Spirituality of the Church

The Spirituality of the Church is a doctrine in Protestant theology, particularly in American Presbyterianism.

[1] The roots of the concept are found in Scottish Presbyterianism in the sixteenth century: the Second Book of Discipline (1578) explained how the magistrate and the minister exercise jurisdiction over different spheres.

[2] The phrase itself was first used in the 1850s in the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.

[3] Southern Presbyterians such as James Henley Thornwell argued on the basis of this doctrine that the Church should say nothing in condemnation of slavery.

[1][4] Charles Hodge, on the other hand, rejected this implication, but still used the doctrine to argue against the Gardiner Spring Resolutions.