The first professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and progenitor of the "Princeton Theology," which held sway at the institution for over a century. Alexander came to the seminary in 1812 after service as an itinerant evangelist in his native Virginia, as president of Hampden-Sidney College (1796-1807), and as pastor of the Pine Street Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia (1807-12). His successors in Princeton's chair of theology, Charles Hodge, Archibald Alexander Hodge, and B.B. Warfield, expanded, clarified, and deepened the major themes of his thought but did not go measurably beyond them. The Bible, as interpreted by the Reformed theology of the Westminister standards, the orthodox Protestant theologians of seventeenth century Europe, and the principles of Scottish commonsense philosophy, was the indispensable standard for teaching and practice. Human reason was a powerful tool for demonstrating the validity of Scripture and exegeting its meaning. Religious experience under the direction of the Holy Spirit was crucial to spiritual life, but should never be allowed to drift into "enthusiasm." Alexander was not as substantial an exegete as Charles Hodge nor as skillful in polemics against New England and other forms of Arminianism; he was not as effective a popularizer as A.A. Hodge; and he was not as careful a reasoner as Warfield. Yet perhaps because of the scope of his earlier experience, he possessed more personal warmth and often displayed more insight into the human condition than his erudite successors.
M.A. NOLL