Presence, a study of the doctrine of the Lord's Supper. Another significant aspect of the Mercersburg Theology is the view of history and theology found in Philip Schaff's Principle of Protestantism. In this work, Schaff takes a Hegelian model of history and applies it to the history of theology. Theology must come to one final synthesis, as Schaff expressed in his remark that "the Reformation must be regarded as still incomplete. It needs yet its concluding act to unite what has fallen asunder, to bring the subjective to a reconciliation with the objective." By this, he proposes a reunion of the subjective doctrines of Protestantism with the objective character of the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, an outworking of this belief is a generous ecumenism extended toward all, especially toward Roman Catholics. Another contributor to the Hegelian approach of Mercersburg Theology was Friederich Augustus Rauch, especially through his work Psychology. A more objective liturgy was advocated by both of these founding principles of Mercersburg Theology, and all the major adherents of the movement favored an altar-based liturgy as opposed to pulpit-centered worship, i.e., centered on a lengthy sermon. This included more formal prayers, an altar rather than a table for the Lord's Supper, and a sacramental sensibility. These changes represent a movement in the direction of Lutheranism. The Merscersburg Society was founded in 1983 to maintain the sacramental and ecclesial approach of the theology. It publishes The New Mercersburg Review and holds an annual summer convocation. In 2012 Wipf and Stock began publishing critical, annotated editions of major works of Schaff, Nevin and their associates in The Mercersburg Theology Study Series. Seven volumes had been published by 2017. Characteristic Most distinctive is the idealist hermeneutic which stood (and stands) in contrast to the common sense realism of Hodge and subsequent American Reformed theology, i.e. Nevin starts with the whole before the parts, and the whole is indeed greater than the sum of the parts. Within this hermeneutical context, Mercersburg also prioritizes the Incarnation as a theological lens which - as one might suppose - has vast theological implications. The result is a thoroughgoing ecclesiology and sacramentology that opposes a number of theological dualisms and heavily forensic soteriologies. See also Philip Schaff John Williamson Nevin Franklin and Marshall College, located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Scottish Church Society External links United Church of Christ "short course" on the German Reformed Church The Order of