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Charles Hodge
Scholar, educator, churchman, and distinguished American Presbyterian systematic theologian of the nineteenth century, Charles Hodge was born in Philadelphia in 1797. Following his father’s untimely death a few years after he was born, Charles and his brother were raised by their godly widowed mother. In 1812 Hodge’s mother moved the family to Princeton in hope of matriculating her sons at Princeton College.
Charles Hodge graduated from Princeton College in 1815. During the 1814-15 school year a revival broke out on the college campus: Charles was one of a number of students converted during this time of spiritual refreshing. At the encouragement of Archibald Alexander, he enrolled at Princeton Theological Seminary, graduating with the class of 1819.
Ordained in 1821, his scholarly gifts led to an appointment by his denomination in 1822 to serve as the seminary’s third faculty member. As Professor of Oriental and Biblical Literature, Hodge’s primary responsibility was instruction in biblical languages, hermeneutics, biblical criticism, and study of Old Testament texts. During 1826-28, he travelled to Europe to study with the leading European biblical and theological scholars. Hodge focused his studies on theology and biblical interpretation, with additional concentration in Semitic and cognate languages. His studies in Europe made him one of the leading Hebraists teaching in an American theological institution in the early nineteenth century. In the coming decade, Hodge would be assisted by the linguistic talent and philological expertise of Joseph Addison Alexander.
With Addison’s arrival, Hodge concentrated his labours on New Testament texts and studies, serving as Professor of Exegetical and Didactic Theology from 1840 to 1854. From 1854 until his death in 1878, he served as Professor of Exegetical, Didactic, and Polemic Theology.
During his half-century tenure at Princeton, Charles Hodge held several chairs, but is probably best remembered for the reputation he established as Professor of Systematic Theology. A stout Calvinist with a deep love for the Reformed confessions, his literary labours often involved a polemical thrust, as he sought to defend and expound the Reformed theology of the Protestant Reformation, and the teachings of the Westminster Confession and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, as received and adopted by the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.
A prolific author, Hodge served for many years as editor of the seminary journal, Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review. Under his editorship, it became the leading theological journal of the nineteenth century: Hodge’s personal contributions included articles on biblical studies, spirituality, church history and historical theology, ecclesiological issues, philosophy, politics, slavery, abolition and the Civil War. An active churchman, he was at the forefront of ecclesiastical debates and discussion. In addition to articles and essays, Hodge published commentaries on Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Ephesians. A major historical work in defence of old-school Presbyterian doctrine and practice, The Constitutional History of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, appeared in 1840. His popular work on piety, The Way of Life, was published in 1841. His three-volume magnum opus, Systematic Theology, was published in 1872-73, and confirmed him as the outstanding Calvinistic systematic theologian of the nineteenth century. Additional publications on the relationship between Christianity and science, and a collection of essays delivered at the Sabbath Afternoon Conferences (published by the Trust as Princeton Sermons), served to further confirm the breadth of his academic competency and the depth of his Christian piety.
[James M. Garretson in Princeton and the Work of the Christian Ministry, Volume 2 (Banner of Truth, 2012)]
I Have Found the Real God
I praise and thank God because since coming to here to Saudi Arabia I have found the real God. I accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior and was baptized. After I explained the plan of salvation to my wife, she could understand why I wanted to be born again, and in 2013 she accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. (Now, I am not afraid for my wife to know that I am a Christian…) I had once bought a house for my mom, but sadly, and without informing me, she had left the house after only three months and gone back to our old house. About that time, a woman we knew had a friend who was expecting a baby but was planning to give it away as soon as it was born, and I asked to talk to her. I asked her, what has happened that you would give your baby away? She answered that she could not provide for the needs of the baby; then she said, I will give this Baby to you. I said I must first talk to my wife, and then I will come back. I stopped on the way home to visit my uncle. When he learned that I wanted to adopt the baby, he did not approve. I said, “Uncle I will accept what God has given to me. I didn't plan to find a baby, but for almost ten years my wife and I have waited, and my wife is so tired, and now we have this offer, so maybe this is the answer from God.” My Uncle replied, but you know that girl is a prostitute. I said, “Yes, but the mistake of the mother is not the mistake of the baby. If the baby died because she couldn’t provide it would be on my conscience; besides, if God has answered my prayer, I promise to God that I will teach her how to follow Jesus…” When I arrived home, my wife was at work at the office, so I paid her a surprise visit, and she was very happy. After a while, I told her that I would come back after her workday was finished. When I went back to my wife’s office, I talked to her about the baby. My wife said, “She has two more months before she delivers the baby; we must first talk to her.” That night my wife and I went to the woman’s little house. My wife told her that if she had anyone else who wanted to adopt the baby, to give it to them, but if she could not find anyone it would mean that God had planned it for us, and we would accept. After a month had gone by I visited the woman again, and she said that she had not given the baby to anyone. When she said that, I closed my eyes and said to God, “Thank you Lord for this opportunity you have given to my wife and me.” Even though I did not yet know if it was a boy or a girl, I was happy. I arranged for all the food and everything she might need and then left for Saudi Arabia. I returned a month later just in time for a precious baby girl to be delivered. The baby was born in the house I had bought for my parents, so I said to the birth mother, “I want you to stay in this house.” My daughter is growing and will be two years old on November 16, 2015. She is beautiful and very loveable, and we are so blessed. As soon as my daughter is a little older, my wife and I will teach her how important God is in our lives. We know that our precious daughter is from God, because ever since we had been married, almost ten years, I would often lose hope in having a baby because my wife has some problems with her ovaries. She does not yet know how to talk, but already knows to pray before meals. I am making plans for my vacation this coming November 02, 2015 in the Philippines, to prepare a party for my beautiful two-year-old daughter... Thanks be to God, all my prayers have been answered in His perfect time. I thank Him every day and will never forget this wonderful gift. Please help me pray that I can also share the Gospel with my relatives, friends, and visitors, and tell them about accepting Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. It is my desire for them to hear about God, even if it is only a short message. I know God loves me, and my family. Though I have encountered many trials, with the help of God, I have overcome them all. Thank you, and God bless