H434 -1
McCormick Theological Seminary
Spring 2016
H-434, AMERICAN PRESYBTERIAN HISTORY
Instructor: Dae-Sung Kim, Ph. D.
E-Mail: wwjds@hotmail.com
Course Description:
What was and is Presbyterianism in the U. S. history ?
Who have been American Presbyterians?
How Presbyterian churches have interacted with American Christianity and societies?
The course seeks answers to these questions through delving the past stories and discussing
studying interpretations of the past and the present. It includes researches of Presbyterian
churches in North America, with special attention to the formative revivals, doctrinal
controversies, social questions, schisms and reunions of the 19th and 20th centuries. The
course will use some primary documents and historical interpretations to explore the origins,
organizations, promises and predicaments of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and other
Reformed traditions. The class will also attend to larger questions of the voices of Reformed
and Presbyterian Christians in the historiography of American religion.
Course Purpose and Objectives.
This course is designed to study American Presbyterian history. At the completion of
this course students (1) should be able to identify major persons, doctrinal conflicts, and
movements within American Presbyterian history and (2) develop skills in researching,
interpreting and teaching the history of American Presbyterians, and (3) should also have
become aware of issues of interpretation in American Presbyterian history for contemporary
ministry and Christian faithfulness.
Class Requirements
This is an elective course with reading assignments, class presentations, prepared
participation in discussions, and a research paper. In addition, all students are to
develop/employ appropriate research skills to explore printed and online resources relating
to the PC(USA) and broader topics in the Reformed tradition.
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Attendance in the class and Participation in discussions.
Class Presentations. (50% of grade)
A class presentation includes 1 page summary, reflection, and discussion questions for
class distribution and 15-20 minutes teaching and discussion with reading materials.
Students are to sign up for presentation schedule by preferable topics and dates that is
designed by the instructor. (week 1 or 2)
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Each student will present three or more topics, depending on class size.
Mid-term paper (10%) : due by April 1.
3-4 page reflection and research paper
Three influential historical factors from 18th and 19th C to your (local) church
Final Research Paper.(40%)
- 12 ~15 page research paper about American Presbyterian History
- Topics: historical person(s), theology(ies), and event(s) that have formed,
reformed, and deformed American Presbyterians.
Texts:

Armstrong, Maurice Lefferts Loetscher, and Charles Anderson, editors. The Presbyterian
Enterprise. Eugene, Oregon:Wipf & Stock, on demand, 2008. (Required)
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Cashdollar, Charles. A Spiritual Home: Reformed Christianity in the Nineteenth Century.
University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000.
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Coalter, Milton, John Mulder, and Louis Weeks, eds. The Re-Forming Tradition. Louisville:
Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992. (a good summary of the too-rarely read multi-volume
series on American Presbyterianism).
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Fortson, S. Donald, III., editor. Colonial Presbyterianism: Old Faith in a New Land. Eugene,
Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2007.
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Smylie, James. A Brief History of the Presbyterians. Louisville: Geneva Press, 1996. (Required)
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Weston, William J. Presbyterian Pluralism: Competition in a Protestant House. Knoxville:
University of Tennessee Press, 1997. [purchased from instructor]
The following are essential for this class, but are currently out of print. I encourage you to obtain the
remaining through interlibrary loan or photocopy (for your personal use, within copyright limits!).
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Balmer, Randall and John R. Fitzmier. The Presbyterians. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1993.
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Barrus, Ben M., Milton L Baughn, and Thomas H. Campbell. A People Called Cumberland
Presbyterians. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1998.
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Conkin, Paul K. The Uneasy Center: Reformed Christianity in Antebellum America. Chapel Hill,
NC: The North Carolina University Press, 1995.
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Hart, D. G and John R. Muether, Seeking a Better Country: 300 Hundred Years of American
Presbyterianism. Phillpsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 2007
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Longfield, Bradley. Presbyterians and American Culture: A History. Louisville, KY: Westminster
John Knox Press, 2013.
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Marsden, George. The Evangelical Mind and the New School Presbyterian Experience. New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1970.
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McNeill, J. T. History and Character of Calvinism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1967.
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Sunquist, Scott W. and Caroline N. Becker. A History of Presbyterian Missions, 1944-2007.
Louisville, KY: Geneva Press, 2008.

Trinterud, Leonard. The Forming of an American Tradition. Philadelphia: Westminster Press,
1949. (reprinted 1970).

Wilmore, Gayraud. Black and Presbyterian: The Heritage and the Hope. Revised edition.
Louisville: Witherspoon Press, 1998.
Online resources:
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Loetscher, Lefferts A. The Broadening Church. Philadelphia: University of Penn. Press, 1954
(reprinted 1964 and 1970). Available at Hatha Trust.
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Hall, D.J. An Awkward Church. (at www.religion-online.org/cgibin/relsearchd.dll/showbook?item_id=415 )
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Presbyterian Church(USA) (at www.pcusa.org )(many links, many texts)
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The Journal of Presbyterian History special issue at:
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http://www.history.pcusa.org/resources/jph/2000/spring/TOC.htm
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Presbyterian Historical Society exhibits and publications at: http://www.history.pcusa.org/
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Religion and the Founding of the American Republic at:
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/religion.html
<Class Schedule>
Week 1: Feb. 1
Introduction and orientation: From Calvin to Calvinism. Definition of terms.
Resources: J.T. McNeill, History and Character of Calvinism.
Colonial Presbyterianism
Week 2:
Reformed Christianity in Colonial America: The variety of Reformed churches in North
America and the First Presbytery
Readings: Smylie, Chap. 4-5
Armstrong, Loetscher, and Anderson, Chap. 1-2.
Sawyer, “Colonial Presbyterians” [posted]
Week 3:
Great Awakening
The New Nation and the new Church:
Readings: Smylie, Chap. 6
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Armstrong, Chap. 3-4.
Trinterud, Forming of an American Tradition.pp.213-308
 Presentations from “Colonial Presbyterianism”
PRESBYTERIANISM in the 19th C
Week 4:
The Evangelical Empire: Revivalism and Social Reform.
Institutional formation of seminaries and societies. The divisions of 1837.
Readings: Smylie, Chap. 7.
Armstrong, Chap. 5-6.
 Presentation - Moorhead & more
Week 5:
Reformed Christianity on the eve of the Civil War. Continuing revivalism.
Reading: Smilie, Chap. 8.
Armstrong, Chap. 7-8.
John W. Nevin. The Anxious Bench at:
http://books.google.com/books?id=33IWAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_ViewAPI
 Presentation – Divided Heart & more
Week 6:
From One Civil War to Another, 1860-1900: Changing Definitions of Orthodoxy
Readings: Smylie, Chap. 9.
Armstrong, Chap. 9.
Loetscher, The Broadening Church. Chap 6-10
 Presentation
READING WEEK: March 14-18 - no class session!
Week7:
American Presbyterianism in the 19th C and after.
Readings: Armstrong. Chap. 10.
Mary Lin Hudson, “’Shall Woman Preach?’ Louisa Woosley and the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church.”
 Presentations from Cashdollar’s “A Spiritual Home”
PRESBYTERIAN in the 20th C
Week 8:
From World War I to World War II
Readings: Smilie, Chap. 11.
Armstrong, Chap. 11.
Loetscher, The Broadening Church. pp. 108-156.
William J. Weston. Presbyterian Pluralism.
Church and Society special issue (distributed in class)
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Report of the Special Commission of 1925 ,
http://www.history.pcusa.org/resources/jph/2001/pdfs/046-052.pdf
 Presentation – On Charles Stezle & more
 Mid-Term Paper Due – April 1 at noon.
Week 9:
From Flourishing 1950s and to Frustrating 1970s
Readings: Smilie, Chap. 11.
Armstrong, Chap. 12.
Arnold B. Come, “Occaiosional and Contribution of the Confession of 1967
 Presentation – Articles on Women’s Ordination
Week 10:
Reunion, Renewal and Global Resposibility
Readings: Smilie, Chap. 12.
Longfield, Chap. 7.
Hart and Muether, Chap. 13
 Presentation – African American Presbyterians & more
Week 11:
Denominational conflict and Demographic change.
Formation of the Book of Confessions and the Confession of 1967.
Readings: Coalter, Mulder, Weeks, The Re-forming Tradition Part II The Re-forming Church. pp.
225-287
Douglas John Hall, An Awkward Church. at www.religion-online
Frederick J. Heuser, “Do Presbyterians Really Learn from Their History?”
At: http://www.history.pcusa.org/pubs/journal/2000_spring/Learn.html
 Presentations – Chapters from Nutt, Webster, Heuser.
Week 12.
Presentations and discussion of research projects.
Library work and revision. Final paper due: May 6.
Optional reading on conflicting views of the history of the Presbyterian Church:
Lewis C. Daly, Anne Hale Johnson, A Moment to Decide: The Crisis in Mainstream Presbyterianism.
(New York: Institute for Democracy Studies, 2000). Three reviews
Gary North, Crossed Fingers: How the Liberals Captured the Presbyterian Church
(Institute for Christian Economics, 1996). Available online.