans discusses the whole movement, this is primarily devoted to the major themes of Nevin's theology.
Hart, DG (2005), John Williamson Nevin: High Church Calvinist, Phillipsburg: P&R. Especially insightful on Nevin's life, but needs to be complemented by DeBie’s more recent biography.
Kremer, A. R. (1890), A Biographical Sketch of John Williamson Nevin
Nevin, John W (1991), Hein, David (ed.), "The Letters to William R. Whittingham, High Church Episcopal bishop of Maryland", Anglican and Episcopal History, 60: 197–211.
