Westminster Theological Seminary

Westminster Theological Seminary is a Presbyterian and Reformed Christian graduate educational institution with campuses located in Glenside, Pennsylvania (a suburb of Philadelphia), and Dallas, Texas, and programs of study in New York City, and London. In 1982, the California branch of Westminster became an independent institution, Westminster Seminary California.

History

The Seminary was formed in 1929, largely under the leadership and funding of J. Gresham Machen, with the vision of continuing the theological tradition of Princeton Theological Seminary in a militant and explicitly polemical manner, from which the Westminster founders felt Princeton was departing. Though independent, it has long had a close relationship with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, which Machen founded in 1936. The first president of the seminary was Edmund Clowney, who served from 1966 until 1984. He was followed by George Fuller and Samuel T. Logan. The current president is Peter Lillback, who also serves as a pastor and head of the Christian-America group known as the Providence Forum.

The Seminary was accredited in 1986 by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada ^{[http://www.ats.edu/member_schools/westmipa.asp]} and received "specialized accreditation" in 1954 by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. ^{[http://www.msche.org/institutions_view.asp?idinstitution=545]}

Academics

Pastoral training is the stated primary focus of the Seminary; in addition, Westminster has historically prized its stringent academic standards, requiring that students who do not arrive with ability in biblical Greek and Hebrew spend a year on each language, that is followed with a heavy focus on the languages in upper-level classes.

All trustees and faculty members are required to affirm their agreement with the theological perspective presented in the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, the core doctrine of many conservative Presbyterian churches.

Distinctives of the Seminary used to include a commitment to presuppositional apologetics ^{[http://www.frame-poythress.org/frame_articles/1990Apologetics.htm]} as developed pre-eminently by Cornelius Van Til, the biblical-theological approach of Geerhardus Vos, redemptive-historical preaching as taught and practiced by Edmund Clowney and Tim Keller, and urban mission.

Westminster’s approach to counseling was developed in cooperation with the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF), ^{[http://www.ccef.org]} located near the Westminster campus. The seminary's biblical counseling classes are taught by CCEF faculty.

Westminster has a worldwide reputation,Fact|date=September 2007 drawing roughly a third of its student body from Korea, with numerous other countries of Asia, Europe and Africa well represented.

The seminary currently offers Master of Divinity, Master of Arts in Religion, Master of Arts, Master of Theology, Doctor of Philosophy, and Doctor of Ministry degrees. ^{[http://www.wts.edu/general/programs.html]}

Westminster publishes the semi-annual "Westminster Theological Journal".

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External links

* [http://www.wts.edu Westminster Theological Seminary] Official website