The setting-forth of these fundamentals, and of the methods by wliich the organism of God's kingdom, par- ticularly in the Church, is to be erected on them, is the work of tiie science of Ecclesiastical Foimdations, other- wise the science of the principles of Practical Theology, which finds its completion in the science of Church or- ganization. We next discover a separate department of Church law, which constitutes the second jnirt of Practical Theology, and subdivides into Church law and Cliurch government (in a restricted sense. Church poli- ty; in an unrestricted, the care of soids). The process <if self-edification under the Holy Spirit's infiuence, moreover, gives rise to a recognition of the means through which this is achieved, and therein* originated a //(i/v/ technical part, covering the theories of art meth- ods in the different Christian churches, which are knowr, with reference to the shaping of the external forms of
THEOLOGY, BIBLICAL 327 THEOLOGY, NEW ENGLAND
worship so that they may represent the worship of the inner man, as Liturgies; with reference to the proclama- tion of the Word of God, as Homiletics or Keryktics; with reference to the training of the young, as Chris- tian PiBdagogics and Catechetics; with reference to the conversion of heathen and other false religionists, as Halieutics and Theory of Missions; and with reference to the organization of scientific instruction for the Church, as Ecclesiastical Pffideutics, which has to do with the Christian organization of institutions of learning, as the placing of theological faculties in universities, the found- ing of theological seminaries, etc. Theological litera- ture cannot, of course, be brought within any rule, but may be classified in conformity with its manner of en- tering upon the arena of the Christian and the Church life.— Herzog, Real-EncyUop. s. v. See Theologian.
See Ve\t,Thevl. Encyklop. (Hamb. and Gotha, 1843), with whose theory the above article is substantially agreed. See Encyclopedia of Theology, with the literature there referred to.
THEOLOGY, Biblical. See Biblical Theology.
THEOLOGY, Dogmatical. See Dogmatical Theology.
THEOLOGY, Exegetical. See Exegetical The- ology.
THEOLOGY, Natural. See Natural Theology.
THEOLOGY, New England; including "New Divinity," " Edvvardean Divinity," " llopkinsianism," etc.
L Oru/in and Development. — The original theology of New England was the strict Calvinism of the Ke- formed standards. In 1G48 the Westminster Confession was formally adopted by the synod convened at Cam- bridge, and it remained the standard of faith for all "the New English churches" until 1680, when "the elders and messengers of the churches in the colony of the JMassachusetts in New England" substituted the confession drawn up by the Congregationalists of the mother countrv, and known as the " Savoy Confession." In 1708 the Comiecticut churches made the same change. This substitution was in neither case demanded by a changed theological sentiment in the churches, the Sa- voy Confession being almost word for word identical with the Westminster, except on points connected with Church polity. Its Calvinism was equally strict. Not long after this, however, strong and independent minds began to appear in the ranks of the New England min- istry, whose philosophical acumen and practical earnest- ness could not rest satisfied with a theological system which to them seemed palpably inconsistent in parts, and morally paralyzing as a whole. These, prompted partly by their own subjective difficulties, and partly by the exigences and influences of the period which wit- nessed the rise of New England Unitarianism, the in- troduction of Universalism, the visits of Charles Wes- ley and George Whitetield, the planting of Methodism, the Eevolutionary War, the abolition of slavery in the New England states, the defection from orthodoxy of Harvard College and the largest churches of Massa- chusetts, the end of the compulsory support of religion by taxes, the fall of the Lockean and the rise of a tran- scendental school of philosophy, the extension of the Baptist and of the Methodist Episcopal and Protestant Episcopal churches over all the New England States, the foiniding of the noble missions of the American Board — not to mention remoter and less important events — commenced a series of modifications in the tra- ditional Calvinistic system of doctrine designed to ren- der it more rational, more palatable to the believer, and more easily defensible against the assailant. The proc- ess has been going forward with a good degree of stead- iness ever since the days of president Edwards. One has suggested change in one part, another in another; one has brought forward a metaphysical novelty, an- other a theological one, a third an ethical ; liberal and
progressive influences have become incorporated in or- gans and institutions; free pulpits have popularized the various innovations; new generations have grown up under the inriuence of the improved doctriuation ; in short, an almost complete theological revolution has gradually taken place. In their earliest development, the more generally received of these new views were styled "New-light Divinity;" then "New Divinity," afterwards "Edwardean;" sometimes " Hopkiiitonian" or "Hopkinsian." From the fact that Edwards, Hop- kins, West, and Catlin resided in Berkshire County, the system was at one time called " Berkshire Divinity." When embraced in Great Britain by Andrew Fuller, Dr. Kyland, Robert Hall, Sutcliffe, Carey, Jay, and Ers- kine, it was called " American Theology," to distinguish it from the European systems. In this country it has often been denominated "New England Theology," in order to discriminate it from systems that have prevail- ed in other parts of the land. This term, however, is far from satisfactory, partly because the New England theology of to-day is very different from the New Eng- land theology of a hundred and fifty years ago, and part- ly because, in speaking of the New England theology of recent times, the term must be used in a sense suf- ficiently wide and vague to include differing types of doctrine historically associated with various individual divines and witli the Andover, New Haven, and East Windsor (now Hartford) schools.