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Chapter Six examines the presidency and influence of John Witherspoon at Princeton College. He brought to the school a firm commitment to civic duty and Scottish Common Sense Realism. Witherspoon was followed by his son-in-law, Samuel Stanhope Smith, who was successful in his early presidency, but then lost the trust of the College’s board of trustees and was forced to resign amid student unrest and declining enrollments.

For most of the nineteenth century, the study of theology dominated philosophy in American colleges. But collegiate philosophy did begin the process of professionalization, and had an enormous social impact in its elaboration of the moral sciences, a mixture of social science taught from an explicitly normative point of view, grounded in Christianity. The college philosophers, including Francis Bowen at Harvard, Noah Porter at Yale, and James McCosh at Princeton, also purveyed a version of Scottish Realism, which gave ground to German idealism as the century wore on.

Chapter thirty-one analyzes Hodge’s most popular book, his devotional The Way of Life. Hodge took over the role of Professor of Theology from Archibald Alexander in 1840, and thereby became the lead professor at the Seminary. By 1845, he was co-teaching the core theology courses of the school with Alexander. His The Way of Life provides a unique window into the formative years of his systematic theological thinking and his commitment to personal holiness in the Christian life.

Chapter forty-three recounts Hodge’s views on the inspiration and infallibility of Scripture. He believed in “plenary” not “partial” inspiration. Every word of the Bible was true, and it was the word that God intended to use to convey His meaning. The words of Scripture had fixed meanings that did not change over time or were not bound by culture. Hodge believed that the meaning of the Bible was readily accessible to everyone who approached the text carefully using their rational faculty. He thought that emotions arose as a response to what the rational mind interpreted the Scriptures to mean. One did not begin with emotion to study the Bible. One always began with reason.

The Epilogue examines Hodge’s theological legacy after his death. Hodge may be a largely forgotten figure, but his thinking has had a wide influence on American Protestantism over the past century. His thinking on the inspiration of Scripture, as well as his commitment to Augustinian Calvinism and Scottish Common Sense Realism has had a profound impact on American Fundamentalism and American Evangelicalism.

Chapter twenty-three explores Charles Hodge’s Commentary on Romans, which established him as both a national and international biblical scholar of repute. Hodge sought to create a scholarly commentary which could also be of use to lay readers, and he wished to respond to the doctrinal errors he saw in the Romans commentaries recently published by Moses Stuart and Albert Barnes. Hodge’s work showed him to be strictly Confessional in his outlook and his method of biblical exegesis.

From 1750–1850, a philosophical theology rooted in the work of Jonathan Edwards dominated speculative thought in America. A group of Edwards's students, followers of ‘New Divinity,’ were led by Joseph Bellamy, Samuel Hopkins, and Nathaniel Emmons, who defended both God's sovereignty and human free will. They eventually professionalized in schools of theology led by Charles Hodge at Princeton, and, at Yale by Nathaniel William Taylor, a brilliant innovator and expositor of ideas that injected Scottish realism into theological debate.

Chapter fifty-two discusses at length Hodge’s sympathetic views of Lincoln. Lincoln’s death came a severe blow to Hodge, who considered the martyred President as one of America’s greatest men. He published his “President Lincoln” article in the Repertory as an attempt to make sense of God’s providence in Lincoln’s assassination. After the end of the War, Hodge wished to see the Old School Presbyterians from North and South reunited, but such a reunion was doomed to failure. Hodge was also criticized for his commitment to gradual emancipation, and once again defended his biblical position on slavery even after the end of the War.