What is the only hope of Christianity according to Francis L. Patton?
According to Francis L. Patton, the only hope of Christianity is the rehabilitating of the Pauline theology. This means returning back, back, back to an incarnate Christ and the atoning blood; otherwise, the alternative is moving on, on, and on to atheism and despair.
Les reads the quote word for word and identifies the speaker as Francis L. Patton, president of Princeton University from 1888 to 1902. Les notes that a Princeton president today would never make such a statement, but at that time Princeton was still a bulwark of conservative Christianity, as were many Ivy League schools. The quote sets the rehabilitating of the Pauline theology, and returning to an incarnate Christ and the atoning blood, against an ongoing drift to atheism and despair.