John Williamson Nevin

(1803–86),

American theologian. He had abandoned the dogmas of Presbyterianism for a more liberal theology before he became professor of theology in the ‘German Reformed’ Theological Seminary at Mercersburg, Pa., in 1840. In The Anxious Bench (1843), he attacked the prevailing methods of revivalist preaching. In 1844 P. Schaff joined him, and the theological doctrines for which they stood became known as the ‘Mercersburg Theology’. In The Mystical Presence (1846) Nevin defended a more sacramental conception of Christianity than is ordinarily held by Protestants.