HOPKINS, MARK
(4 February 1802, Stockbridge, MA-17 June 1887, Williamstown, MA). Education: B.A., Williams College, 1824; M.D., Berkshire Medical College, 1829. Career: Tutor, Williams College, 1826-28; Professor of Moral Philosophy and Rhetoric, Williams College, 1830-36; president, Williams College, 1836-72; Professor of
Intellectual and Moral Philosophy, Williams College, 1872-87; president, American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 1857-87.
At a Williams College banquet at Delmonico's in New York, James Garfield, later President of the United States, remarked, "A pine bench, with Mark Hopkins at one end of it and me at the other, is a good enough college for me!"
The story has grown in the telling: some versions put the bench in a log cabin, others in the woods; some make the bench pine, others make it a log. Another
of Hopkins's distinguished pupils, Washington Gladden·, was at Delmonico's, and he remembered the pine bench version, quoted here. Gladden described Hopkins as "one of the four or five great teachers that America has produced," and few in that day would have disagreed.
Hopkins is generally credited with an intellect more broad than deep. While President of Williams he taught classes to seniors in logic, ethics, theology, and philosophy. He developed theories, complete with supporting diagrams, to show the connections between the inorganic world, humanity and God. The result was one of the most elaborate efforts in the age of Darwin, to link religion and science.
But Hopkins was known more for his piety than his philosophy. He sought to inculcate moral values among his students. Every Saturday morning he led a discussion of the Westminster Assembly's Shorter Catechism. Gladden wrote, "These Saturday morning discussions would have been a good equivalent for a Seminary course in systematic theology." Hopkins was particularly esteemed for his Socratic method. "He was a pastmaster in the art of questioning. He knew how by adroit suggestion to kindle the interest of his pupils in the subject under discussion, and by humor and anecdote he made dry topics vital and deep waters clear. What his students got from him was not so much conclusions or results of investigation, as a habit of mind, a method of philosophical approach, a breadth of balance and thought."
Hopkins taught that the pursuit of wealth was good, as long as those who were successful regarded possession as stewardship and gave to the poor. In such lessons he was a bridge between the Puritanism of men like his great uncle, Samuel Hopkins*, and the Social Gospel ideals of pupils like Washington Gladden*, who carried Congregationalism into the twentieth century.
Bibliography
A: Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity (Boston, 1846); Lectures on Moral Sciences (Boston, 1862); The Law of Love and Love as Law (New York, 1869); An Outline Study of Man (New York, 1873); Strength and Beauty (New York, 1874); The Scriptural Idea of Man (New York, 1883).
B: DAB 9,215-17; DARB, 216-17; NCAB 6, 237-38; NIT 18 June 1887, 1; SH 5, 363; Franklin Carter, Mark Hopkins (Boston, 1892); John H. Denison, Mark Hoplcins: A Biography (New York, 1935); Frederick Rudolph, Mark Hoplcins and the Log (New Haven, 1956).
Intellectual and Moral Philosophy, Williams College, 1872-87; president, American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 1857-87.
At a Williams College banquet at Delmonico's in New York, James Garfield, later President of the United States, remarked, "A pine bench, with Mark Hopkins at one end of it and me at the other, is a good enough college for me!"
The story has grown in the telling: some versions put the bench in a log cabin, others in the woods; some make the bench pine, others make it a log. Another
of Hopkins's distinguished pupils, Washington Gladden·, was at Delmonico's, and he remembered the pine bench version, quoted here. Gladden described Hopkins as "one of the four or five great teachers that America has produced," and few in that day would have disagreed.
Hopkins is generally credited with an intellect more broad than deep. While President of Williams he taught classes to seniors in logic, ethics, theology, and philosophy. He developed theories, complete with supporting diagrams, to show the connections between the inorganic world, humanity and God. The result was one of the most elaborate efforts in the age of Darwin, to link religion and science.
But Hopkins was known more for his piety than his philosophy. He sought to inculcate moral values among his students. Every Saturday morning he led a discussion of the Westminster Assembly's Shorter Catechism. Gladden wrote, "These Saturday morning discussions would have been a good equivalent for a Seminary course in systematic theology." Hopkins was particularly esteemed for his Socratic method. "He was a pastmaster in the art of questioning. He knew how by adroit suggestion to kindle the interest of his pupils in the subject under discussion, and by humor and anecdote he made dry topics vital and deep waters clear. What his students got from him was not so much conclusions or results of investigation, as a habit of mind, a method of philosophical approach, a breadth of balance and thought."
Hopkins taught that the pursuit of wealth was good, as long as those who were successful regarded possession as stewardship and gave to the poor. In such lessons he was a bridge between the Puritanism of men like his great uncle, Samuel Hopkins*, and the Social Gospel ideals of pupils like Washington Gladden*, who carried Congregationalism into the twentieth century.
Bibliography
A: Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity (Boston, 1846); Lectures on Moral Sciences (Boston, 1862); The Law of Love and Love as Law (New York, 1869); An Outline Study of Man (New York, 1873); Strength and Beauty (New York, 1874); The Scriptural Idea of Man (New York, 1883).
B: DAB 9,215-17; DARB, 216-17; NCAB 6, 237-38; NIT 18 June 1887, 1; SH 5, 363; Franklin Carter, Mark Hopkins (Boston, 1892); John H. Denison, Mark Hoplcins: A Biography (New York, 1935); Frederick Rudolph, Mark Hoplcins and the Log (New Haven, 1956).