Eldest son and successor of theologian Charles Hodge. He continued the Calvinist tradition begun at Princeton Theological Seminary by Archibald Alexander, after whom he was affectionately named. Nurtured in a genuinely pious home, which he vivdly described in The Life of Charles Hodge (1880), A. A. Hodge graduated from Princeton in 1841 and Princeton Seminary in 1846. He was then ordained by the Presbyterian Church as a missionary to Allahabad, India. Although he and his wife were forced by illness to return with their two daughters after less than three years' service, his experience contributed to his lifelong involvement in advocating missions.
Following his return, Hodge served several pastorates in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. He wrote Outlines of Theology (1860) from his preaching on doctrinal themes at Sunday evening services. Although catechetical in form, the lectures were well received due to Hodge's power as a speaker. He defended natural theology, contrasted systems of thought such as Augustinianism and Pelagianism, and analyzed broad theological themes. Because of its clarity and precision, Outlines was translated into several languages and widely used as a theological text. In 1864 Hodge was called as professor of didactic theology at Western Seminary in Pittsburgh. While there, he published monographs titled Atonement (1867) and Exposition of the Confession of Faith (1869), and also pastored North Presbyterian Church.
In 1877, Princeton Seminary called Hodge to assist his father, whose health was failing. In his inaugural address Hodge affirmed his commitment to systematic theology and biblical preaching, which together are to nourish vital piety. After his father died in 1878, the younger Hodge succeeded him as professor of didactic and polemical theology, a position he held until his death eight years later.
Even though Hodge was not as prominent as his father in Presbyterian ecclesiastical affairs, he worked with Charles A. Briggs of Union Seminary on publishing eight articles on higher criticism in the Presbyterian Review. In 1881 Hodge and Benjamin B. Warfield upheld Princeton's opposition to post-Enlightenment biblical criticism in their article "Inspiration." Affirming plenary verbal inspiration of the original autographs, Hodge and Warfield defined the doctrine of inerrancy, which dominated Presbyterianism in the 1890s.
In Popular Lectures on Theological Themes, published posthumously in 1887, Hodge attempted to integrate his defense of Calvinism with cultural analysis. As nineteenth century thinkers mounted campaigns for religious neutrality in public life, Hodge argued that only a Reformed theological base could provide a sufficient cultural foundation for traditional American values and institutions such as family, law, education, and economics. Without Christian theism, which he believed was best expressed in Reformed theology, American life and its institutions would be drastically altered into a relativistic secular culture.
W. A. HOFFECKER