Bibliography on Denominational History,
Polity, and Ecclesiastical Theory
T. David Gordon
January, 1987. Revised September, 1989; Revised and Annotated, December, 1991; Revised, November, 1993; June, 1995. Additions by Dr. Morton H. Smith of Greenville Theological Seminary, January, 1996 (indicated by #)
(Library numbers refer to the holdings in the Goddard Library at Gordon-Conwell)
General Presbyterian History in America
#Baird, Samuel J. A Collection of the Acts, Deliverances and Testimonies of the Supreme Judicatory of Presbyterian Church, From Its Origin in America to the Present Time, with Notes and Documents, Explanatory and Historical. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1856.
#Gillet, E. H. History of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publications, 1864.
#Minutes of the Presbyterian Church in America, 1706-88.
#Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America.
Moore, William E. The Presbyterian Digest of 1886. A Compend of the Acts and Deliverances of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board, 1886. [Moore’s first “digest” had been published in 1873. W. A. Alexander published one in 1898, and there are several others. Each of these is valuable, in permitting a student of Presbyterianism access to General Assembly actions on a variety of subjects. The limitation is that none are exhaustive, and some are inexplicably selective (sometimes including related acts of, say 1835 and 1872, but omitting an action on the same topic in 1845). Nevertheless, as a first step of research, a digest is quicker than reading through the indices to the minutes of each Presbyterian body!]
Nevin, Alfred, ed. Encyclopaedia of the Presbyterian Church of America: Including the Northern and Southern Assemblies. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Publishing Co., 1884. [This volume is a rich mine of information regarding American Presbyterianism to 1884. There are articles on individuals, on particular churches, on distinctive doctrines, on the spread of Presbyterianism in various regions, etc.]
Presbyterian Reunion: A Memorial Volume. New York: Lent & Company, 1870. [This volume, celebrating the reunion of the Old School and New School parties in the Northern Church, contains some interesting historical material. The first chapter, written by Samuel Miller (the younger), reviews the history of the OS branch since the division in 1837; the second chapter, by Jonathan F. Stearns, reviews the NS branch for the same period. In the third chapter, Wm. Sprague supplies biographical sketches of prominent figures in the OS; in the fourth, Z. M. Humphrey provides the same for the NS branch. William Adams then provides a chapter on the reunion, and there is a chapter on the two 1869 assemblies (in which the decision to reunite was carried by both bodies). The appendices contain some significant statistical information for the period in question.]
#Patton, Jacob Harris. A Popular History of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. New York: Appleton, 1903.
Smith, Morton. Studies in Southern Presbyterian Theology. 1962. Reprint, Presbyterian & Reformed, 1987. [Those with short memories may not know that Dr. Smith, in addition to having taught at Reformed Seminary and having founded Greenville Seminary, was the first Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church in America (for 15 years). He is widely and correctly regarded as both an able student of the Southern Presbyterian Church and an able student of Presbyterianism. While this volume covers only Southern Presbyterianism, it does assist profoundly in that sphere, and includes a good amount of biographical information.]
Sprague, William B. Annals of the American Presbyterian Pulpit; or Commemorative Notices of Distinguished Clergymen of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. (2 vols). New York: Carter, 1860. [Sprague edited a multi-volume series that covered several denominations, and these two volumes are devoted to Presbyterians. It includes biographies of “distinguished” clergy who had ceased their earthly toils prior to 1855. This is somewhat unfortunate, because the volume thus necessarily omits many significant Presbyterian figures whose careers were at their zenith in 1855, e.g, Charles Hodge, Gardiner Spring, J. W. Alexander, Benjamin Morgan Palmer, John B. Adger, Robert Lewis Dabney, James Henley Thornwell. Nevertheless, it includes significant early figures, from Francis Mackemie through the Tennants, Samuel Blair, David Brainerd, Samuel Davies, John Witherspoon, Samuel Stanhope Smith, Moses Hoge, Ashbel Green, to Samuel Miller, Archibald Alexander, and Francis Scott Sampson. Most of the articles are not written by Sprague, but by those who knew the subjects well].
#Webster, Richard. A History of the Presbyterian Church in America, from its Origin Until the Year 1760, with Biographical Sketches of its Early Ministers. Philadelphia: Joseph M. Wilson, 1857.
Ecclesiastical Histories
Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church
Kennedy, W. A., ed. Sesquicentennial History of the ARPC. Jacob Brothers: 1951. BX 8999 .A82 A3.
Kung, Roy, A History of the ARPC Board of Christian Education, ARPC: 1966. BX 8999 .A82 K586.
Orthodox Presbyterian Church
Dennison, Charles, ed. The Orthodox Presbyterian Church 1936-86. Philadelphia, PA: The Committee for the Historian of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 1986. BX 8999 .O62 07. [Contains general articles on the OPC’s founding and history, and information on all the particular churches in the OPC as of the date of writing.]
------, and Richard Gamble, eds. Pressing Toward the Mark. Corapolis, PA: The Committee for the Historian of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 1986. BX8999 .O65 P73. [Not a history per se, though there are historical articles within it; this collection introduces fairly well the ethos of the OPC.]
Minutes of General Assembly. BX 8999 .06 A3.
Presbyterian Church in America
Hutchinson, George P. The History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod. Cherry Hill, N. J.: Mack Publishing Co, 1974. BX 8999 .R53 H89.
------. (Forthcoming authorized history of the PCA).
Loetscher, Lefferts A. A Brief History of the Presbyterians. Fourth edition. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1983.
------. The Broadening Church: A Study of Theological Issues in the Presbyterian Church Since 1869. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1954. [This frequently-reprinted work is a history of “mainline” Presbyterianism, from a decidedly favorable perspective. As such, it is also an apology for the broadening tendencies of mainline Presbyterianism in the twentieth century. Very well-written, this is an excellent introduction into the ethos of the PCUSA.]
Marsden, George M. “Perspective on the Division of 1937.” Pressing Toward the Mark. Essays Commemorating Fifty Years of the ORthodox Presbyterian Church. Edited by Charles G. Dennison and Richard C. Gamble. Philadelphia: The Committee for the Historian of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 1986, pp. 295-328.
#PCA Digest, 1973-1993. A Digest of the Minutes of the Presbyterian Church in America. 2 vols. Atlanta, GA, 1993.
Smith, Frank J. The History of the Presbyterian Church in America: The Continuing Church Movement. Manassas, Va: Reformation Educational Foundation, 1985. BX 8999 .P732 S64. [Privately published, this perspective on the PCA suggests, in its title, that the PCA is a “continuing” church, continuing the confession and heritage of the earlier PCUS.]
Smartt, Kennedy. I Am Reminded: An Autobiographical, Anecdotal History of the Presbyterian Church in America. n.p., n.d., c. 1994. [Like Williamson, Smartt was one of the founders of the PCA. This volume provides some behind-the-scenes information about events leading to the formation and history of the PCA, and also includes vignettes of some of its more colorful figures.]
*Williamson, W. Jackson. History of the Presbyterian Church in America. n.p., n.d. [This is a compilation of 14 documents and addresses, collected by the first moderator of the PCA, Jack Williamson. They are primary sources, that enable one to discern something of the circumstances and ethos that produced the PCA. They are available from the bookstore at Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, MS, where Mr. Williamson instructs in church polity.]
Yearbook of the Presbyterian Church in America. BX 8999 .P7 A35.
Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America. BX 8999 .P71 A3.
Christian Reformed Church
Bratt, James D. Dutch Calvinism in Modern America: A History of a Conservative Subculture. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985. BX 9495 .B73.
#Heyns, William. Handbook for Elders and Deacons. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1928.
Kromminga, J. The Christian Reformed Church: A Study in Orthodoxy. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1949. BX 6815 .K75.
De Klerk, Peter, and Richard R. De Ridder, eds. Perspectives on the Christian Reformed Church: Studies in History, Theology and Ecumenicity Presented in Honor of John Henry Kromminga. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1983. BX 6809 .P47.
Manual of Christian Reformed Church Government. BX 6826 .B74.
#Schaver, J. L., Christian Reformed Church Order. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1937.
#------. The Polity of the Churches. 2 vols. Vol. 1 Concerns for All Churches of Christendom. Vol. 2, Concerns of Reformed Church Polity. The Christian Reformed Church. Grand Rapids: Grand Rapids International Publications, 1956.
Yearbook of the Christian Reformed Church. BX 6807.
Acts of Synod of the Christian Reformed Church. BX 6805.
Reformed Church in America
Brouwer, A. Reformed Church Roots. USA: Reformed Church Press, 1977. BX 9515 .B68.
de Jong, Gerald F. The Dutch Reformed Church in the American Colonies. Author, 1978. BX 9515 .D39.
Book of Church Order. BX 9522 .A3.
Minutes of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America. BX 9507 .A5.
Reformed Presbyterian Çhurch in North America
Delivuk, John Allen. The Doctrine and History of Worship in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary: Author, 1982. BX 8995 .D44.
Presbyterian Church in the United States
(Southern Presbyterian Church)
#Foote, William Henry. Sketches of North Carolina: Historical and Biographical. New York: Robert Carter, 1846. Rprt.
#------. Sketches of Virginia: Historical and Biographical. Vol. 1. Philadelphia: William Martien, 1850. Vol. 2. New York: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1855.
#Johnson, Thomas Cary. A History of the Southern Presbyterian Church. American Church History Series, Vol. XI. New York, 1894.
#Ministerial Directory of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. Various editions, 1941, 1951, 1967, 1975, 1983.
#A Digest of the Acts and Proceedings of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. Several editions, 1887, 1898, 1910, 1922, 1944, 1965.
#Smith, Morton H. How Is the Gold Become Dim. Jackson, MS: Steering Committee for a Continuing Presbyterian Church, 1973. [This volume contains a narrative of significant church-decisions in the PCUS that eventually persuaded many of its ministers and churches of the necessity of withdrawing from its communion. It is not merely a coincidence that the PCA was formed in the same year that this volume was published.]
#Thompson, Ernest Trice. Presbyterians in the South. 3 vols. Richmond, VA: John Knox Press, 1963. [Thompson, who taught Ecclesiastical History at Union Theological Seminary in VA, was also one of the significant denominational figures in the PCUS from the 1950’s through the seventies. Thompson was widely regarded as a significant instigator of liberal theological tendencies in that communion.]
Ecclesiology: Sacraments, Worship, Ministry, Government
[N.B. Works marked with an asterisk are considered to be
of special importance; and should be obtained, if available.]
*Adams, Jay E. Handbook of Church Discipline. Ministers Resource Library. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986. [Page for page (only 120) there is probably more good material here than in anything else you are likely to read. This volume is a must for officer-training, and should be read by every church-member.]
Alexander, James Waddell. Thoughts on Preaching. Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1988 (1864). [A son of Archibald Alexander, James Waddel had a fruitful ministry in its own right (R.L. Dabney, in his own book on preaching, made approving reference to “this eminent and useful pastor”). The work is divided into three parts. The first, “homiletical paragraphs,” consists of Alexander’s diary on preaching, and many of these remarks are valuable, despite the randomness of the comments. The second part, “Letters to Young Ministers,” is the heart of the book, consisting of ten chapters discussing devotion to the work, personal piety, a minister’s study habits and diligence (three letters), an interesting chapter on learned pastors, and three chapters on extempore preaching (to be read if nothing else in the book is read). The third part consists of five chapters, two of an historical nature (“The Pulpit in Ancient and Modern Times” and “Eloquence of the French Pulpit”) and one each on “Studies and Discipline of the Preacher,” “The Matter of Preaching,” and “Expository Preaching.” As most of the books of this era, this one is characterized (by contrast with most of the more recent works) by much discussion of what preaching is, and relatively less prominence is given to giving “steps,” or “how-to” advice. For instance, even the substantial chapters on extempore preaching and expository preaching, both of which are largely methodological, are discussions of the propriety and wisdom of these approaches; not merely rules for how to do them. Since I first read this book, I have never really stopped reading it, but find myself reading it, or parts of it, again and again.]
Alston, Wallace M. The Church. Guides to the Reformed Tradition, ed. John H. Leith and John W. Kuykendall. Atlanta: John Knox, 1982. BV 600.2 .A45.
Avis, Paul D. L. The Church in the Theology of the Reformers. New Foundations Theological Library. Atlanta: John Knox, 1981. BV 598 .A93.
Baird, Charles. Presbyterian Liturgies. 1855; rpt., Grand Rapids: Baker, 1960. [This volume was quite significant when first published, because it resulted from discovering a number of manuscripts in Europe convincingly demonstrating that fixed forms/liturgies were employed by Calvin, Knox, Richard Baxter, et. al.]
*Bannerman, James. The Church of Christ. 2 vols. Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1960; Still Waters Revival Books, Edmonton, 1991. BV 600 .B22. [This may very well be the finest single work on ecclesiology ever written in the Presbyterian tradition. It is comprehensive in scope, and historically and theologically compelling. If you can purchase one while they are still in print, do so.]
Barker, William S. “A Response to Professor George Knight's Article ‘Subscription to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechism.’” Presbuterion 10, no. 1-2 (Spring/Fall, 1984): 64-71. [This is part of a 4-piece exchange between Barker and George Knight, see below.]
------. “Subscription to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms.” Presbuterion 10, no. 1-2 (Spring/Fall, 1984): 1-19.
Bogue, Carl W. The Scriptural Law of Worship. With an appendix on “Church Power in Relation to Worship,” by William Cunningham. Dallas, TX: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1988.
Breckinridge, Robert J. Presbyterian Government, Not a Hierarchy, But a Commonwealth. Edited, with an introductory essay by Kevin Reed. Dallas, TX: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1988. [This essay by the influential Breckinridge addresses “whether our church constitution establishes a government under which the final power and the actual authority are in the hands of the preachers as preachers, or (in the hands) of the body of Christian people to be exercised through officers regularly connected with them…” As was common in the early-to-mid 19th century, Presbyterians expended probably more energy distinguishing themselves from Episcopacy (as was also true in the case of their forbears in the British isles) than from independency (though they did this also on occasion).]
Bridges, Charles. The Christian Ministry With an Inquiry Into the Causes of its Inefficiency. Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1983. [This is a well-known treatise on the practical demands, disciplines, and privileges of the Christian ministry.]
*Broadus, John A. A Treatise on the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons. 1870; reprinted many times. [This volume is justly considered a classic work on preaching, and its general similarity to Dabney’s volume indicates the widespread agreement on the nature and method of preaching in previous centuries. Often overlooked is the final chapter on the “Conduct of Public Worship,” (476-504) a valuable, wisdom-packed discussion. This chapter has separate treatment of scripture-reading, hymns and their selection, public prayer, length of services, and pulpit decorum. If nothing else, photocopy these pages and re-read them often.]
Brown, Mark R., ed. Order in the Offices. Duncansville, PA: Classic Presbyterian Government Resources, 1994. [A collection of essays on the offices in the Presbyterian form of government, especially focusing on the distinct role of minister of the Word. This collection includes several 19th-century essays by Charles Hodge and Thomas Smyth, and both new and reprinted articles from the twentieth century.]
Burroughs, Jeremiah. Gospel Worship. The Right Manner of Sanctifying the Name of God in Hearing the Word; Prayer; and Receiving the Lord's Supper. Original, 1648. Reprint, Soli Deo Gloria, 1990. [Very practical instructions regarding preparation for and participation in worship.]
Clowney, Edmund P. “Distinctive Emphases in Presbyterian Church Polity.” Pressing Toward the Mark, op. cit., 99-110. [This is a "sleeper." It is one of the briefest able expressions of the Presbyterian understanding of limited, or "regulated" government in the church, doing so, as was historically by Owen and Bannerman, by reference to the liberty of conscience.]
Cullmann, Oscar. Early Christian Worship. Trans. A. Stewart Todd and James B. Torrance. London: SCM Press, 1953.
------. and F. J. Leenhardt. Essays on the Lord's Supper. Trans. J. G. Davies. Atlanta: John Knox, 1958.
Cunningham, William. “Christ’s Kingly Office.” Sermons From 1828 to 1860. Ed. J. J. Bonar. First ed., 1872. Reprint by Still Waters Revival Books, Edmonton, 1991, 351-64. [With Bannerman and Buchanan, Cunningham was a leading figure in mid-nineteenth century Scotland, and was principal of New College in Edinburgh. In this sermon, Cunningham demonstrates that Christ functions as king when the church follows his rule exclusively.]
------. Discussions on Church Principles. First ed., 1863. Reprint by Still Waters Revival Books, Edmonton, 1991. [This volume discusses the nature and limits of church-power, esp. in the context of the struggle with Anglicanism and Erastianism].
Dabney, Robert Lewis. “What is a Call to the Ministry?”: 26-46, “Lay Preaching”: 76-95, “The Public Preaching of Women” : 96-118, “Theories of the Eldership” : 119-57, “The Revised Book of Discipline”: 312-55 and 356-92, “What is Christian Union?”: 430-446, “Broad Churchism”: 447-63, “Fraternal Correspondence” : 464-71, “Fraternal Relations”: 472-502 in Discussions of Robert Lewis Dabney, vol. 2. Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1982. [In these various essays, RLD discussed a variety of ecclesiastical issues that continue to be of great practical significance in our day. His “Theories of the Eldership,” taken with Thornwell’s “The Ruling Elder a Presbyter,” contributed to the development of a “two-office” view].
------. “The Standard of Ordination,” in Discussions of Robert Lewis Dabney, vol. 3. Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1982: 47-64.
Robert L. Dabney, “Simplicity of Pulpit Style,” in Discussions, vol. 3., Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, pp. 80-90. [Note: This is not found in vol. 3 of the Banner of Truth edition. The BOT edition includes selections of the original volumes 3 and 4 in its volume 3]. [This fine essay discusses the propriety of simplicity in the pulpit, not merely or primarily on pragmatic grounds, but on the ground of the nature of what preaching is. It is vintage Dabney, and vintage Protestantism.]