The Mystical Presence

And The Doctrine of the Reformed Church on the Lord's Supper

John Williamson Nevin, Linden J. DeBie, W. Bradford Littlejohn, DeBie

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN:
  9781610971690
  9781498259408
• eBook ISBN:
  9781630876388
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

The Mystical Presence (1846), John Williamson Nevin's magnum opus, was an attempt to combat the sectarianism and subjectivism of nineteenth-century American religion by recovering the robust sacramental and incarnational theology of the Protestant Reformation, enriched with the categories of German idealism. In it, he makes the historical case for the spiritual real presence as the authentic Reformed doctrine of the Eucharist, and explains the theological and philosophical context that render the doctrine intelligible. The 1850 article "The Doctrine of the Reformed Church on the Lord's Supper" represents his response to his arch critic, Charles Hodge of Princeton Seminary, providing what is still considered a definitive historical treatment of Reformed eucharistic theology. Both texts demonstrate Nevin's immense erudition and theological creativity, contributing to our understanding not only of Reformed theology, but also of the unique milieu of nineteenth-century American religion. The present critical edition carefully preserves the original text, while providing extensive introductions, annotations, and bibliography to orient the modern reader and facilitate further scholarship. The Mercersburg Theology Study Series is an attempt to make available for the first time--in attractive, readable, and scholarly modern editions--the key writings of the nineteenth-century movement known as the Mercersburg Theology. An ambitious multi-year project, this aims to make an important contribution to the academic community and to the broader reading public, who may at last be properly introduced to this unique blend of American and European, Reformed and Catholic theology.

Part I

The Mystical Presence

Title Page of 1846

THE MYSTICAL PRESENCE: A VINDICATION OF THE REFORMED OR CALVINISTIC DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST

BY THE REV. JOHN W. NEVIN, D. D. PROF. OF THEO. IN THE SEMINARY OF THE GER REF. CHURCH. PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 1846.

Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. in the clerk’s office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the eastern district of Pennsylvania.

PHILADELPHIA: KING AND BAIRD, PRINTERS, No. 9 George Street.

Original Table of Contents

(from 1846 edition)

PRELIMINARY ESSAY.—Translation from Ullmann. ON THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTER OF CHRISTIANITY.

Object and Nature of the Inquiry,

Historical Forms of Christianity—Parallel in the general progress of Modern Reflection on its nature,

Conception of Christianity as Doctrine,

Conception of Christianity as Moral Law,

Schleiermacher’s view of it as the Religion of Redemption,

True Distinction.—Christ’s Person.–Doctrine of the Divine and Human in the form of Life,

Hegel and the Modern Speculation,

Actual constitution of Christianity, as the union of God and Humanity through Christ,

Contrast with Heathenism and Judaism,

Christianity the Absolute Religion, in which all others culminate. The Religion of Humanity,

True Center of the Christian system, from which all its parts gain their right portion and light,

Recapitulation.—Mysticism and Reformation,

CHAPTER I. REFORMED OR CALVINISTIC DOCTRINE OF THE LORD’S SUPPER.

Introductory Remarks.—Importance of the Eucharistic Question.—Sixteenth Century.—Modern Protestantism.—Claims of the subject,

SECT. I—Statement of the Doctrine.

Authority of Calvin in the Reformed Church,

Relation of the doctrine to the view taken of Christ’s union generally with his people,

Distinctions on the side towards Rationalism; the participation of the believer in Christ, not common relationship only to Adam; not a merely moral union; not a union in law simply; not communion with his divine nature alone or with the Holy Ghost as his representative; but a real communication with his substantial, personal, mediatorial life,

The doctrine b...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Series Introduction
• Foreword
• Editorial Approach and Acknowledgments
• Editor’s Introduction
• Part 1: The Mystical Presence
• Original Table of Contents
• Preface
• Preliminary Essay
• Chapter 1: The Reformed or Calvinistic Doctrine of the Lord’s Supper
• Chapter 2: The Modern Puritan Theory
• Chapter 3: An Attempt to Place The Doctrine in Its Proper Scientific Form
• Chapter 4: Biblical Argument
• Part 2: The Doctrine of the Reformed Church on the Lord’s Supper
• Chapter 1: Statement and Counter Statement
• Chapter 2: Historical Trial
• Chapter 3: Conclusion
• Bibliography