Type | Private, historically black, theological |
---|---|
Established | 1958 |
Affiliation | multiple |
President | Maisha Handy (interim) |
Academic staff | 16 |
Students | 55 |
Location | , , |
Website | www.itc.edu |
The Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) is a consortium of five predominantly African-American denominational Christian seminaries in Atlanta, Georgia, operating together as a professional graduate school of theology. It is the largest free-standing African-American theological school in the United States.
Its constituent seminaries are the Morehouse School of Religion (associated with a number of Baptist groups, including American Baptist Churches USA, National Baptist Convention, USA, and Progressive National Baptist Convention); Gammon Theological Seminary (United Methodist Church); Turner Theological Seminary (African Methodist Episcopal Church); Phillips School of Theology (Christian Methodist Episcopal Church); and Charles H. Mason Theological Seminary (Church of God in Christ). All have the mission to educate Christian leaders for ministry and service. Students who are not affiliated with one of the five denominations represented by these seminaries are enrolled in the ITC's Harry V. and Selma T. Richardson Ecumenical Fellowship program.
The idea of a single collaborative institution for the training and development of African-American Christian ministers began to form in the early 1940s. After Benjamin Mays became president of Morehouse College, Gammon Theological Seminary and Morehouse began a cooperative exchange program. Morehouse College was interested in phasing out its Bachelor of Divinity (B.D.) degree program, while increasing its liberal arts focus.
Mays thought that individually, the several theological schools for African Americans would be unable to obtain the resources to develop and maintain first-rate facilities and programs, but could be successful by working together. Discussions about cooperation among Gammon, Morehouse, and Morris Brown College (representing Turner Theological Seminary) began in the early 1940s.
In the 1950s, the concept of a new collaborative seminary in Atlanta gained support from foundations and the American Association of Theological Schools (AATS). The Phillips School of Theology, then located at Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee, later joined the discussions. [1]
In 1958, the ITC was founded as a joint initiative of four seminaries: the Baptist-affiliated Morehouse School of Religion, the United Methodist-affiliated Gammon Theological Seminary, Turner Theological Seminary (African Methodist Episcopal), and Phillips School of Theology (Christian Methodist Episcopal). [1] [2] The Sealantic Fund, which had been established by John D. Rockefeller Jr. to support theological education, was a major source of financial support. [1] [3] In September 1959, when instruction began, the ITC had 21 faculty members and 97 students. [3]
The new institution occupied the Gammon campus until its own facilities were completed in 1961. The combined institution quickly won accreditation from the AATS, which had previously accredited Gammon. [1] Dr. Harry Van Buren Richardson, the president of Gammon Theological Seminary, became the first president of ITC, serving in that position from 1959 to 1968. [1] [3] [4]
The Presbyterian-affiliated Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary joined ITC 1969–2014, relocating to Atlanta from Charlotte, North Carolina. [5] In 1970, the Charles H. Mason Theological Seminary was established as a new seminary within ITC, named for Charles Harrison Mason, founder of the Church of God in Christ. [3] [6]
From 1971 through 1979, the ITC also operated the Absalom Jones Theological Institute in cooperation with the Episcopal Church. This institute was named for Absalom Jones of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the first African American to be ordained as an Episcopal priest. Enrollment was insufficient to support the seminary's continued operation and it closed in 1979. [2]
The Lutheran Theological Center in Atlanta was established on the ITC campus in 1997. Its establishment was an outgrowth of an enrichment program, started in 1988, through which students from two Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) seminaries took courses at the ITC. The Lutheran Center now provides opportunities for students at any of ELCA's eight seminaries to take courses in Atlanta at the ITC, Candler School of Theology, or Columbia Theological Seminary for academic credit at their home seminaries. [7] [8]
The Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary withdrew from the ITC in June 2014. [9] [10] [11] In April 2023, ITC declared "financial exigency," initiating a period of review to ensure the Center's long-term viability. [12]
ITC awards two master's degrees: Master of Divinity (M.Div.), and Master of Arts in Religion and Education (M.A.R.E.). ITC also offers one Doctor of Ministry (D. Min.). The Master of Divinity program is available online, as well as on the ITC campus. The D.Min. degree program is intended for persons who are currently engaged in Christian ministry and have at least three years of experience in ministerial leadership. In addition to the degree programs, a Certificate in Theology program has been conducted at a number of off-campus locations in the U.S. and worldwide. This is a community outreach program that provides no academic credit. [13]
ITC is accredited to award masters and doctoral degrees by both the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges and the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada. [2] [14] [15] In December 2015, the Southern Association's Commission on Colleges reaffirmed ITC's accreditation. On June 7, 2016, the Association of Theological Schools’ (ATS) Commission on Accrediting confirmed that ITC has demonstrated its financial viability.
ITC is the only graduate institution of theological education that is a member of the United Negro College Fund. [16] ITC is one of the five organizations that form the Atlanta Theological Association, which also includes the Candler School of Theology, Columbia Theological Seminary, Erskine Theological Seminary, and the Georgia Association for Pastoral Care. [17] Other ITC affiliations includes the Robert W. Woodruff Library and the Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education. [18]
ITC occupies a 10-acre (4.0 ha) campus, between Beckwith Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., in the Atlanta University Center, near Morehouse College, Spelman College, Morris Brown College, Clark Atlanta University, and the Morehouse School of Medicine. [2] [5]
ITC is the largest free-standing African American theological school in the United States. [8] As of 2017, the institution has about 25 full- and part-time faculty and enrolls about 300 students. [5] More than 15 denominations are represented in the student body. [19]
Since 1973, ITC has published an annual academic journal, The Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center. ITC describes the journal as "dedicated to the advancement of theological education with a special emphasis on the African-American perspective." [26] [27] The ITC Press also has published books, including seven volumes in the Black Church Scholars Series. [26]
In their 1990 book The Black Church in the African American Experience, C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya identified the ITC as one of several black ecumenical initiatives that arose in the United States in connection with the civil rights and black consciousness movements. They called the ITC "one of the more successful ventures in black ecumenism". [28] In their 2007 book The Future of Pentecostalism in the United States, Eric Patterson and Edmund John Rybarczyk described the ITC as "a major center of progressive, African American theological thought". [29]
Spelman College is a private, historically Black, women's liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. It is a founding member of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman awarded its first college degrees in 1901 and is the oldest private historically Black liberal arts institution for women.
Clark Atlanta University is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Clark Atlanta is the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the Southern United States. Founded on September 19, 1865, as Atlanta University, it consolidated with Clark College to form Clark Atlanta University in 1988. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".
The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, or the AME Zion Church (AMEZ) is a historically African-American Christian denomination based in the United States. It was officially formed in 1821 in New York City, but operated for a number of years before then. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology.
The Atlanta University Center Consortium is a collaboration between four historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in southwest Atlanta, Georgia: Clark Atlanta University, Spelman College, Morehouse College, and the Morehouse School of Medicine. It is the oldest and largest contiguous consortium of African-American higher education institutions in the United States. The consortium structure allows for students to cross-register at the other institutions in order to attain a broader collegiate experience. They also share the Robert W. Woodruff Library, a dual degree engineering program, and career planning and placement services and the AUC Data Science Initiative.
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Daniel Alexander Payne was an American bishop, educator, college administrator and author. A major shaper of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), Payne stressed education and preparation of ministers and introduced more order in the church, becoming its sixth bishop and serving for more than four decades (1852–1893) as well as becoming one of the founders of Wilberforce University in Ohio in 1856. In 1863, the AME Church bought the college and chose Payne to lead it; he became the first African-American president of a college in the United States and served in that position until 1877.
Wesley Theological Seminary is a United Methodist Church seminary in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1882.
The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) was one of eight theological seminaries associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran denomination in North America. It is located on Germantown Avenue in the Mount Airy neighborhood of northwestern Philadelphia. Founded in 1864, it has its roots in the Pennsylvania Ministerium established in 1748 in Philadelphia by Henry Melchior Muhlenberg.
Alfred Lloyd Norris is a retired American Bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 1992. He also distinguished himself as a Methodist/United Methodist Pastor, as a District Superintendent, as the President of a U.M. Seminary, and as a Mason.
John Wesley Edward Bowen Sr. was born into American slavery and became a Methodist clergyman, denominational official, college and university educator. He was one of the first African Americans to earn a Ph.D. degree in the United States. He is credited as the first African American to receive the Ph.D. degree from Boston University, which was granted in 1887.
The Atlanta University Center (AUC) Robert W. Woodruff Library is a library in Atlanta which serves the four members of the Atlanta University Center, the world's oldest consortium of historically black colleges and universities and the Interdenominational Theological Center. The library, constructed in 1982, is named for Robert Winship Woodruff, former CEO of the Coca Cola Company. In 2010, the library completed a $16.2 million renovation, partly funded by donations from the Coca Cola Company.
Religion in Atlanta, while historically centered on Protestant Christianity, now involves many faiths as a result of the city and metro area's increasingly international population. While Protestant Christianity still maintains a strong presence in the city, in recent decades Catholic Christians have gained a strong foothold due to migration patterns. Atlanta also has a considerable number of ethnic Christian congregations, such as Korean Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian Churches, the Tamil Church Atlanta, Telugu Church, Hindi Church, Malayalam Church, Ethiopian, Chinese, and many more traditional ethnic religious groups. Large non-Christian faiths are present in the form of Buddhism, Judaism and Hinduism. Overall, there are over 1,000 places of worship within Atlanta.
Hood Theological Seminary is a Christian seminary sponsored by the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Salisbury, North Carolina. It is a graduate and professional school sponsored by the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and approved by the University Senate of The United Methodist Church. From its founding in 1879 until 2001, the seminary was part of Livingstone College; it is now independent. The seminary is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada.
Jacquelyn Grant is an American theologian, a Methodist minister. Alongside Katie Cannon, Delores S. Williams, and Kelly Brown Douglas, Grant is considered one of the four founders of womanist theology. Womanist theology addresses theology from the viewpoint of Black women, reflecting on both their perspectives and experience in regards to faith and moral standards. Grant is currently the Callaway Professor of Systematic Theology at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta.
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