New Haven Theology 
A
late stage of the New England theology that had originated in efforts of
Jonathan Edwards to defend the spiritual reality of the first Great Awakening
(1740). It was also a theology developed for the needs of the Second Great
Awakening (1795-1830). It thus served as a bridge between the Calvinism that
dominated American Christianity in the 1700s and the more Arminian theology
that came to prevail in the nineteenth century, please note the resurgence of
revival with the advent of Arminian theology .
Timothy Dwight, grandson of Jonathan Edwards
and president of Yale College from 1795 to 1817, laid the groundwork for the
New Haven theology. Dwight's concern for revival led him to place more emphasis
on the natural abilities of individuals to respond to the gospel than had
Edwards. His efforts to provide a rational defense of Christianity led him to
stress its reasonable character over the sense of wonder that had been so important
for Edwards.
Dwight's
best pupil, Nathaniel William Taylor, carried the New Haven theology to its
maturity, as did Charles Finney. Taylor was the first professor at the new Yale
Divinity School, where he came in 1822 after a successful pastorate in New
Haven. Taylor regarded himself as the heir of the tradition of Jonathan
Edwards, particularly as he combated the rising tide of Unitarianism in New
England. His theology, however, departed from Edwards's, especially in its
beliefs about human nature. Most importantly, he argued in a famous phrase that
people always had a "power to the contrary" when faced with the
choice for God. He also contended, as Edwards's son, Jonathan Edwards, Jr., had
suggested, that human sinfulness arose from sinful acts, not from a sinful
nature inherited from Adam. (Amen) Everyone did in fact sin, Taylor believed,
but this was not a result of God's action in predetermining human nature. More
than other heirs of Edwards, Taylor also accepted the Scottish philosophy of
common sense which also made much of innate human freedom and the power of
individuals to shape their own destinies.
The New Haven theology was a powerful engine
for revival and reform in the first half of the nineteenth century. The New Haven theology arose out of the
destructive Calvinism of New England, but it came to represent, with
Methodists, Disciples, and some Baptists, a contribution to the generally
Arminian theology which dominated American Christian thought in the nineteenth
century. No wonder we had so many
revivals in the Nineteenth century!
See
also TAYLOR.