George Christian Knapp, UOJ Inventor, Was Translated into English by an Influential Protestant, L. Woods

Leonard Woods was quite famous as an American Protestant leader.

WOODS, Leonard, clergyman, born in Princeton, Massachusetts, 19 June, 1774; died in Andover, Massachusetts, 24 August, 1854. His father, Samuel, possessed "Puritanic piety," and his habits of serious thought on metaphysical subjects obtained for him the title of "Philosopher Woods." The son was brought up strictly, and while very young was conversant with the works of John Locke and Jonathan Edwards. He was graduated at Harvard in 1796, taught, studied theology at Somers, Connecticut, and in 1798 was ordained pastor at Newbury, Massachusetts When the Andover theological seminary was founded in 1808 he became professor of Christian theology there, holding that chair for thirty-eight years, and becoming professor emeritus in 1846. Dartmouth gave him the degree of D. D. in 1810. Dr. Woods was active in the establishment of the American tract society, the Temperance society, and the board of commissioners of foreign missions, of whose prudential committee he was a member for twenty-five years. He ably defended orthodox Calvinism against Unitarian theology, and while he admitted improvements in theologians and theological science, thought theological truths were fixed and unalterable. His literary reputation dates from his contribution in 1805 of a series of papers in the " Panoplist," a religious periodical, in which he defended Calvinism against Joseph Buckminster, William Channing, and other Unitarian divines. Dr. Henry B. Smith says of him : "He is emphatically the' judicious ' divine of the later New England theology. He educated more than 1,000 preachers, who had neither crotchets nor airy aims." He left in manuscript a "History of Andover Seminary." His publications in-chide " Letters to Unitarians" (Andover, 1820) ; "Lectures on the Inspiration of the Scriptures" (1829); " Memoirs of American Missionaries" (1833); " Examination of the Doctrine of Perfection" (1841); "Lectures on Church Government" (New York, 1843);" Lectures on Swedenborgianism" (1846); and his collected works, containing lectures, essays, sermons, and reviews (5 vols., Andover, 1849-'50).
His son, Leonard, scholar, born in Newbury, Massachusetts, 24 November, 1807; died in Boston, Massachusetts, 24 December, 1878, was graduated at Union college in 1827 and at Andover theological seminary in 1830. In 1831-'3 he was resident graduate scholar at Andover, and in 1833 he was licensed to preach. His private pupil, Richard Henry Dana, says of him: " At the age of twenty-four years he had been the first scholar in the Phillips academy, the first in every branch at Union, had been graduated at the Theological seminary the acknowledged foremost man of his period, and had published a translation of Knapp's 'Christian Theology, ' enriched with a long and fully thought-out preface, with original notes showing profound scholarship. He was assisting Professor Stuart in his commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, ' and aiding Professor Robinson in editing the ' Biblical Repository, ' then the most scholastic periodical in America, and was assistant instructor of Hebrew in the seminary." He edited the " Literary and Theological Review" in New York city in 18"34-'7, and although that periodical was the organ of the Presbyterian and Congregational churches, he directly opposed the opinions of many of its supporters, objecting to the proposals of temperance and anti-slavery societies and popular revivalists, and to the German Reformation, and defending the few and simple conditions of admission into the Anglican communion, as compared with the minute requirements of doctrine in his own church. He was professor of sacred literature in Bangor theological seminary in 1836-'9, and from 1839 till 1866 president of Bowdoin. He never accepted a pastoral charge, but occasionally delivered sermons and addresses. He went abroad in 1833, and contracted friendships with eminent theologians in Rome and in Oxford. His familiarity with the classics caused him to be congratulated by Gregory XVI. for his "excellent Latin and the richness of his discourse," and the Oxford theology having won his approval, he was the theological champion and personal friend of Dr. Edward B. Pusey. "He was even more remarkable, perhaps, for his conversations than for his public addresses," says his biographer, Professor Edwards A. Park. Having resigned the presidency of Bowdoin in 1866 (see the accompanying vignette), he accepted from the legislature of Maine a commission to visit Europe to obtain materials for the early history of the state. "He engaged the assistance of Dr. John G. Kohl in the work, which subsequently assumed shape in his "Discovery of Maine" (Portland, Maine, 1868), and procured the Hakluyt manuscript of the "Westerne Planting." Dr. Woods was preparing this document for the press when his health declined, and the papers were completed and published by Charles Deane, in the "Proceedings of the Maine Historical Society" (Portland, 1877). Dr. Woods furnished other valuable matter, which appeared in the 1st and 2d volumes of the publications of that society, and was engaged in further work when his materials were destroyed by a fire that consumed his entire library. Harvard gave him the degree of D. D. in 1846, and Bowdoin that of LL. D. in 1866. Besides the works already referred to, including his translation of George Christian Knapp's "Christian Theology" (2 vols., New York, 1831-'3), Dr. Woods published an "Address on the Life and Character of Parker Cleveland (Portland, Maine, 1859), and "Address on the Opening of the New Medical Hall of the Medical School of Maine" {1862). See a "Memorial " of him. by Edwards A. Park (Andover, 1880), and an article by Richard H. Dana in the "Century Magazine" for June, 1881.

Edited Appletons Encyclopedia, Copyright © 2001 VirtualologyTM

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Leonard Woods (1807-78) was the fourth president of Bowdoin College.

Life and career

"Born in Newbury, Massachusetts, Woods attended Phillips Andover Academy before graduating from Union College in 1827. After having graduated from Andover Theological Seminary, he made a translation of George Christian Knapp's Christian Theology, which became long used as a textbook in American theological seminaries. "


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From the Net

(7.) George Christian Knapp, Lectures on Christian Theology, trans. Leonard Woods Jr. (Philadelphia: J. W. Moore, 1851). According to Woods's biographer Edwards Amasa Park, the Lectures on Christian Theology was first published at Andover Theological Seminary in 1831. Park, The Life and Character of Leonard Woods (Andover, Mass.: Warren F. Draper, 1880), 8.

(8.) For a discussion of Knapp, see John Ker, Lectures on the History of Preaching (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1888), 224-25; and B. B. Edwards and E. A. Park, Selections from German Literature (Andover, Mass.: Gould, Newman, and Saxton, 1839), 204-5.

(9.) Woods's private papers show that as early as 1832 he was exchanging books in German by both Tholuck and Neander with John Yates, a professor at Union College. John A. Yates to Leonard Woods Jr., Nov. 6, 1832, and Yates to Woods, Dec. 5, 1832. In the first-named letter, Yates asked Woods, "when you visit Germany I wish you would bring back another copy [of Neander's Church History] in manuscript or (it maybe published) in print for which I will pay you the cost." Leonard Woods Papers, Bowdoin College Archives, Brunswick, Me. For the influence of the German mediating theology on American Congregationalism, see Robert T. Hardy, A History of Union Theological Seminary in New York (New York: Columbia University Press, 1987), 2-25.

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Where did Knapp teach? Halle University - the warm womb of Pietism.

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Tholuck taught at Halle. He is far better known today than Knapp. Here is Wikipedia on Tholuck.

Here he made it his aim to combine in a higher unity the learning and to some extent the rationalism of Johann Salomo Semler with the devout and active pietism of A H Francke; and, in spite of the opposition of the theological faculty of the university, he succeeded in changing the character of its theology.

This he achieved partly by his lectures, but above all by his personal influence on the students, and, after 1833, by his preaching. His theological position was orthodox, but laid more stress upon Christian experience than upon rigid dogmatic belief.

Hoenecke was Tholuck's pupil, maybe even his star pupil.
So we have Knapp's book used all over America as a doctrinal book. The advantage it had for the Synodical Conference was its printing both in German and English.
Knapp's book was available in time for the Synodical Conference to form.
So the next question is - what did Knapp teach and did other influential (non-Lutheran) theologians teach the same thing?