The System of Theology Contained in the Westminster Shorter Catechism Opened and Explained
Overview
In this concise volume, both A. A. Hodge and J. Aspinwall Hodge not only outline a clear understanding of God’s plan of salvation, but emphasize the ability to communicate God’s plan to others. This handbook on the Westminster Shorter Catechism serves as a clear and concise exposition of the doctrine—based on the Bible—contained in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Hodge’s completion of The System of Theology Contained in the Westminster Shorter Catechism Opened and Explained was interrupted by his death in 1887, and his cousin, J. Aspinwall Hodge, finished the work.
Top Highlights
“All theology is concerned with the self-revelation of God which he has made in his Word, and it embraces three great divisions: (1) God’s existence and nature; (2) God’s will or plan; and (3) God’s works in execution of his plan.” (Page 12)
“But their principal design is to teach us—(1) What we are to believe as to God and his relations and purposes as to us; and (2) What duties God requires of us. Ques. 3d.” (Page 11)
“This one God is called the living and true God, to distinguish his name from those of the false gods the heathen worship, who are false and dead. Hence God is one spirit—i.e. one substance—and Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, being that one and selfsame substance, have the same attributes, and are of course equal in power and glory.” (Page 16)
“Richard Baxter called it ‘the best Catechism I ever saw, a most excellent sum of the Christian faith and doctrine, and a fit test to try the orthodoxy of teachers.’ It like the others is also founded on the traditional group of lessons, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer, common to all Church Catechisms.” (Page 6)
“Since the salvation of guilty sinners is absolutely of free and sovereign grace, and must be received as such, the salvation of every man must depend upon a personal election of God. God offers salvation to all on the condition of faith. But he gives the faith to those whom he chooses (Eph. 2:8; Matt. 20:16; 22:14).” (Page 20)
- Title: The System of Theology Contained in the Westminster Shorter Catechism Opened and Explained
- Author: Archibald Alexander Hodge
- Publisher: New York: A. C. Armstrong & Son
- Publication Date: 1888
- Pages: 190
Archibald Alexander Hodge was born in 1823 in Princeton, the son of Charles Hodge. He was named after Archibald Alexander, the principal of Princeton Theological Seminary from 1812 to 1840. A. A. Hodge attended Princeton College and Princeton Theological Seminary, graduating in 1847. He spent three years in India as a missionary, before returning to America to become professor of systematic theology at Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania in 1864. In 1877, A. A. Hodge left Western Theological Seminary to return to Princeton Theological Seminary to succeed his father as the chair of systematic theology. Archibald Alexander Hodge died in 1886.