A Hopeless Hodge-Podge of Theology?: The Retrieval of “Classical Theism” and the Curious Case of Charles Hodge

Abstract

Contemporary systematic theology is engaged in the ‘retrieval’ of insights from the Christian tradition. Accordingly, many theologians in the broadly Reformed tradition are seeking to recover, reclaim, and defend what they refer to as ‘classical theism’ as a stark alternative to what is sometimes referred to as ‘theistic personalism’ (and the ‘Social Trinitarianism’ that is said to accompany it). While broadly sympathetic to this enterprise, in this essay I employ the theology of Charles Hodge as a case study to argue that such tidy categorizations can be misleading and unhelpful, and I conclude that his theology raises challenges with respect to both historiography and theology.