The Presbyterian denomination split in 1837 into the Old School (the South) and the New School (the North) primarily over the issue of slavery. Those are the gentle, mournful sounds of a denomination imploding," Donald A. Luidens, professor of sociology at Hope College in Holland, Mich., wrote in an article featured in November's Perspectives. This debate raised important theological . In fact, the same General Assembly that adopted the statement also upheld the defrocking of a minister in Virginiathe Reverend George Bournewho had condemned slaveholders as sinners. As we have noted there were but few New School men in the South so the main split was in the Old School, the official PCUSA. Contents The divided churches also reshaped American Christianity. Key leader: Francis Wayland, president of Brown University. During the 1830s, famous revivalist Charles Finney converted thousands of people, many of whom joined the crusade against slavery. When it divided, a strong cord tying North and South was cut. 1861: When war breaks out, the Old School splits along northern and southern lines. Presbyterians came together in May of 1789 to form "The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America." These were the Baptist, Presbyterian, and Methodist. 1844: Fierce debate at General Conference over southern bishop James O. Andrew, who owns slaves. What responsibility do journalists have when covering incendiary wars about religion and culture? By 1808 the denomination had just about given up trying to steer the faithful away from slavery. A truly national denomination from the 18th century to the Civil War, American Presbyterianism encompassed a wide range of viewpoints on slavery. Colonization appealed to diverse motives. Despite the tensions, the Old School Presbyterians managed to stay united for several more years. Though practically unknown to most Westerners, the history of Orthodox spirituality among the Eastern Slavs of Ukraine and Russia is a deep treasure chest of spiritual exploration and discovery. Cotton production, which depended on slave labor, became increasingly profitable, and essential to the economy, especially in the South. His arguments included the following. 1561 - Menno Simons born. Shifts in theological attitudes in the PCUS would not begin until the 1920s and 1930s. There were now four Presbyterian denominations where back in 1837 there had been just one. The 1818 pronouncement was not, however, as audacious as its rhetoric seemed to imply. Why? Southern theologians defended both slavery and secession from the scriptures. And to those left behind, there is no doubt that it is. Elizabeth Fox-Genovese and Eugene D. Genovese, The Mind of the Master Class: History and Faith in the Southern Slaveholding Worldview (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Place, 2005), 409-635. Presbyterians had historically opposed slavery. Although church officials offered theological reasons for the split, the larger national debate over slavery and secession figured prominently in the decision to form a separate denomination. Devine, Scotlands Empire, 1600-1815 (London: Allen Lane of the Penguin Group, 2003), 244-246. As every American schoolchild knows, the invention of the cotton gin a machine invented in 1793 that separated seeds and bolls from raw cotton made inland cotton varieties commercially viable. Did they start a new church? Barnes was forced to admit that the scriptures did not exclude slaveholders from the church, but he continued to maintain that although the scriptures did not condemn slavery per se it laid down principles that if followed would utterly overthrow it. Southern believers, who had drawn on the literal words of the Bible to defend slavery, increasingly promoted the close, literal reading of scripture. Several states had already seceded and others were on the verge of secession. And many southern clergy clearly shared the plantation owners opinions on the matter. Thus at the beginning of the Civil War there were ***four*** related branches of American Presbyterians: The Northern New School, the Northern Old School, the Southern New School, and the Southern Old School. In time, the PC-USA would eventually welcome the Arminian Cumberland Presbyterians into their fold (1906), and incidences[spelling?] In 1857, the New School Presbyterians divided over slavery, with the Southern New School Presbyterians forming the United Synod of the Presbyterian Church.[13]. Often clergy came into conflict with their own congregations over issues of ecclesiology and polity. Ashbel Green's report on the relationship ofslavery to the Presbyterian church, written for the 1818 General Assemblyand cited as the opinion of the church for decades after. Faculty and students, North and South, had slaves wait on them. The PC-USA eventually found itself becoming increasingly ecumenical and supporting various social causes. Among his publications areAmerican Apocalypse: Yankee Protestants and the Civil War, 1860-1869(1978),World Without End: Mainstream American Protestant Visions of the Last Things, 1880-1925(1999), andPrinceton Seminary in American Religion and Culture(2012). PRESBYTERIAN ATTITUDES TOWARD SLAVERY 103 society, to promote the abolition of slavery, and the instruction of negroes, whether bond or free.6 The response to this overture, the first action of the church on slavery, was cautious and conservative. But the change to the new denomination A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (ECO) sparked a legal fight: These kind of legal fights are, of course, not limited to Presbyterians. In 1850 Methodists were only second to Catholics in numbers in the U.S. At the. When did the Presbyterian church split over slavery? Louis F. DeBoer Communications Welcome APC Distinctives Church Government Close Communion by R. J. George Covenant Theology Eschatology But within eight years, three major denominations had been split apart. In a departure from Princetons early history as a bastion of radical New Light Presbyterian thought in the 18th century, in the 19th century Princeton sided with the conservative wing of the church. Some ministers of other Christian denominations joined them, as did secular proponents of the European Enlightenment. As historian Andrew E. Murray observed a half century ago: Ashbel Green, Presbyterian minister and Princeton's sixth president, who drafted the General Assembly's "Minute on Slavery" in 1818. Throughout the 18th century, Enlightenment ideas of the power of reason and free will became widespread among Congregationalist ministers. [14] "Listen. After the two factions split into separate denominations in 1837-38, the college and town wasas historian Sean Wilentz observesthe foremost intellectual center of Old School Presbyterianism.[5]. Conservative Presbyterians Weigh Split From PCUSA. The Last World Emperor in European History. Until then, however, Presbyterianism remained a truly national denomination. In 1973, the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) broke from what is now the Presbyterian . Presbyterians split again in 1836-38 over modernism, revivals, and slavery. And then in1968, the Methodist Church merged with the Evangelical United Brethren Church to form the United Methodist Church. In summer 1861 the Old School Presbyterians issued a resolution calling for members to support the federal government. Podcast: Zero elite press coverage of 'heresy' accusations against an American cardinal? The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which divided over slavery in 1861 and reunited only in 1983, has supported the study of reparations within the church and has backed a federal reparations bill. (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1999), 1-27; Jeremy F. Irons, The Origins of Proslavery Christianity:White and Black Evangelicals in Colonial and Antebellum Virginia (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2008), 43; T.M. Browse 60+ years of magazine archives and web exclusives. Moreover, the General Assembly called upon all Presbyterians to patronize and encourage the society lately formed, for colonizing in Africa, the land of their ancestors, the free people of colour in our country. Launched in December 1816, theAmerican Colonization Societys founders included Robert Finley, a pastor in Basking Ridge, New Jersey and a graduate of the College of New Jersey, as well as a director of Princeton Seminary. The South remained steadfastly agricultural and economically dependent on cotton. Knox's unrelenting efforts transformed Scotland into the most Calvinistic country in the world and the cradle of modern-day Presbyterianism. Suddenly, in a religious sense, the South was set adrift from the Union. But back to the Star:What is the news angle? . Eventually, the Presbyterian church was reunited. Civil War Times Illustrated explains that the church divisions helped crack Americas delicate Union in two. By severing the religious ties between North and South, the schism bolstered the Souths strong inclination toward secession from the Union. As with the rest of the country, over time a rift grew, with northern Methodists opposing slavery and southern Methodists either supporting it or, at least, advising the Church to not take a stand that would alienate southern members. Slavery: This was not as yet one of the main issues. Southern abolitionists fled to the North for safety. Although Presbyterians did not formally divide over slavery until the beginning of the war in 1861, they split into Old School and New School factions in 1837 over a variety of theological questions, some related to the nature of conversion and use of revival methods. The PCA is the second largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S. She dies 1558, Church of England permanently restred. The New School advocatesoriginally New England Congregationalists transplanted to the Northwest and middle stateswere open to innovations in theology and practice, more eager than other Presbyterians to engage in interdenominational cooperation, and more likely to espouse social reform. By 1870, divisions between Old School and New School are healed, but deep geographical divide will last for more than 100 years. The Reformed Church in America ship is sinking, argues one Reformed believer. In 1861 as the nation separated into two nations, the United States of America and the Confederate States of America, so did the Presbyterian Church. Perceived as a threat to social order, abolitionist speakers were frequently hounded from lecture halls by angry mobs. A struggle over the future of the mainline Presbyterian denomination, known as PCUSA, has been playing out for about 25 years, according to Cameron Smith, the pastor at New Hope, the church in . A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians. That same year, fiery abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison began publishing The Liberator. His heated attacks on slavery only hardened southern attitudes. Whether you want a split-stone granite wall in the kitchen or need help installing traditional brick masonry on your fireplace facade, you'll want a professional to get it right. 1553-1558 - Queen Mary I persecutes reformers. Upon hearing that the region was under control of the southern and pro-slave portion of the Presbyterian church, the members of Kingsport church voted to align . To the extent that abolitionism found a home in Presbyterianism, it did so chiefly in those sections of the church where the enthusiastic revival style of evangelist Charles G. Finney held swaymost notably in the so-called Burned-over district of upstate New York and the Western Reserve of Ohio. Both The Old School and the New School communions split into Northern and Southern churches. The denomination fell apart in 1844 when it was learned that a Georgia bishop, James O. Andrew, legally owned a number of slaves. As the ABCFM and AHMS refused to take positions on slavery, some Presbyterian churches joined the abolitionist American Missionary Association instead, and even became Congregationalists or Free Presbyterians. After six weeks the conference voted, finally, to ask Bishop Andrew to desist from serving as a bishop. Jeffrey Krehbiel, a Washington, D.C., pastor in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) who supports gay rights. These denominations operated separately until they reunited in 1983 to become what is known today as the PCUSA. Its safe to say that by 1840 no Virginia preacher would have dared do such a thing. For years, the churches had successfully . At first the general conferences proposed that at the very least clergy and church elders who owned slaves should free them, or should promise to free them, except in places where manumission was illegal. American Christianity continues to feel the aftershocks of a war that ended 125 years ago. Dabney distinguished between slavery per se as scripturally allowed and the slave trade. When the country could not reconcile the issue of slavery and the federal union, the southern Presbyterians split from the PCUSA, forming the PCCSA in 1861, which became the Presbyterian Church in the United States. That's a religion-beat hook in many states, With her newsworthy 'firsts,' don't ignore religion angles in Nikki Haley v. Donald Trump, Why you probably missed news about the FBI memo calling out 'radical traditionalist' Catholics, Death of old-school journalism may be why Catholic church vandalism isn't a big story, Cardinal Pell's death puts spotlight on his words and arguments about Catholicism's future. Updated on July 02, 2021. "The academy," wrote historian Craig Steven . By 1837, the anti-slavery societies that had existed across the South had disappeared. It called for traditional Calvinist orthodoxy as outlined in the Westminster standards. Did this New Jersey news team mean to hint that Catholics are not 'Christians'? [8] The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania decided that the Old School Assembly was the true representative of the Presbyterian church and their decisions would govern. Church members who opposed slavery argued that they were entitled to the property because the national church, the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA), had officially condemned the practice and required all congregational leaders to declare slavery - and the Confederacy's secession - to be sinful. Christians on both side of the war preached in favor of their side. He hadnt bought them but inherited them, he said in his defense. Key leaders: William B. Johnson, first president of the Convention. Separation was inevitable. In the West (now Upper South) especiallyat Cane Ridge, Kentucky and in Tennesseethe revival strengthened the Methodists and Baptists. He continues to serve as senior editor of theJournal of Presbyterian History. Prior to coming to Princeton in 1984, he taught for nine years at North Carolina State University. It also introduced into America a new form of religious expressionthe Scottish camp meeting. Yet at the same time, many northern Old School leaders continued to support moderate antislavery schemes such as African colonization. [15] While some conservatives felt that union with United Synod would be a repudiation of Old School convictions, others, such as Dabney feared that should the union fail, the United Synod would most likely establish its own seminary, propagating New School Presbyterian theology. The extreme position on slavery and this religious veneration of the United States government made union with Southern Presbyterians literally impossible. In the South, New and Old schoolers together eventually formed the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States. Some churches in Maryland broke away from the MEC. By contrast, the Old School adhered strictly to the denominations confession of faith and eschewed what it regarded as the restless spirit of radicalism endemic to the New School. When the national denomination approved ordaining gay clergy, a big chunk of an Overland Park, Kan., congregation decided to join a more conservative denomination. Maybe press should cover this? Presbyterians Steps to Division 1837: "Old School" and "New School" Presbyterians split over theological issues. With weak Southern representation the Assembly voted to make loyalty to the Federal Government a term of communion in the church. They argued the right of secession from the analogy of the Hebrew Republic even as Southern statesmen defended it from the Constitution itself. Slavery became an issue in the General Assembly of 1836 and threatened to split the church but moderate abolitionists prevailed over the radicals. 1560 - Geneva Bible, revision of Matthew's version of Tyndale's. 1560 - Scottish Reformation, Church of Scotland established. Presbyterians and Slavery By James Moorhead A truly national denomination from the 18th century to the Civil War, American Presbyterianism encompassed a wide range of viewpoints on slavery. After being censored by the seminary's board and then its president Lyman Beecher, many theological students (known as the Lane Rebels) left Lane to join Oberlin College, a Congregationalist institution in northern Ohio founded in 1833, which accepted their abolitionist principles and became an Underground Railroad stop.