What do you think?
Rate this book
Reforming Culture: J.W. Alexander's Christian Approach to Social Reform
How should we address the social ills in our culture? How should we respond to the social and economic inequalities around us? James W. Alexander (1804-1859) thought deeply about these problems and wrote extensively about how these issues might be addressed from a Christian perspective. The son of Princeton Seminary's first faculty member, Alexander rose to prominence in the nineteenth century as a Christian leader in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City. While he authored numerous books and articles, Alexander's contribution to evangelical thought has largely been overlooked. Alexander was deeply concerned about the economic, political, and social structures of antebellum American society, and he left behind a great deal of material that addressed these issues. In an age when social reformers traversed America with an abundance of novel ideas and utopian schemes, Alexander believed that the Christian gospel and the influence of Christian truth was the best means approach for bringing about lasting good in the world around us. Alexander's thoughts on government, economics, education, and race continue to be relevant for our own day. While the complexion of our social ills may have changed, the solution to needs of our culture have largely remained the same.
226 pages, Paperback
Published July 27, 2020
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 15, 2025
Gary Steward’s “Reforming Culture: J.W. Alexander’s Approach to Social Reform” delivers a sharp, rewarding look at how one of Princeton’s great theologians engaged public life. Steward portrays James Waddell Alexander not just as a figure of antebellum Presbyterianism, but as a model for a distinctly Reformed vision of politics.
Reading this after Tuininga’s “Calvin on Political Theology” proved providential. To understand Alexander, one must first see him as an arch-Calvinist among the Calvinists at old Princeton. Like Calvin, he rooted his thinking in a firm two-kingdoms theology that gave his political and social reflections both balance and restraint. He never blurred the lines between church and state, yet he insisted that Christ rules over both.
Steward shows that Alexander is a man of great balance. There are two moments in this work that really capture Alexander’s balance, one in the Old School/New School controversy and the other in the struggle over abolition. Though associated with the Old School side of the debate, Alexander famously said, “I see no controversy at all,” choosing unity within confessional bounds over factional strife. And he condemned slavery as “a great evil” but warned that efforts to reform “at a blow” rather than through providential means could harm those reform sought to help. His gradualism feels icky to someone who lives 160+ removed from the Civil War, but it sprang from a deep conviction that only the Gospel transforms hearts. Even so, Alexander championed emancipation and equal treatment for all people, grounding his views in the imago Dei and the fruit of the Spirit. When abolitionist conferences excluded southern slaveholders, he refused to attend, not to show sympathy, but to affirm that every man needs the same Gospel truth. Its hard to fit Alexander into the neat little boxes we have fashioned for ourselves today. What is the Theological Examination Committee going to say when someone pursuing ordination says “I see no controversy” in regards to the Old School/ New School debate on their church history exams? What are our CNN minds going to do with the anti-racist who did not want to exclude slave holders from the Gospel and thought the Gospel was sufficient in ending the vile practice?
Alexander’s commitment to Gospel centered reform shaped every layer of his social vision. Steward never out right calls Alexander “parochial.” However, I couldn't help but think of Alexander’s hyper localism as parochial. He believed that Social reform begins in the pulpit, spreads through education, and flows outward into civic life. He urged Presbyterian churches to build parochial schools to cultivate moral and civic virtue, and he even encouraged government to support such institutions. For Alexander, the church stood as the first refuge for the downtrodden, bound by a diaconal duty to meet real human needs.
Since Adam’s exile from Eden, humanity has continually tried to rebuild paradise in any way possible. We've tried political schemes, moral crusades, and social experiments. Alexander reminds us that these are just illusions. He rejected every program that replaced or bypassed the Gospel, convinced that only Christ’s redeeming work could bring true renewal. Every other effort, however noble, amounted to another attempt to climb to heaven by human hands.
After spending time with both Calvin and now Alexander, I find myself drawn more deeply toward a two-kingdoms vision that begins in the local church. Alexander’s life and thought reveal how a theology rooted in the sovereignty of Christ and the power of the Gospel can shape social engagement without collapsing into either triumphalism or retreat. He doesn’t treat the church as a bystander in cultural life, but neither does he let it become a mere instrument for political ends. He locates reform where it belongs, in the pulpit, in the sacraments, and in the slow faithful work of discipleship.
That’s the balance I’m beginning to lean into, a two-kingdoms approach that prizes the ministry of the Gospel as the primary means of change, but that also engages culture honestly. We should celebrate what reflects God’s goodness and confront what distorts it. The Gospel doesn’t withdraw; it transforms. And it does so first in hearts and churches before it ever reaches institutions or nations.
Steward’s recovery of J.W. Alexander does more than fill a historical gap. It calls today’s church to recover a posture of reform that begins with the Gospel and radiates outward. Alexander’s vision, local, confessional, and rooted in the ordinary means of grace reminds us that genuine change starts not in the halls of power but in the pulpit and the pew.
Come quickly Lord, Jesus. Amen.
Reading this after Tuininga’s “Calvin on Political Theology” proved providential. To understand Alexander, one must first see him as an arch-Calvinist among the Calvinists at old Princeton. Like Calvin, he rooted his thinking in a firm two-kingdoms theology that gave his political and social reflections both balance and restraint. He never blurred the lines between church and state, yet he insisted that Christ rules over both.
Steward shows that Alexander is a man of great balance. There are two moments in this work that really capture Alexander’s balance, one in the Old School/New School controversy and the other in the struggle over abolition. Though associated with the Old School side of the debate, Alexander famously said, “I see no controversy at all,” choosing unity within confessional bounds over factional strife. And he condemned slavery as “a great evil” but warned that efforts to reform “at a blow” rather than through providential means could harm those reform sought to help. His gradualism feels icky to someone who lives 160+ removed from the Civil War, but it sprang from a deep conviction that only the Gospel transforms hearts. Even so, Alexander championed emancipation and equal treatment for all people, grounding his views in the imago Dei and the fruit of the Spirit. When abolitionist conferences excluded southern slaveholders, he refused to attend, not to show sympathy, but to affirm that every man needs the same Gospel truth. Its hard to fit Alexander into the neat little boxes we have fashioned for ourselves today. What is the Theological Examination Committee going to say when someone pursuing ordination says “I see no controversy” in regards to the Old School/ New School debate on their church history exams? What are our CNN minds going to do with the anti-racist who did not want to exclude slave holders from the Gospel and thought the Gospel was sufficient in ending the vile practice?
Alexander’s commitment to Gospel centered reform shaped every layer of his social vision. Steward never out right calls Alexander “parochial.” However, I couldn't help but think of Alexander’s hyper localism as parochial. He believed that Social reform begins in the pulpit, spreads through education, and flows outward into civic life. He urged Presbyterian churches to build parochial schools to cultivate moral and civic virtue, and he even encouraged government to support such institutions. For Alexander, the church stood as the first refuge for the downtrodden, bound by a diaconal duty to meet real human needs.
Since Adam’s exile from Eden, humanity has continually tried to rebuild paradise in any way possible. We've tried political schemes, moral crusades, and social experiments. Alexander reminds us that these are just illusions. He rejected every program that replaced or bypassed the Gospel, convinced that only Christ’s redeeming work could bring true renewal. Every other effort, however noble, amounted to another attempt to climb to heaven by human hands.
After spending time with both Calvin and now Alexander, I find myself drawn more deeply toward a two-kingdoms vision that begins in the local church. Alexander’s life and thought reveal how a theology rooted in the sovereignty of Christ and the power of the Gospel can shape social engagement without collapsing into either triumphalism or retreat. He doesn’t treat the church as a bystander in cultural life, but neither does he let it become a mere instrument for political ends. He locates reform where it belongs, in the pulpit, in the sacraments, and in the slow faithful work of discipleship.
That’s the balance I’m beginning to lean into, a two-kingdoms approach that prizes the ministry of the Gospel as the primary means of change, but that also engages culture honestly. We should celebrate what reflects God’s goodness and confront what distorts it. The Gospel doesn’t withdraw; it transforms. And it does so first in hearts and churches before it ever reaches institutions or nations.
Steward’s recovery of J.W. Alexander does more than fill a historical gap. It calls today’s church to recover a posture of reform that begins with the Gospel and radiates outward. Alexander’s vision, local, confessional, and rooted in the ordinary means of grace reminds us that genuine change starts not in the halls of power but in the pulpit and the pew.
Come quickly Lord, Jesus. Amen.
Displaying 1 of 1 review