From the outset it should be known that I cannot be trusted with book lists or with the topic of Calvinism. I confess to being out of control and reckless when dealing with either category. But I will try to stay within reasonable limits while listing some useful books on the impact of Calvinism on American history. Oh yes, I cannot be trusted with the topic of American history either.
The background to this interest in Calvinism and American history grows out of recent studies relating to Calvin’s historical significance based on the 500th anniversary of his birth (July 10, 1509). And my Humanities course for the following year will be on the American Story, so these two roads are converging in a yellow wood (in contrast to Robert Frost’s poem).
During the Protestant Reformation, the spread of Calvinism resulted in groups forming throughout Europe that bear different names, but share a common theological grounding. So we speak of French Huguenots, Dutch Reformed, English Puritans, and Scottish Covenanters. These designations do not cover either all of the Calvinistic and Reformed factions in the countries named or the other Calvinistic groups in other European lands or the other Christian groups that sprang out of the Reformation experience.
In 1492, Columbus discovered a new world, and in 1517 Martin Luther rediscovered an old truth. As these two events continued to unfold and develop, Calvin’s theology and influence caused European forces to spill over into the newly discovered and still developing new world. The North American colonies and lands provided a place for Calvinistic ideas of church, state, and society to grow with fewer hindrances than were found in Europe. Either monarchs were too far away to dictate policy or were open or indifferent to colonial impulses. Either way, the influx of people into what became the British colonies provided geographical distance and space and opportunity for the Reformed faith and similar movements to thrive.
“John Calvin was the virtual founder of America,” according to the German historian Leopold Von Ranke. Pilgrims and Puritans, gold seekers and God fearers, gentry and yeoman, and high church and low settlers were largely Calvinistic in creed or personal convictions or both. The vast transplanting of Calvinism in the 1600s was then re-seeded and cultivated once again in the Great Awakening of the 1700s. Although the Calvinistic doctrines waned in the 1800s, there were still quite a few Calvinistic pastors and theologians, universities and private academies, and books and beliefs throughout the nineteenth century.
Theological liberalism and Darwinian naturalism seemingly bulldozed and eradicated the Calvinistic culture of America in the twentieth century. The funeral for Calvinism was preached many times, but never effectively or finally. J. Gresham Machen went to an early grave in the 1930s fighting a rear-guard action for the Calvinistic defense. Even his detractors applauded his persistence, scholarly logic, and character, but what would surprise them all is the current resurgence and continuation of the Reformed doctrines he loved and defended.
America has a Calvinistic heritage. No study of this country is complete or accurate that ignores, misunderstands, or minimizes this aspect of the American story.
A Most Recent Book Peter Theusen’s book
Predestination: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine is an insightful study of Calvinists, Lutherans, Methodists, and others who either defended the doctrines of predestination and election or opposed them or modified them. By taking those three choices, one can cover much of the religious history of this nation. This book begins where American history really begins, in my opinion, with the Protestant Reformation. The Puritan theology and experience in the New World brought both an entrenchment of doctrine and opposition to it. Some opponents, such as the Methodists, were orthodox and Protestant in other points of theology; however, Mormons, Adventists, and other enemies of Calvinism veered way off the trail of historic Christianity. This book is a very useful and readable study.
Three Necessary Works To understand American Calvinism, one should read Loraine Boettner’s
Reformed Doctrine of Predestination. This is a worthy book on theology, giving a very standard, clear explanation of recurring Calvinistic themes in American history. Boettner attended Princeton Theological Seminary in its last glorious days and his teachers and his teachers’ teachers were the great guardians of the Calvinistic heritage of America. Boettner quotes from the key figures in the American Calvinistic tradition, such as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Charles Hodge, B.B. Warfield, Robert L. Dabney, W.G.T. Shedd, Louis Berkof, and J. Gresham Machen. This book also includes a chapter on the impact of Calvinism in history, with an emphasis on American history. This survey of history gives some key figures and themes about Calvinism in the American experience and has influenced many of the studies about Calvinism in American history.
In 1898, Abraham Kuyper came from the Netherlands to Princeton University to deliver a lecture series. His six lectures formed the book called
Lectures on Calvinism. This book is a primary source for understanding the broad implications and cultural assumptions of Calvinism in late nineteenth century America. Kuyper makes lots of references to the history of Calvinism in America and the Netherlands, but the book’s greatest importance is in what it represents: Dutch Calvinism merging with Scottish Presbyterian Calvinism, theological emphasis broadening into worldview thinking, and intellectual theology being translated into social activism. The book reveals the Calvinistic foundations for theology, politics, art, and science that found ready acceptance in Kuyper’s time. Subsequent events proved him too optimistic for the short term, but in the longer term, his writings are still influencing many Christian readers.
The best and most thorough examination of Calvinism in America is David Hall’s Genevan Reformation and the American Founding. Calvin’s theology contained explicit and implicit political ramifications. For this reason, a series of national upheavals in France, Netherlands, Scotland, and England erupted alongside the theological changes in those countries. These same impulses sent people to the British colonies in the 1600s, and in the 1770s, Calvinistic theological thinking helped bring about the American War for Independence. Calvinistic theologians and political thinkers, including Scotsmen like George Buchanan, Samuel Rutherford, and John Witherspoon, provided intellectual ammunition that led to America’s independence. Calvinistic ideas had historical consequences. Hall has written two shorter biographical works on Calvin’s life and influence and several recent works on Calvin’s
Institutes of the Christian Religion and Calvin’s contributions to economic and social thought. He is, perhaps, the most important Calvin scholar in America today.
Useful Reads Two weighty studies were written by Calvinistic scholars in the 1960s that highlighted the Calvinistic influence on American history. These books were R. J. Rushdoony’s
This Independent Republic: Studies in the Nature and Meaning of American History and C. Gregg Singer’s
A Theological Interpretation of American History. Both of these works highlight the religious influences and the conflict of worldviews in the cultural and political experiences of the nation. Both scholars cited the then current historical thinkers and ideas, but presented revisionist approaches to the founding concepts and key events of our history. Some years later, Peter Marshal and David Manuel’s
The Light and the Glory wrote a popular and less scholarly study of Christian influences that continues to be widely used in Christian schools.
Any approach of American history from a Christian perspective must include a serious examination of the Puritans. Even though it has been years since I read it, I always think back on John Adair’s
Founding Fathers: The Puritans in England and America as being a good study of the Puritans. There are two basic sources for understanding Puritans. One is the Perry Miller stream of thought. Dr. Miller, who was personally an unbeliever, revolutionized the world of scholarship by turning his attention, and that of his students, to the Puritans. His understanding was flawed at many points, but his interest was respectful and serious. Miller’s books, such as
Errand into the Wilderness, The New England Mind, or his several volumes of Puritan source readings, are invaluable resources for understanding the Puritans.
The other stream is that of Christians who began, let’s say in the 1970s, reprinting Puritan works and producing more popular studies of the Puritans’ influence. Both streams of thought—the scholarly works of secular historians and the complimentary works of Christian authors—are a welcome relief to the times when the Puritans were scorned or ignored. While many reprints were of English Puritans, there are some American works also now available. Cotton Mather’s early history of Christian influences in America, titled
Magnalia Christi Americana, is daunting to behold. Mather was wordy, even for a Puritan; however, a bit of skimming and gleaning can be an enjoyable and beneficial way to use his work. The best way to get a favorable and close look at the Puritan doctrines and practices is by J. I. Packer’s
A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life and Leland Ryken’s
Worldly Saints: The Puritans as They Really Were. Both books survey Puritans writings and actions in areas of church, society, and family. Both seek to answer modern stereotypes and distortions of the Puritans with a call to emulate rather than castigate these Christians.
One of the most important Puritans and Calvinists in American history was Jonathan Edwards. He is still recognized as a brilliant, profound, and original theologian and philosopher. Preachers still read him for his sermonic techniques while philosophers still read him for his intellectual insights, and hopefully, visa versa. Two worthy studies of Edwards are Ian Murray’s biography,
Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography, and George Marsden’s
Jonathan Edwards: A Life. Murray’s book focuses more on the spiritual and devotional aspects of Edward’s life, while Marsden’s book is the more scholarly of the two. A short book recently published is Stephen Lawson’s
The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards. This purpose of this book is to provide moral and spiritual insights for Christians to emulate. That is not a bad purpose for any study of Calvinistic roots in America.
Although he was an Englishman and not an American, George Whitefield, Edwards’ contemporary, is a major figure to consider in regard to Calvinism and America. Arnold Dallimore’s two-volume biography,
George Whitefield: The Life and times of the Great Evangelist of the 18th Century Revival, remains an outstanding survey of the cultural and religious landscape of America and England in the 1700s and of Whitefield’s life. Whitefield is not always recognized for being what he truly was—a Founding Father of the United States. His preaching helped prevent a French-style revolution from occurring in England and contributed to the American-style revolution that did occur in this country. His sermons and diaries are also instructive reading. A shorter and useful account of Whitefield’s life is Stephen Mansfield’s
Forgotten Founding Father: The Heroic Legacy of George Whitefield.
The next key figure in American Calvinism was the Reverend John Witherspoon, originally from Scotland. He is the best representative of serious Christians who were involved in our Founding. His influence, in other words, his political Calvinism, is carefully discussed in Jeffrey H. Morison’s
John Witherspoon and the Founding of the American Republic. Witherspoon was the only minister to sign the Declaration of Independence. He was a vital player in the intellectual, educational, and political currents of America’s beginning decades. He participated in our founding era, preached a theology that undergirded the War for Independence, and taught many of the key political leaders at Princeton University.
The role of Princeton’s university and seminary parallel the strengths and troubles of Calvinism in America. David Calhoun’s two volume history,
Princeton Seminary: Faith and Learning 1812-1868 and
Princeton Seminary: The Majestic Testimony 1869-1929, covers the outstanding thinkers, the national and theological controversies, and the events that ultimately brought about a collapse of what was the key bastion of defense of Calvinism in America.
While the Princeton Seminary story reveals the history of Calvinism in the northern states, the growth and strength of Calvinism in the southern states is yet another rich and powerful story. No study of southern history and culture, the War Between the States, or the subsequent rise of the Bible Belt and Fundamentalism is complete without studying Calvinism in the South. Erskine Clarke’s
Our Southern Zion: A History of Calvinism in the South Carolina Low Country, 1690-1990. While the title might make this book appear to be a study limited in region and time, the ideas covered in this book extend throughout the South and into the key events in American, and particularly, Southern history.
One good way to get some insights into Southern Calvinism is by reading a few representative biographies. Robert Lewis Dabney was a powerful Southern Presbyterian theologian and writer. His Systematic Theology and multi-volume Discussions are still in print and are full of theological and intellectual insights. His biography of Stonewall Jackson reveals the Calvinistic faith and reflections on the war and the South of both General Jackson and Dabney. An older biography titled
The Life and Letters of Robert L. Dabney by Thomas Cary Johnson gives a sympathetic and rich study of his life. Similar type biographies were written about Dabney’s Presbyterian peers, James Henley Thornwell and B.M. Palmer. A more recent biography of Dabney is Sean Michael Lucas’
Robert Lewis Dabney: A Southern Presbyterian Life. This work is part of a recently begun series of books being published by P&R Books, called American Reformed Biographies, which also includes biographies of Cornelius Van Til (referenced below) and John Williamson Nevin.
Along with the Presbyterian Calvinists, there have always been key Calvinistic Baptists. The key leader during the Founding Era was Isaac Backus. During the time around the War Between the States, Basil Manly was a Baptist Calvinist leader. A. James Fuller’s biography,
Chaplain to the Confederacy: Basil Manly and Baptist Life in the Old South, is a worthy account of his life. Basil Manly is the “man” in “Broadman Press.” (John Broadus was the “Broad.”) Southern Baptist history is a glorious story of great Southern Christians who were Calvinists and defenders of the Confederacy. Manly stands right up there with Thornwell and Dabney in his theological rigor and Southern convictions.
Much more could listed and described in regard to the Christian and Reformed influences in Southern history. My booklet,
Beyond Appomattox: A Guide to Rethinking the War Between the States, lists and describes dozens of books on this topic; however, it is long since out-of-print.
The book
Reformed Theology in America, as the title indicates, is a helpful source for understanding several strands of thought contributing to our Calvinistic heritage. The book, edited by David Wells, is a series of short discussions of schools of thought, followed by intellectual biographies of key theologians and thinkers. The book covers the Princeton thinkers, Hodge and Warfield, followed by their heirs at Westminster Seminary, J. Gresham Machen and Cornelius Van Til. The next section surveys the contributions of the Dutch, including the theologian Louis Berkof and the philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd. Dooyeweerd, himself, was not an American or immigrant, but he visited the country twice and had a tremendous influence through his Cosmonomic Philosophy, which is usually described as a Calvinistic philosophy. Reformed Theology in America includes a section on Southern leaders, Thornwell and Dabney. Surprisingly and questionably, the final section is on Neo-Orthodoxy. Wells, the editor, has written some amazing and insightful critiques of America’s theological and social culture, beginning with
No Place for Truth; Or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology? J. Gresham Machen was perhaps the key figure in 20th century American Calvinism. He was a consummate scholar and worldview thinker whose writings covered theology, culture, and education. He was also a premier culture warrior in the battles for maintaining Calvinistic theology and upholding the Bible as God’s Word. An early and still definitive biography of Machen is Ned B. Stonehouse’s
J. Gresham Machen: A Biographical Memoir. Stonehouse was a friend and colleague of Machen’s and a gifted theologian in his own right. Other useful works about Machen are D. G. Hart’s
Defending the Faith: J. Gresham Machen and the Crisis of Conservative Protestantism in Modern America and Gary North’s
Crossed Fingers: How the Liberals Captured the Presbyterian Church. Hart’s book is a serious and scholarly work, and North’s book is massive, finger-pointing, sledgehammering critique of theological moderates and liberals. Both works highlight the significance of Machen and his battles for theological orthodoxy in the Presbyterian Church. A broader cultural study that includes lots of information about Machen and his battles is George Marsden’s
Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism 1870-1925. Machen’s
Christianity and Liberalism is an indispensable primary source history for understanding the first three decades of twentieth century American history. Machen’s nemesis, theological liberalism, is a monster that still haunts the landscape. That it is slowly dying is due in part to the wounds that Machen’s book continues to inflict upon it.
My own book,
Punic Wars and Culture Wars: Christian Essays on History and Teaching, contains at least seven chapters related to Calvinistic influences in America. Many of the books listed above are cited, referenced, quoted, and acknowledged for helping me understand America’s Calvinistic heritage. I also hope my work has a few original insights or connections made in this fascinating story.
To understand the more recent history of Calvinism in America, one should read two remarkable essays, “The Closing of the Calvinistic Mind” by James Jordan and “The De-Intellectualization of Reformed Theology” by Andrew Sandlin, both of whom are present-day representatives of Reformed thinking. Both articles and authors are criticizing the loss of intellectual rigor in Calvinist worldview thinking, but both highlight key figures in the middle decades of the twentieth century. These key thinkers were intellectual pastors, theologians, philosophers, and professors—all united upon Reformed presuppositions—who wrote, lectured, and addressed a generation that often was not listening. These men wrote books for small audiences, taught a few faithful disciples, and grounded a core group in rigorous thinking growing out of the tradition of Augustine, Calvin, and Kuyper. They include Dutch philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd, Dutch-born apologist Cornelius Van Til, E. L. Hebden-Taylor, philosopher Gordon Clark, the historian Gregg Singer, the pastor and evangelist Francis Schaeffer, apologist and theologian Greg Bahnsen. and Christian Reconstructionist and theologian R. J. Rushdoony. Their writings reveal the depth of Calvinistic scholarship in the twentieth century.
To further one’s understanding of Calvinism in the latter decades of the twentieth century and on into the twenty-first century, it is best to read the works of the more popular theologians, preachers, and writers, such as John Frame, Vern Poythress, and R.C. Sproul, and John MacArthur.
The Pulitzer Prize winning Mississippi novelist William Faulkner once said, "In the South, the past isn't history. It isn't even past." He was right about the South, but we can paraphrase the statement and make it more right about Calvinism. In the American story, the Calvinistic past isn’t history. It isn’t even past!
