Henry Boynton Smith and Church History in Nineteenth-Century America

Henry Boynton Smith (1815-1877) was one of the few nineteenth-century American scholars committed to disseminating German methods of ecclesiastical historiography to a country known for its anti-historical tendencies. However, modern scholars have generally overlooked his significant contributions i...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Aubert, Annette G. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Cambridge Univ. Press [2016]
In: Church history
Year: 2016, Volume: 85, Issue: 2, Pages: 302-327
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Smith, Henry Boynton 1815-1877 / Schaff, Philip 1819-1893 / USA / Church history studies
IxTheo Classification:KAA Church history
KBQ North America
TJ Modern history
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
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Summary:Henry Boynton Smith (1815-1877) was one of the few nineteenth-century American scholars committed to disseminating German methods of ecclesiastical historiography to a country known for its anti-historical tendencies. However, modern scholars have generally overlooked his significant contributions in this area. Hence exploring his scholarly reception and specifically his History of the Church of Christ, in Chronological Tables will fill a niche in the historiography of church history.Philip Schaff (1819-1893), the renowned church historian and founder of the American Society of Church History, was one of the few contemporaries of Smith who understood that Smith's scholarship was on a par with that being produced in Germany. Schaff specifically praised Smith's chronological tables—evidence of Smith's German education among some of the best German historians of the period, including Leopold von Ranke and August Neander. This essay reviews Smith's History of the Church of Christ, in Chronological Tables in the context of the newly emerging scientific history and describes his contribution to nineteenth-century American scholarship. Smith is worthy of attention for establishing a central position for the history of doctrine and for promoting the field of church history and the use of chronological tables in nineteenth-century America.
ISSN:1755-2613
Contains:Enthalten in: Church history
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/S0009640716000019