Old School–New School Controversy

The Old School–New School Controversy was a schism of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America which took place in 1837 and lasted for over 20 years. The Old School, led by Charles Hodge of Princeton Theological Seminary, was much more conservative theologically and was not supportive of revivalism. It called for traditional Calvinist orthodoxy as outlined in the Westminster standards. The New School derived from the reconstructions of Calvinism by New England Congregationalist theologians Jonathan Edwards, Samuel Hopkins and Joseph Bellamy and wholly embraced revivalism. Though there was much diversity among them, the Edwardsian Calvinists commonly rejected what they called "Old Calvinism" in light of their understandings of God, the human person and the Bible.

Later, both the Old School and New School branches further split over the issue of slavery, into southern and northern churches. After three decades of separate operation, the two sides of the controversy merged, in 1865 in the south and in 1870 in the north, to form two Presbyterian denominations (PCUS and PC-USA, in the South and North respectively).

During the 18th century, New England and Mid-Atlantic churchmen formed the first presbyteries in American colonies that would later become the United States. After resolving the Old Side–New Side Controversy in 1758, many reformed presbyterians reconciled into the Synod of New York and Philadelphia which reorganized the American Revolution to become the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (P.C.U.S.A.). The first General Assembly of the P.C.U.S.A. met in Philadelphia in 1789. The new church was organized into four synods: New York and New Jersey, Philadelphia, Virginia, and the Carolinas. These synods included 16 presbyteries and an estimated membership of 18,000. and used the Westminster Standards as the main doctrinal standards.

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