Journal of Presbyterian History
Editors' Message for Spring 2003

With this first issue of 2003, The Journal of Presbyterian History assumes a new appearance. The types of articles we publish will, however, remain essentially unchanged. We do hope that the new format will prove friendlier to the eye and that it will enable us to showcase more effectively the work and the collections of the Presbyterian Historical Society, both at the Philadelphia and the Montreat offices.

The year 2003 also marks the three hundredth anniversary of the birth of Jonathan Edwards. We commemorate the tercentenary in our first article. Arguably the premier theologian produced within the American Reformed tradition, Edwards is often remembered as a promoter, defender, and theorist of the evangelical awakenings of the 1730s and 1740s. He was also a missionary to native Americans. George Marsden probes this aspect of Edwards's career in "Jonathan Edwards, the Missionary," which is adapted from the author's new book, "Jonathan Edwards: A Life."

Anthony Blair examines the controversies produced by the revivals of the mid-eighteenth century. His "Shattered and Divided: Itinerancy, Ecclesiology, and Revivalism in the Presbyterian Awakening" discusses the debates produced by traveling preachers. Blair sees itinerancy raising questions about the nature of the church and about salvation itself and thus contributing to the fervid debates that divided Presbyterians in the 1740s.

In recent years, scholars have given much attention to the role of religion in American higher education. Has higher education been secularized? Does religion continue to occupy a meaningful place within colleges and universities? Dale Robb joins this debate with his case study, "Miami University, 1809-2002: From Presbyterian Enterprise to Public Institution."

R. Milton Winter and William H. Berger provide a case study of another issue. During the 1970s, a secession from "Southern" Presbyterianism (the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.) produced the Presbyterian Church in America. Nowhere was this disruption more acutely felt than in Mississippi. Winter and Berger discuss one instance of this painful process in "Duck Hill's Church of the Pilgrims: Saint Andrew Presbytery's 'Non-Geographic Parish' during Mississippi's PCA Realignment, 1974-1982."

In addition to articles and book reviews, this issue also includes news from the 2002 meeting of the Board of the Presbyterian Historical Society in Montreat, North Carolina. It notes an historical milestone in Presbyterian social witness-the hundredth anniversary of the creation of the Workingman's Department by the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. in 1903. Finally, "Our Documentary Heritage" highlights the rich resources available at the Presbyterian Historical Society for those interesting in chronicling America's effort to dry up alcohol during the era of Prohibition.