Princeton Theological Seminary

Princeton Theological Seminary (PTS) is a theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church located in the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey in the United States. It grew out of Princeton University, though, today the two institutions are independent of each other.

PTS is one of the world's leading institutions for graduate theological education and home of the largest theological library in the United States and second largest in the world. Today it is an international community with a little over 700 students, a faculty of 53, and an ecumenical and worldwide constituency. Although the roots of Princeton Seminary are in Presbyterianism, not all the students are candidates for the ministry in the Presbyterian Church; some are candidates for ministry in other denominations, while others are studying toward careers in academia, and still others are pursuing fields less directly related to theology, such as law, medicine, social work, administration and education.

Like some other theological institutions, Princeton Theological Seminary has roots in a distinctive denominational heritage and was affiliated from the beginning with the Presbyterian Church.

History

The plan to establish a theological seminary at Princeton University was in the interests of advancing and extending the theological curriculum. It was not, as has sometimes been intimated, a sectarian withdrawal from secular university lifefact. The educational intention was to go beyond the liberal arts course by setting up a postgraduate, professional school in theology. The plan met with enthusiastic approval on the part of authorities at the College of New Jersey, later to become Princeton University, for they were coming to see that specialized training in theology required more attention than they could give. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church established The Theological Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey in 1812, with the support of the directors of the nearby College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), as the first graduate theological school in the United States. The Seminary remains an institution of the Presbyterian Church (USA), being the largest of the ten theological seminaries affiliated with the 2.5-million member denomination.

In 1812, the Seminary boasted three students and the Reverend Dr. Archibald Alexander as its first professor. By 1815 the number of students had gradually increased and work began on a building: Alexander Hall was designed by John McComb, Jr., a New York architect, and opened in 1817. The original cupola was added in 1827, but it burned in 1913 and was replaced in 1926. The building was simply called "Seminary" until 1893, when it was officially named Alexander Hall. Since its founding, Princeton Seminary has graduated approximately 14,000 men and women who have served the church in many capacities, from pastoral ministry and pastoral care to missionary work, Christian education and leadership in the academy and business.

The seminary was made famous during the 19th and early 20th centuries for its defense of Calvinistic Presbyterianism. The college was later the center of a Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy which ultimately led to the formation of Westminster Theological Seminary under the leadership of J. Gresham Machen.

While Princeton Theological Seminary and Princeton University are today separate entities, there is reciprocity for use of certain facilities such as the libraries, as well as cross enrollment in classes.

Princeton Theology

Principals and Presidents of Princeton Theological Seminary

Prior to the creation of the office of President in 1902, the seminary was governed by the principal.

The Principals

*Archibald Alexander (1812-1840)
*Charles Hodge (1851-1878)
*Archibald Alexander Hodge (1878-1886)
*B. B. Warfield (1887-1902)

The Presidents

*Francis Landey Patton (1902-1913)
*J. Ross Stevenson (1914-1936)
*John A. Mackay (1936-1959)
*James I. McCord (1959-1983)
*Thomas W. Gillespie (1983-2004)
*Iain R. Torrance (2004-)

Princeton Theological Seminary libraries

The Seminary's libraries comprise the largest theological collection in the United States and second in the world, behind only the Vatican Library in Rome. The library has over 1,068,000 bound volumes, pamphlets, and microfilms. [ [http://libweb.ptsem.edu/about.aspx Princeton Seminary Library ] ] It currently receives about 2,100 journals, annual reports of church bodies and learned societies, bulletins, transactions, and periodically issued indices, abstracts, and bibliographies. The Libraries are:

*Speer Library, opened in 1957 and named in honor of the renowned missionary statesman Robert E. Speer, 400,000 volumes and 200 readers
*Henry Luce III Library, dedicated in 1994 and named in honor of a distinguished trustee, Henry Luce III, 350,000 volumes and 250 readers

Degree programs

*Master of Divinity (M.Div.)
*Masters of Arts (M.A.)
*Master of Arts (Theological Studies)
*Master of Theology (Th.M.)
*Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.)
*Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
*Dual M.Div./M.A. in Christian Education or Youth Ministry

Miller Chapel

Built in 1834, Princeton's chapel was named to honor Samuel Miller, the second professor at the Seminary. Originally located beside Alexander Hall, it was moved in 1933 toward the center of the campus, its steps now leading down onto the Seminary's main quad. Miller Chapel underwent a complete renovation in 2000, with the addition of the Joe R. Engle Organ.

Endowed lectureships

*"The Stone Lectures", brings an internationally distinguished scholar to the seminary each year to deliver a series of public lectures. Created in 1871 by Levi P. Stone of Orange, New Jersey, a director and also a trustee of the seminary. Previous lecturers include Abraham Kuyper (1898) and Nicholas Wolterstorff. The [http://www.ptsem.edu/news/pr-bin/2005/stone.php Stone Lecturer for 2005] was Leander E. Keck, Winkley Professor Emeritus of Biblical Theology at Yale Divinity School.
*The Warfield Lectures are an annual series of lectures which honor the memory of Annie Kinkead Warfield, wife of Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, distinguished professor of theology at the seminary from 1887 to 1921. The 2005 Warfield Lecturer was Marilyn McCord Adams, Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford University. The 2007 Warfield Lecturer was Kathryn Tanner, Professor of Theology at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Previous distinguished lecturers include Karl Barth (1962), T. F. Torrance (1981), and Colin Gunton (1993).
*The Frederick Neumann Memorial Lecture
*Students´ Lectureship on Missions
*Women in Church and Ministry Lecture
*The Alexander Thompson Lecture
*Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture
*Abraham Kuyper Prize and Lecture
*Dr. Geddes W. Hanson Lecture

Center for Barth Studies

The Center for Barth Studies was established at Princeton Seminary in 1997 and is administered by a board of seminary faculty. The Center sponsors conferences, research opportunities, discussion groups, and publications that seek to advance understanding of the theology of Karl Barth (1886-1968), the Swiss-German professor and pastor widely regarded as the greatest theologian of the 20th century. The Karl Barth Research Collection, part of Special Collections in the Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries, supports the scholarly activities of the Center for Barth Studies. The Karl Barth Research Collection is acquiring an exhaustive collection of writings by and about Karl Barth. Although many volumes are still needed, the Research Collection has already acquired Barth's most important works in German and English, several first editions, and an original hand-written manuscript by Karl Barth.

Abraham Kuyper Center for Public Theology

The heart of the Abraham Kuyper Center for Public Theology is the Abraham Kuyper Collection of Dutch Reformed Protestantism in library's Special Collections, which focuses on the theology and history of Dutch Reformed Protestantism since the nineteenth century and features a sizable assemblage of primary and secondary sources by and about Abraham Kuyper. The Center maintains in partnership with the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam an on-line database of secondary literature about Abraham Kuyper. [http://www.kuyperresearch.org/]

The Center has also established an annual event organized to award the Abraham Kuyper Prize for Excellence in Reformed Theology and Public Life, during which the recipient delivers an address. The Abraham Kuyper Consultation, a series of further lectures, takes place on the following day.

Journals

[http://www.ptsem.edu/koinonia/index.html Koinonia Journal] is published annually by doctoral students at Princeton Theological Seminary. The publication and its annual forum promote written and face-to-face interdisciplinary discussion around issues in theology and the study of religion. It is distributed to well over 100 libraries worldwide.

Center of Theological Inquiry

In 1978 Princeton Theological Seminary's Board of Trustees established [http://www.ctinquiry.org/ the Center] as an independent, ecumenical institution for advanced theological research, "to inquire into the relationship between theological disciplines, [and of these with] ... both human and natural sciences, to inquire into the relationship between diverse religious traditions ... , to inquire into the present state of religious consciousness in the modern world, and to examine such other facets of religion in the modern world as may be appropriate ..." Today, the Center has its own board, funding, mission and staff, yet maintains close relations with Princeton Theological Seminary.

Notable faculty

* The "Princeton Theologians": Archibald Alexander (1772-1851); Charles Hodge (1797-1878); Archibald Alexander Hodge (1823-1886); Robert Dick Wilson (1856-1930); B.B. Warfield (1851-1921); J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937).
* Theology: Emil BrunnerFact|date=June 2008, Iain Torrance, Diogenes Allen, R.B.Y. ScottFact|date=June 2008, Gregory A. BoydFact|date=June 2008, Elmer G. Homrighausen
* Biblical Studies: Bruce Metzger, David Otis FullerFact|date=June 2008, James H. Charlesworth, Warren CarterFact|date=June 2008, Harold C. WashingtonFact|date=June 2008, J.J.M. Roberts
* Religion and Society: Max L. Stackhouse
* Ethics and apologetics: Charles Augustus Aiken
* Biblical Theology: Geerhardus Vos

Notable alumni

* George Washington Gale, 1819
* Charles Hodge, 1819
* William Buell Sprague, 1819
* Samuel Simon Schmucker, 1820
* John Maclean, Jr.
* Albert Barnes, 1823
* John Williamson Nevin, 1826
* Elijah P. Lovejoy, 1834, first American martyr for freedom of the press. He was a presbyterian pastor and publisher of an abolitionist newspaper in Alton, Illinois, and he was killed while defending the press from an angry mob.
* Michael Simpson Culbertson, 1844, missionary to China.
* William Henry Green, 1846
* Basil Manly, Jr., 1847
* Francis Landey Patton, 1865
* Henry van Dyke, 1874
* Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, 1876
* Geerhardus Vos, 1885
* Louis Berkhof, 1904
* Oswald T. Allis, 1905
* Clarence Macartney, 1905
* Cornelius Van Til, presuppositional apologist
* Ned B. Stonehouse, 1927
* Allan MacRae, 1927
* Loraine Boettner, 1929
* Bruce Metzger, 1938
* James Montgomery Boice, 1963
* David Otis Fuller
*Victor Paul Wierwille, Th.M, founding president of The Way International biblical research, teaching and fellowship ministry in New Knoxville, Ohio.
* Neil Clark Warren

Bibliography

* "Princeton Seminary", 2 volumes, by David B. Calhoun is the now standard history of the Seminary
* John Updike's 1986 novel "Roger's Version" appears to be partly set in Princeton Seminary; his 1996 novel "In the Beauty of the Lilies" features the family is Clarence Wilmot, a Princeton-educated preacher schooled in the works of theologians Charles and A. A. Hodge and Benjamin Warfield.

References

External links

* [http://www.ptsem.edu Princeton Theological Seminary website]