After reading Paul Gutjahr’s biography of the “pope of Presbyterianism,” Charles Hodge, I am surprised I have not heard more about Hodge until today, especially since I was raised in a Presbyterian church. All I previously knew about Hodge was his massive three-volume systematic theology. I don’t think I’m alone in knowing very little about Hodge, which is surprising considering his contributions and influence on the church. Indeed, in the prologue, Gutjahr says, “While many today may be unaware of Hodge and the enduring influence of his theological legacy, his ghost lingers throughout contemporary American Christianity.”
What is also interesting is that there was only one biography of Hodge that was produced before 2011, but there have been two more biographies distributed this year—Gutjahr’s and Charles Hodge: The Pride of Princeton by Andrew Hoffecker. I have seen where some have read both and recommend both, since they approach the life of Hodge from two different perspectives and are aimed at two different audiences. To quote Mark Noll, who provides the forward in Hoffecker’s biography: “The main difference in the two books is that Hoffecker aims his story at those who already have heard about Hodge and who may already be interested to some degree in the Reformed and Presbyterian themes of his life, while Gutjahr is writing more for the general student of American history who may know nothing at all about Hodge.”
What I particularly like about Charles Hodge: Guardian of American Orthodoxy is that Gutjahr has obviously done extensive research (I heard this project took some 10 years!), but he does not bore us with useless information. At the same time, Gutjahr gives us a comprehensive picture of Charles Hodge’s life, as well as the events, teachings, and philosophies of the time period that played a significant role in the life and ministry of Hodge. Harvard University Professor Leigh Schmidt says Gutjahr’s work is an “impressive achievement,” a “remarkably panoramic view of nineteenth-century American Protestant thought.”
We are given an in-depth view of Hodge’s upbringing, as well as his family life up until the point of his death. However, the biography’s main focus is Hodge’s role as the “Guardian of American Orthodoxy,” in which he does everything in his power to maintain the health of American Presbyterianism in the 19th century. Since Hodge was one of the first professors of Princeton Seminary, the reader learns about the birth of Princeton College and Princeton Seminary, and there are also significant details about Hodge’s opposition to Revivalism, Transcendentalism, and Universalism.
The only thing that bothered me about this book was the editing. There were too many typos, and there was even one instance where the author spoke of Adam and Eve eating “the apple” in the Garden of Eden (they eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, not an apple tree). All this to say, these were only small errors in a work that I would consider nothing short of brilliant.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of the American church or the history of Presbyterianism. The book is some 385 pages (though it probably reads like 500 pages the way the pages are structured) and is divided into short chapters for ease of reading. This is a book that I would suggest you read slowly to digest all the information. The life of Charles Hodge is simply inspiring!
You can read the prologue in its entirety by visiting the author’s website here.
