Princeton Theological Seminary

Princeton Seminary in the 1800s The plan to establish a theological seminary in Princeton was in the interests of advancing and extending the theological curriculum. 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, as the second 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 1.1-million-member denomination. [ 9 ] [ 14 ] In 1812, the seminary had three students and Archibald Alexander was 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 became known during the 19th and early 20th centuries for its defense of Calvinistic Presbyterianism , a tradition that became known as Princeton Theology and greatly influenced Evangelicalism during the period.

Some of the institution's figures active in this movement included Charles Hodge , B.B. Warfield , J. Gresham Machen , and Geerhardus Vos . Liberalism and split Princeton Seminary class of 1922 In response to the increasing influence of theological liberalism in the 1920s and the fundamentalist–modernist controversy at the institution, several theologians left to form the Westminster Theological Seminary under the leadership of J. Gresham Machen . The college was later the center of the fundamentalist–modernist controversy of the 1920s and 1930s. [ 15 ] In 1929, the seminary was reorganized along modernist lines, and in response, Machen, along with three of his colleagues: Oswald T. Allis , Robert Dick Wilson and Cornelius Van Til , resigned, with Machen, Allis and Wilson founding Westminster Theological Seminary in Glenside, Pennsylvania . In 1958, Princeton became a seminary of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A ., following a merger between the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and the United Presbyterian Church of North America , and in 1983, it would become a seminary of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) after the merger between the UPCUSA and the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.

Alexander Hall and Sign In 2019, the seminary announced that it would spend $27 million on "scholarships and other initiatives to address its historical ties to slavery". [ 16 ]

Stuart Hall. The main classroom building of the Princeton Theological Seminary, designed by William Appleton Potter in Venetian Gothic style. Built in 1876. Princeton Theological Seminary has been accredited by the Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) since 1938 and by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education since 1968. [ 17 ] [ 1 ] Degree programs Master of Divinity (M.Div.) Masters of Arts (MA) Master of Arts in Theological Studies (MATS) Master of Theology (Th.M.) Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.), offered from 1975 to 2005, having been replaced with Ph.D. in Practical Theology Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), although the Doctor of Theology was previously awarded Dual M.Div./MA in Christian Education with foci in Youth & Young Adults, Teaching Ministry, or Spiritual Development Dual M.Div./MSW in partnership with Rutgers School of Social Work [ 18 ]