Union With Christ; a Chapter of Systematic Theology
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(Augustus Hopkins Strong (1836 – 1921) was a Baptist minis...)
Augustus Hopkins Strong (1836 – 1921) was a Baptist minister and theologian who lived in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His most influential book, Systematic Theology, proved to be a mainstay of Reformed Baptist theological education for several generations. In this book: Systematic Theology (Volume 1 of 3) Systematic Theology (Volume 2 of 3) Systematic Theology (Volume 3 of 3)
Augustus Hopkins Strong was a Baptist minister and theologian who lived in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Background
Augustus was born on August 3, 1836 at Rochester, New York, United States. He was the son of Alvah and Catharine (Hopkins) Strong and a descendant of John Strong who came to Massachusetts in 1630 and was subsequently one of the founders of Northampton. Alvah Strong was for years publisher of the Rochester Democrat, and Augustus, after preparatory studies at Rochester Collegiate Institute, had one year of business experience in that newspaper's office. His younger brother, Henry A. Strong, was a wildly successful businessman and philanthropist who served as Eastman Kodak's first president.
Education
He graduated from Yale College in 1857 and from Rochester Theological Seminary in 1859, then spent a year at the University of Berlin and in travel.
Career
Returning to America, Strong was ordained to the Baptist ministry at Haverhill, Massachussets, August 3, 1861. He served as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Haverhill, 1861-65, and of the First Baptist Church of Cleveland, Ohio, 1865-72. Here he acquired a reputation as a scholarly preacher, possessing keen theological discernment. Among his parishioners was Mr. John D. Rockefeller, whose daughter later married Strong's eldest son.
In 1872 Strong was chosen president of Rochester Theological Seminary and professor of Biblical theology, succeeding Ezekiel Gilman Robinson in both positions. He served actively in his double role until 1912, when he retired with the title of president emeritus. Vigorous minded, affable, yet somewhat awe-inspiring, Strong has been ranked with William Newton Clarke, Alvah Hovey, and George W. Northrup as one of the four most influential Baptist theological teachers of his period.
The most liberal period of his career was probably the decade centering about the turn of the century. Aside from his classroom teaching, he had wide influence through his theological writings. His Systematic Theology (1886), much enlarged in the three-volume edition of 1907-09, found its way into many a minister's library, as did his Philosophy and Religion (1888) and Christ in Creation and Ethical Monism (1899). Two volumes entitled Miscellanies (vols. I and II, 1912) gathered up various papers and addresses, historical and theological.
Considerably more than a hundred of his students went to the foreign fields; he served as president of the American Baptist Missionary Union from 1892 till 1895; on many occasions his counsel was sought, and he was often called upon for missionary sermons and addresses.
His educational influence was not limited to the administration of his own seminary. From 1884 to 1918 he served as trustee of Vassar College, from 1906 to 1911 being chairman of the board.
He tried to interest Mr. John D. Rockefeller in the plan and printed a pamphlet setting forth the importance of university education and pointing out the tendency in Europe and in America toward the great centers of population as the foci of educational enterprise.
He received many responses, and these, with the pamphlet, he laid before Mr. Rockefeller, with whom he also discussed the matter during a trip to Europe. Furthermore, it was Strong who introduced William Rainey Harper to Mr. Rockefeller, having previously characterized Harper as the greatest organizer among American Baptists. Thus, while his own project was not adopted and Thomas W. Goodspeed and Frederick T. Gates were undoubtedly chiefly responsible for securing Mr. Rockefeller's support for the refounding of the University of Chicago.
Strong died in 1921.
Achievements
Augustus Hopkins Strong was a founder of the Rochester Historical Society and its president. Perhaps his greatest contribution to the cause of education was his share in starting the movement which resulted in the establishment of the new University of Chicago. Strong seems to have been the man who first inculcated the university idea in Mr. Rockefeller's mind. His most influential book, Systematic Theology, proved to be a mainstay of Reformed Baptist theological education for several generations.
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Religion
Strong held a form of inclusivism, that is, he believed that some people from non-Christian religions actually believe in the one true God, the God revealed in the Bible. Thus their faith in God to the limits of their knowledge and their rejection of the religion around them constitute "an implicit faith in Christ. "
Views
He represented the dogmatic tradition but, like the others, encouraged his students to pursue their own researches in the entire realm of truth. His method provided a large place for historical theology, but he was probably less influential than Clarke in promoting historical research in the Biblical field.
Membership
He was a member of the Rochester Historical Society.
Connections
He was married on November 6, 1861, to Harriet Louise, daughter of Eleazer Savage; she died in 1914, and on January 1, 1915, he married Marguerite Geraldine, daughter of Gerrit van Ingen and widow of John Jay Jones. She, with four daughters and two sons of his first marriage, survived him.
His eldest son was the American psychologist and philosopher, Charles A. Strong.
