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Hodge's writings were highly influential in conservative circles in America and Scotland. He began the ''Biblical Repertory'' in 1825<ref> It was renamed in 1836 as as the ''Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review''</ref> and edited it for more than forty years. His own essays and long book reviews treated theology, Biblical criticism, philosophy, ethics, politics, ecclesiastical polity, and the affairs of the Presbyterian Church. His major books were ''A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans'' (1835; 19th edition 1880), ''The Constitutional History of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America'' (2 vols., 1839-40), commentaries on other Pauline epistles, ''The Way of Life'' (1841), and finally his monumental ''Systematic Theology'' (3 vols., 1872-73).

Hodge's writings were highly influential in conservative circles in America and Scotland. He began the ''Biblical Repertory'' in 1825<ref> It was renamed in 1836 as as the ''Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review''</ref> and edited it for more than forty years. His own essays and long book reviews treated theology, Biblical criticism, philosophy, ethics, politics, ecclesiastical polity, and the affairs of the Presbyterian Church. His major books were ''A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans'' (1835; 19th edition 1880), ''The Constitutional History of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America'' (2 vols., 1839-40), commentaries on other Pauline epistles, ''The Way of Life'' (1841), and finally his monumental ''Systematic Theology'' (3 vols., 1872-73).

He  was a leader in the conservative or "Old School" wing of the Presbyterian church. He was moderator of the General Assembly (Old School) in 1846, and an active member of the missionary and educational boards. Though opposed to the institution of slavery, he strongly denounced the abolitionists, and contended that slave-holding was not necessarily a sin. During the Civil War, he resisted the church's declaring itself on the question of political allegiance, but he supported the Federal government. In the January 1861 ''Princeton Review'' Hodge laid out his case against secession, calling it unconstitutional.<ref>James Mclean Albritton, "Slavery, Secession, and the Old School Presbyterians: James Henley Thornwell and Charles Hodge on the Relationship between Church and State." ''Southern Historian'' 2000 21: 25-39. </ref>

He  was a leader in the conservative or "Old School" wing of the Presbyterian church. He was moderator of the General Assembly (Old School) in 1846, and an active member of the missionary and educational boards.  

 

Hodge in 1822 married a great-granddaughter of [[Benjamin Franklin]]; two of their eight children, Archibald Alexander Hodge and Caspar Wistar Hodge, became professors in Princeton Seminary.

==Theology==

==Theology==

Historians agree that Alexander and Hodge were strongly influenced by [[Common Sense Realism]], a Scottish philosophy, and some have argued that have argued that they departed from Reformed Presbyterian orthodoxy by accommodating the prevalent "orthodox rationalism" of the period. Helseth (1999), however, says both theologians worked within a traditional Reformed view of the moral unity of the soul, which insists that mind, will, and emotion are determined by the moral character of a unified acting agent rather than the rational faculty alone. From this moral perspective, the emphasis on objectivity in Old Princeton apologetic need not be understood as an overly intellectualized faith but one whose concept of "right reason" leaves room for Reformed orthodoxy's theological and subjective concerns.<ref> Paul Kjoss Helseth,  "'Right Reason' and the Princeton Mind: The Moral Context." ''Journal of Presbyterian History'' 1999 77(1): 13-28. 0022-3883 </ref>  

Historians agree that Alexander and Hodge were strongly influenced by [[Common Sense Realism]], a Scottish philosophy, and some have argued that have argued that they departed from Reformed Presbyterian orthodoxy by accommodating the prevalent "orthodox rationalism" of the period. Helseth (1999), however, says both theologians worked within a traditional Reformed view of the moral unity of the soul, which insists that mind, will, and emotion are determined by the moral character of a unified acting agent rather than the rational faculty alone. From this moral perspective, the emphasis on objectivity in Old Princeton apologetic need not be understood as an overly intellectualized faith but one whose concept of "right reason" leaves room for Reformed orthodoxy's theological and subjective concerns.<ref> Paul Kjoss Helseth,  "'Right Reason' and the Princeton Mind: The Moral Context." ''Journal of Presbyterian History'' 1999 77(1): 13-28. 0022-3883 </ref>  

Hodge in 1822 he married a great-granddaughter of [[Benjamin Franklin]]; two of their eight children, Archibald Alexander Hodge and Caspar Wistar Hodge, became professors in Princeton Seminary.

Comparing Hodge with Plymouth Brethren founder [[John Nelson Darby]] (1800-82) tests historian Ernest Sandeen's notion that American fundamentalism was an alliance between dispensationalism and Princeton theology against modernism. Hodge embraced the regnant [[postmillennialism]] of American Protestantism, which asserted that Christ would return after the world had been evangelized by the church, after which he would judge those who refused to embrace him and then rule forever on a regenerated earth. Darby's premillennialism offered a more pessimistic view in which evil would be overcome only through judgment of those opposing Christ. Darby also introduced the doctrine of the [[rapture]] as a means of rescuing believers from the tribulation that would occur just prior to the return of Christ. Hodge's and Darby's differing interpretations of Scripture were central to their contrasting eschatologies. Whereas Hodge considered prophetic and apocalyptic texts to be unclear and insisted that they be interpreted spiritually rather than literally, Darby put the prophetic texts, interpreted literally, at the center of his doctrinal system. These incompatible eschatologies and interpretations of Scripture prevented any united front, even in the face of encroaching of modernism.<ref> Joe L. Coker, "Exploring the Roots of the  Dispensationalist /Princetonian 'Alliance': Charles Hodge And John Nelson Darby on Eschatology and Interpretation of Scripture." ''Fides et Historia'' 1998 30(1): 41-56. 0884-5379 </ref>

Though opposed to the institution of slavery, Hodge strongly denounced the abolitionists, and contended that slave-holding was not necessarily a sin. While Hodge admitted that the Bible endorsed the institution of slavery, his outrage at the inhumane practice of slavery led him to support plans for emancipation and colonization. Hodge's insistence on the infallible word of God formed the basis for his unfailing centrist support of gradual emancipation, a position that ostracized him from both abolitionists and Southern slaveholders. Labeling himself antislavery, yet not abolitionist, Hodge elaborated his position from 1836 to 1865 in articles in the ''Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review.''<ref> Peter J. Wallace, "The Defense of the Forgotten Center: Charles Hodge and the Enigma of Emancipationism i Antebellum America." ''Journal of Presbyterian History'' 1997 75(3): 165-177. 0022-3883 </ref>

 

 

 

 

* Moorhead, James H. "Between Progress and Apocalypse: A Reassessment of Millennialism in American Religious Thought, 1800-1880," ''Journal of American History,'' Vol. 71, No. 3 (Dec., 1984), pp. 524-542 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1887470 in JSTOR]