Editing Philip Schaff (section)

==Life and career==
Schaff was born in [[Chur]], [[Switzerland]], and educated at the [[Gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]] of [[Stuttgart]]. His father died when he was young and he was sent to an orphanage.<ref>[https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-72/modern-pioneers-philip-schaff.html Christianity Today website, ''Modern Pioneers - Philip Schaff'']</ref>

At the universities of [[University of Tübingen|Tübingen]], [[university of Halle|Halle]] and [[university of Berlin|Berlin]],<ref name=B /> he was successively influenced by [[Ferdinand Christian Baur]] and Schmid, by [[Friedrich August Tholuck]] and [[Julius Müller (theologian)|Julius Müller]], by [[David Strauss]] and, above all, [[Johann August Wilhelm Neander]].<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23327367 | jstor=23327367 | title=Philip Schaff: America's Destiny in the Unfinished Reformation | last1=Shriver | first1=George H. | journal=Journal of Presbyterian History | date=1972 | volume=50 | issue=2 | pages=148–159 }}</ref> At Berlin in 1841 he took the degree of [[Bachelor of Divinity]]<ref name=SL>[https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/scn.html Study Light website, Commentaries section, ''Schaff’s Popular Commentary on the New Testament'']</ref> and passed examinations for a professorship. He then traveled through [[Italy]] and [[Sicily]] as tutor to Baron Krischer. In 1842, he was ''[[Privatdozent]]'' in the University of Berlin, where he lectured on [[exegesis]] and [[ecclesiastical history]]. In 1843, he was called to become Professor of Church History and Biblical Literature in the [[Lancaster Theological Seminary|German Reformed Theological Seminary]] of [[Mercersburg, Pennsylvania]],<ref name=SL /> then the only [[seminary]] of that church in America.  During his time there, he spoke positively of some medieval Catholics and of the [[Oxford Movement]] and he was accused of heresy; a church council exonerated him.<ref name=CHI>[https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/it-happened-today/10/20  Christian History Institute website, ''It Happened Today: Dying Schaff Placed His Trust in Christ'']</ref>

On his journey Schaff stayed in England and met [[Edward Pusey]] and other [[Tractarianism|Tractarians]]. His inaugural address on ''The Principle of Protestantism'', delivered in German at [[Reading, Pennsylvania]], in 1844, and published in [[German language|German]] with an [[English language|English]] translation by [[John Williamson Nevin]] was a pioneer work in English in the field of symbolics (that is, the authoritative ecclesiastical formulations of religious doctrines in creeds or confessions). This address and the "[[Mercersburg theology]]" which he taught seemed too pro-[[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] to some, and he was charged with [[heresy]]. But, at the synod at [[York, Pennsylvania|York]] in 1845, he was unanimously acquitted.

Schaff's broad views strongly influenced the German Reformed Church, through his teaching at Mercersburg, through his championship of English in German Reformed churches and schools in America, through his hymnal (1859), through his labours as chairman of the committee which prepared a new liturgy, and by his edition (1863) of the Heidelberg Catechism. So much so that when the German Reformed Church, in a desire to begin producing more and better published material for the denomination published Samuel Miller's work entitled ''A Treatise on Mercersburg Theology: Mercersburg and Modern Theology Compared'' in 1866. Schaff's ''History of the Apostolic Church'' (in German, 1851; in English, 1853) and his ''History of the Christian Church'' (7 vols., 1858–1890), opened a new period in American study of ecclesiastical history.

In 1854, Schaff visited Europe, representing the American German churches at the ecclesiastical diet at [[Frankfurt am Main]] and at the Swiss pastoral conference at Basel. He lectured in Germany on America, and received the degree of [[Doctor of Divinity]] from Berlin.

In consequence of the ravages of the [[American Civil War]] the theological seminary at Mercersburg was closed for a while and so in 1863 Schaff became secretary of the [[Sabbath in Christianity|Sabbath]] Committee (which opposed the "continental Sunday")<ref>[https://theodora.com/encyclopedia/s/philip_schaff.html Theodora website, ''Philip Schaff'']</ref> in [[New York City]], and held the position till 1870. In 1865 he founded the first German Sunday School in Stuttgart. In 1862–1867 he lectured on ecclesiastical history at [[Andover Theological Seminary]].

Schaff was a member of the Leipzig Historical Society, the Netherland Historical Society, and other historical and literary societies in Europe and America. He was one of the founders, and honorary secretary, of the American branch of the Evangelical Alliance, and was sent to Europe in 1869, 1872, and 1873 to arrange for the general conference of the Alliance, which, after two postponements on account of the [[Franco-Prussian War]], was held in New York in October 1873. Schaff was also, in 1871, one of the Alliance delegates to the emperor of Russia to plead for the religious liberty of his subjects in the Baltic provinces.

Schaff became a professor at [[Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York|Union Theological Seminary]], [[New York City]] in 1870 holding first the chair of theological encyclopedia and Christian symbolism till 1873, of [[Classical Hebrew|Hebrew]] and the cognate languages till 1874, of [[Bible|sacred literature]] till 1887, and finally of church history, until his death.

He died October 20, 1893, following a stroke.<ref name=CHI /> He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City.