1880–1892

The “New Theology” and the Andover controversy (1880–1892)

Shelley: liberal theology arose in the churches of New England under the name of the New Theology – a protest in the interests of modern thought against the “old theology” of evangelical Puritanism. Its defenders came out of traditional New England Calvinism; the boundary between old and new was 1881–1883, when George Harris succeeded Professor Park at Andover Seminary. The dispute over the seminary’s creed ended in the case of Smyth, and in 1892 the Massachusetts Supreme Court declared his removal invalid

Key points

• Shelley: the New Theology’s leaders were Munger, Newman Smith, Gordon, Gladden and Harris, voice of the movement in the Andover Review; Lyman Abbott was its great propagandist, in Foster’s words perhaps the most influential on American liberal theology. Andover’s board charged Smyth with departing from the creed – a precedent-setting case that dragged on for years, and in 1892 the Massachusetts Supreme Court voided Smyth’s removal; by then every denomination had its own cases and heretics
• Old and new: in 1881 Edwards Amasa Park, last eminent exponent of “New England theology,” left his chair; Harris succeeded him
• Old and new: before 1880 clergy held God’s absolute power, human sinfulness, atonement, the Spirit and eternal division; afterward all came under liberal fire
• Andover controversy: the seminary was founded in 1808 against Harvard Unitarianism; by 1880 professors found signing the Calvinist creed impossible
• Andover controversy: in the Andover Review Smith, Tucker and Harris argued the heathen would get a chance to accept the Gospel after death

People

• Lyman Abbott
• George Harris
• Egbert Smyth
• Edwards Amasa Park

Place

USA, New England, Andover