Finding John Henry Livingston

Remembering the Father of the Reformed Church in America 

Early in the morning of Thursday, January 20, 1825, John Henry Livingston died in his sleep. It was the seventy-ninth year of his life, the fifty-fifth year of his ordained ministry, and the forty-first year of his professorship in theology. He had reunited the Reformed churches in America after a schism, helped see the Collegiate Church in New York through a war, established the first Protestant theological seminary in North America, and played a crucial role in establishing the liturgy, song, and missional emphasis of the church that in some ways live on today. Yet the person called the “Father of the Reformed Church” in his presence had limits and shortcomings, as well. It has been two centuries since Livingston’s death, yet we are still learning about who he was and who the Reformed Church in America and NBTS are because of him.

On Wednesday, January 29, 2025, from 12:00 noon to 1:30 pm (Eastern US), the Reformed Church Center (RCC) will welcome John W. Coakley, L. Russell Feakes Memorial Professor of Church History, Emeritus, at NBTS and founding director of the RCC. A graduate of Wesleyan, Rutgers, and Harvard Universities and the author of over five dozen books, essays, and articles on church history and theology, Coakley has been working in his retirement on a new biography of the first NBTS professor of theology. He will share his process of continual discovery in a talk entitled “Finding John Henry Livingston.” Following Dr. Coakley’s presentation, there will be time for questions and discussion from everyone present.

Registration 

As with all Reformed Church Center programs, admission to this Zoom program will be free and all are welcome. But also, as with all Reformed Church Center programs, participants need to register by clicking here.