Can These Dry Bones Live? Princeton’s Legendary Nineteenth-century Old Testament Professors and What They Can Teach Us Today

Abstract

Anniversaries call us to remember the past and Princeton’s Seminary’s two hundredth anniversary presents a unique opportunity to revisit the history of the study of Old Testament at Princeton in the nineteenth century and ask what lessons it has to teach us as we face the future. This article examines the work of Princeton’s legendary Old Testament professors, Archibald Alexander, Charles Hodge, Joseph Addison Alexander, and William Henry Green, as well as three of Green’s colleagues, James Frederick McCurdy, Gerhardus Vos, and John Davis. It shows development and continuity in teaching and scholarship as the Old Princetonians confronted cutting-edge issues of their day, committing themselves tirelessly to their vocations as Christian teachers and scholars, and diligently training students to serve the Church and academy.