More Than a Log College: Clergy Education and the 18th Century Presbyterian Revivals

Revivalism has often been characterized as an anti-intellectual movement. However, the Presbyterian revivalists of the eighteenth century Great Awakening revealed a consistent and creative commitment to higher education for their clergy, a commitment originally expressed through ad hoc academies such as William Tennent's Log College and that culminated in the colonial era with the establishment of a chartered, degree-granting institution, the College of New Jersey. The anti-revivalists sought the same end with less success. In the end, what divided the two "sides" was the question of priority: whether personal piety or educational credentials were more valued in a minister. John Roan, a Log College alumnus and revivalist minister, is presented here as a biographical illustration of these debates.