Hodge, Archibald Alexander - Timeline Biography

07-18-1823 - 11-12-1886

Archibald Alexander (A. A.) was the son of renowned theologian Charles Hodge and was named after his father’s influential mentor. Warm and witty, he was able to translate his father’s conservative Presbyterianism Calvinism into more accessible forms though his writings, which include his popular Outlines of Theology (1860). Similar to his father, Charles Hodge, he graduated from Princeton Seminary and later returned in 1877 to assist and then replace his father as head theologian.

From 1880 to 1886 he coedited the Presbyterian Review with Charles Briggs of Union Seminary (New York), a joint venture of the former Old School and New School branches of the Northern Presbyterian Church. During his time as co-editor of Princeton Review, he coauthored an article with B.B. Warfield known as "Inspiration" (1881), which has served forever since as the classic (and nuanced) definition of biblical inerrancy.

His gift for clear and clever statement made him a widely respected authority among evangelicals for generations.

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Born on July 18, 1823, A. A. Hodge was the first child of Princeton theologian Charles Hodge and Sarah nee Bache, a great granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin. He was named after his father’s beloved mentor, Archibald Alexander, first professor of Princeton Seminary. After graduation from Princeton College in 1841, Hodge stayed on as a tutor in mathematics and natural science. He enjoyed a lasting friendship with physicist Joseph Henry, first director of the Smithsonian Institution. At Princeton Seminary he studied under both his namesake and his father, relishing the study of Christian doctrine. After graduation in 1847 he sailed with his wife for India to serve as a missionary in Allahabad. When ill-health forced a return to the United States in 1850, Hodge pastored churches in Lower West Nottingham, MD; Fredericksburg, VA; and Wilkes-Barre, PA. A course of lectures in Fredericksburg became one of his most popular books, Outlines of Theology (1860). As his reputation spread, Princeton College granted him the Doctrine of Divinity, and in 1864 he accepted a call to the chair of didactic and polemical theology at Western Theological Seminary (Allegheny, PA), where he also pastored the North Presbyterian Church. He left for Princeton in 1877 to assist and then replace his father as head theologian there. His Life of Charles Hodge appeared in 1880. From 1880 to 1886 he coedited the Presbyterian Review with Charles Briggs of Union Seminary (New York), a joint venture of the former Old School and New School branches of the Northern Presbyterian Church.

Though he spent only nine years in the chair of theology at Princeton Seminary (following 13 years at Allegheny), Hodge is remembered for his place in the Princeton succession, between the much longer careers there of his father and B. B. Warfield. Charles Hodge produced the definitive systematization of the Princeton theology in the early 1870s; A. A. Hodge put conservative Calvinism into more accessible form with his Outlines of Theology (1860) and Popular Lectures on Theological Themes (1887), both of which grew out of his church work. Convinced that careful attention to doctrine is the foundation of sound practical theology, Hodge published A Commentary on the Confession of Faith (1869) and a Manual of Forms (1877) for baptism, communion, marriage, and funerals. In The Atonement (1867) he expounded and defended the covenant theology with its doctrines of the federal headship of Adam, penal substitution, satisfaction by vicarious obedience, and definite atonement. With Warfield, he coauthored "Inspiration" (Presbyterian Review, 1881), which has served forever since as the classic (and nuanced) definition of biblical inerrancy.