Charles Hodge was born on December 27, 1797, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

He was a Presbyterian theologian and principal of Princeton Theological Seminary (1851-1878). He graduated from Princeton University in 1815. He became professor of biblical literature at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1822 and professor of theology in 1840 until his retirement in 1877. In 1846, he served for one year as moderator of the “Old School” Presbyterian Church. Hodge constructed an influential “Systematic Theology” (3 vols., 1871–1873) and wrote numerous biblical commentaries. He published "What is Darwinism?" (1874), claiming that Darwinism, was, in essence, atheism. For 46 years he edited the Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review, a journal that he founded in 1825 and to which he contributed nearly 150 articles.

In 1822, he married Sarah Bache (1798–1849). He died on June 19, 1878, in Princeton, New Jersey.