Horace Bushnell (April 14, 1802February 17, 1876) was an American

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

minister and

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

Life

Bushnell was born in the village of Bantam, township of

Litchfield, Connecticut Litchfield is a town in and former county seat of Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,192 at the 2020 census. The boroughs of Bantam and Litchfield are located within the town. There are also three unincorporat ...

. He attended

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

where he roomed with future magazinist

Nathaniel Parker Willis Nathaniel Parker Willis (January 20, 1806 – January 20, 1867), also known as N. P. Willis,Baker, 3 was an American author, poet and editor who worked with several notable American writers including Edgar Allan Poe and Henry Wadsworth Longfello ...

. Willis credited Bushnell with teaching him the proper technique for sharpening a razor. After graduating in 1827, he was literary editor of the ''New York Journal of Commerce'' from 1828–1829, and in 1829 became a tutor at Yale. Here he initially studied law, but in 1831 he entered the theology department of Yale College. In May, 1833 Bushnell was ordained pastor of the North Congregational church in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

. He married Mary Apthorp in 1833 and the couple had three children. Douglas, Ann. ''The Feminization of American Culture''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977: 342. Bushnell remained in Hartford until 1859 when, due to extended poor health he resigned his pastorate. Thereafter he held no appointed office, but, until his death at Hartford in 1876, he was a prolific author and occasionally preached.

Career

While in California in 1856, for the restoration of his health, he took an active interest in the organization, at

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

, of the College of California (chartered in 1855 and merged with the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

in 1869), the presidency of which he declined. As a preacher, Dr Bushnell was very effective. Though not a dramatic orator, he was original, thoughtful and impressive in the pulpit. His theological position may be said to have been one of qualified revolt against the

Calvinistic Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

orthodoxy of his day. He criticized prevailing conceptions of the

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

, the

atonement Atonement (also atoning, to atone) is the concept of a person taking action to correct previous wrongdoing on their part, either through direct action to undo the consequences of that act, equivalent action to do good for others, or some other ex ...

, conversion, and the relations of the natural and the supernatural. Above all, he broke with the prevalent view which regarded theology as essentially intellectual in its appeal and demonstrable by processes of exact logical deduction. To his thinking its proper basis is to be found in the feelings and intuitions of humankind's spiritual nature. He had a marked influence upon theology in America, an influence not so much, possibly, in the direction of the modification of specific doctrines as in the impulse and tendency and general spirit which he imparted to theological thought. Dr Munger's estimate was that "He was a theologian as

Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulated ...

was an astronomer; he changed the point of view, and thus not only changed everything, but pointed the way toward unity in theological thought. He was not exact, but he put God and humanity and the world into a relation that thought can accept while it goes on to state it more fully with ever growing knowledge. Other thinkers were moving in the same direction; he led the movement in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

, and wrought out a great deliverance. It was a work of superb courage. Hardly a theologian in his denomination stood by him, and nearly all pronounced against him." Four of his books were of particular importance: ''Christian Nurture'' (1847), in which he virtually opposed revivalism and effectively turned the current of Christian thought toward the young ; ''Nature and the Supernatural'' (1858), in which he discussed

miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...

s and endeavoured to lift the

natural Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are p ...

into the

supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

by emphasizing the supernatural nature of man; ''The Vicarious Sacrifice'' (1866), in which he contended for what has come to be known as the moral view of the

in distinction from the governmental and the

penal Penal is a town in south Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago. It lies south of San Fernando, Princes Town, and Debe, and north of Moruga, Morne Diablo and Siparia. It was originally a rice- and cocoa-producing area but is now a rapidly expanding and de ...

or satisfaction theories; and ''God in Christ'' (1849) (with an introductory Dissertation on Language as related to Thought and Spirit), in which he expressed, it was charged,

heretical Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

views as to the Trinity, holding, among other things, that the Godhead is "instrumentally three—three simply as related to our finite apprehension, and the communication of God's incommunicable nature." Attempts were made to bring him to trial, but they were unsuccessful, and in 1852 his church unanimously withdrew from the local

consociation Consociationalism ( ) is a form of democratic power sharing. Political scientists define a consociational state as one which has major internal divisions along ethnic, religious, or linguistic lines, but which remains stable due to consultation a ...

, thus removing any possibility of further action against him. To his critics Bushnell formally replied by writing ''Christ in Theology'' (1851), in which he employs the important argument that spiritual truth can be expressed only in approximate and poetical language, and concludes that an adequate

dogma Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam ...

tic theology cannot exist. That he did not deny the divinity of Christ he proved in The Character of Jesus, forbidding his possible ''Classification within Men'' (1861). He also published ''Sermons for the New Life'' (1858); ''Christ and his Salvation'' (1864); ''Work and Play'' (1864); ''Moral Uses of Dark Things'' (1868); ''Women's Suffrage; The Reform Against Nature'' (1869); ''Sermons on Living Subjects'' (1872); and ''Forgiveness and Law'' (1874). An edition of his works, in eleven volumes, appeared in 1876; and a further volume, gathered from his unpublished papers, as ''The Spirit in Man: Sermons and Selections'', in 1903. New editions of his ''Nature and the Supernatural, Sermons for this New Life, and Work and Play'', were published the same year.

Memorials

Bushnell was greatly interested in the civic interests of Hartford, and was the chief agent in procuring the establishment of the first public park in the United States. It was named

Bushnell Park Bushnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut is the oldest publicly funded park in the United States. It was conceived by the Reverend Horace Bushnell in the mid-1850s at a time when the need for open public spaces was just starting to be recognized. ...

in his honor by that city. The

Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts (formerly known as Bushnell Memorial Hall or simply The Bushnell ) is a performing arts venue at 166 Capitol Street in Hartford, Connecticut. Managed by a non-profit organization, it is marketed as Co ...

, and a residence hall at the

University of Hartford The University of Hartford (UHart) is a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut. Its main campus extends into neighboring Hartford and Bloomfield. The university attracts students from 48 states and 43 countries. The university and it ...

are also named for him.

Books

*''Views of Christian Nurture, and of Subjects Adjacent Thereto'' (1847), Facsimile ed., 1876 ed., 1975, Scholars Facsimiles & Reprints,
text online
*'' God in Christ: Three Discourses Delivered at New Haven, Cambridge, & Andover'' (1849), University of Michigan Library, 2005, , 1876 edition
text online
includes a preliminary dissertation arguing that language is inadequate to express things of the spirit. *''Sermons for the New Life'' (1858), New York: Charles Scribner
text online
*'' Nature and the Supernatural: As Together Constituting the One System of God'' (1858), University of Michigan Library, 2006, , 1860 edition
text online
*''Parting Words: A Discourse Delivered in the North Church, Hartford'' (1859), Hartford: L.E. Hunt
text online
*''Christ and His Salvation'' (1864), New York: Charles Scribner
text online
*''The Vicarious Sacrifice, Grounded in Principles of Universal Obligation'' (1866), University of Michigan Library, 2001, , 1871 edition
text online
*''Moral Uses of Dark Things'' (1869), London : Strahan & Co., Sampson Low, Son & Marston. *''Sermons on Living Subjects'' (1872), New York: Scribner, Armstrong, and Co.
text online
*''Forgiveness and Law: Grounded in Principles Interpreted by Human Analogies'' (1874), New York: Scribner, Armstrong, and Co.
text online
*''Horace Bushnell, Selected Writings on Language, Religion, and American Culture'', David L. Smith, ed., Scholars Press, 1984, *''Horace Bushnell: Sermons'', Conrad Cherry, ed., Paulist Press, 1985. *''Women’s Suffrage; The Reform Against Nature'' (1869), New York: Charles Scribner and Co.

References

External links

Horace Bushnell Papers
at Special Collections, Yale Divinity School Library
Horace Bushnell Papers
at Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library

by Bushnell Park Foundation

from 1993 honoring Bushnell
Two American Divines
, in ''Appletons' Journal: a Magazine of General Literature'', New York: D. Appleton and Company, Volume 9, Issue: 51, Sept 1880, p. 277–280
Review of "God in Christ"
in ''The Princeton Review'', Vol. 21, Issue 2, Apr 1849, pp. 259–298
Recent Doctrinal and Ecclesiastical Conflicts in Connecticut
in ''The Princeton Review'', Vol. 25, Issue 4, Oct 1853, pp. 598–637
Remembering the Progressive Orthodoxy of Horace Bushnell"
by Roger Olson * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bushnell, Horace 1802 births 1876 deaths American theologians American Congregationalists Yale College alumni People from Litchfield, Connecticut

Life

Career

Memorials

Books

References

Further reading

External links