Elias Henry Johnson

Elias Henry Johnson lived from 1841 to 1906. He was the Professor of Systematic Theology at Crozer Theological Seminary, at a time when he and others were seeking to move it away from being a strict, Bible centered theology school to a more “modern” and philosophically centered school. The result was disastrous spiritually, and the school soon after went into wild and untamed modernism, completely abandoning its firm Biblical roots.

Johnson is the author of An Outline of Systematic Theology. In it he sought to mediate between orthodox theology and a philosophical approach. The result, for example, was an embracing of theistic evolution.

Along the same line as done theologically, Johnson tried to do the same to music. He was an editor of the Baptist Hymnbook, and another book that sought to unite the old chants with more modern hymns.