 Lancaster Theological Seminary in August 2011 | |
| Type | Private seminary |
|---|---|
| Established | 1825 |
| Affiliation | United Church of Christ |
Academic staff | 6 (full time) |
| Students | 48 (2022) |
| Location | , , U.S. |
| Website | www.lancasterseminary.edu |
Lancaster Theological Seminary is a seminary of the United Church of Christ in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1825 by members of the German Reformed Church in the United States to provide theological education for prospective clergy and other church leaders.
After a failed attempt to open the school in Frederick, Maryland and another in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the school opened in Carlisle, Pennsylvania on the campus of Dickinson College on March 11, 1825, with a class of five students. Later lectures were held in the "old Reformed Church of Carlisle." At this time the seminary struggled financially and due to the fund raising campaign of James Ross Reily (1788–1884) the seminary was able to relocate to York in 1829. Here attendance averaged between 12 and 25 students. [1]
In 1836–37, the seminary moved again to Mercersburg, Pennsylvania under the charter of Marshall College. Here the work of such celebrated professors as John Williamson Nevin, Friederich Augustus Rauch, and Philip Schaff gave rise to the Mercersburg theology, noted for its historic concerns for worship, sacraments, and Church in its ecumenical expressions.
In 1853, Marshall College moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, consolidating with Franklin College to form Franklin and Marshall College.
In 1871, the seminary moved to the campus of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster. While viewed as a temporary arrangement, the present site of the seminary was not purchased until 1893. The buildings were completed and occupied in 1894.
For most of its history (109 of its 168 years), LTS was the sole seminary of the Reformed Church in the United States (German Reformed Church). With the formation of the Evangelical and Reformed Church in 1934, the seminary became one of three seminaries serving that newly united denomination.
LTS is currently one of seven seminaries holding full relationship with the UCC, a denomination formed in 1957 by the union of the E&R Church and most of the Congregational Christian Churches. Lancaster Theological Seminary is an official Open and affirming seminary. [2]
Mercersburg is a borough in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, United States. The borough is 72 miles (116 km) southwest of Harrisburg, the state capital.
The Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB) was a North American Protestant denomination from 1946 to 1968 with Arminian theology, roots in the Mennonite and German Reformed, and communities, and close ties to Methodism. It was formed by the merger of the Evangelical Church and the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. The United Brethren and the Evangelical Association had considered merging off and on since the early 19th century because of their common emphasis on holiness and evangelism and their common German heritage. In 1968, the United States section of the EUB merged with the Methodist Church to form the United Methodist Church, while the Canadian section joined the United Church of Canada.
The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a socially liberal mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Continental Reformed, and Lutheran traditions, and with approximately 4,600 churches and 712,000 members.The UCC is a historical continuation of the General Council of Congregational Christian churches founded under the influence of New England Puritanism. Moreover, it also subsumed the third largest Calvinist group in the country, the German Reformed. Notably, its modern members' theological and socio-political stances are often very different from those of its predecessors.
Eden Theological Seminary is a seminary of the United Church of Christ in Webster Groves, Missouri, near St. Louis, Missouri.
Mercersburg theology was a German-American theological movement that began in the mid-19th century. It draws its name from Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, home of Marshall College from 1836 until its merger with Franklin College in 1853, and also home to the seminary of the Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) from 1837 until its relocation to Lancaster in 1871.
The Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States was a small Presbyterian denomination based in the United States that merged into the Vanguard Presbytery. The RPCUS was established in 1983, subscribes to the unrevised Westminster Confession and upholds biblical inerrancy. The denomination self-identified as theonomic.
Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) is a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1853 on the merger of Franklin College and Marshall College, F&M is named for Benjamin Franklin, who gave the college its first endowment, and John Marshall.
John Williamson Nevin, was an American theologian and educationalist. He was born in the Cumberland Valley, near Shippensburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. He was the father of noted sculptor and poet Blanche Nevin.
The Evangelical and Reformed Church (E&R) was a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. It was formed in 1934 by the merger of the Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) with the Evangelical Synod of North America (ESNA). A minority within the RCUS remained out of the merger in order to continue the name Reformed Church in the United States. In 1957, the Evangelical and Reformed Church merged with the majority of the Congregational Christian Churches (CC) to form the United Church of Christ (UCC).
Rev. Henry Gerhard Appenzeller was a Methodist missionary. He and four other missionaries, including Horace N. Allen, Horace G. Underwood, William B. Scranton, and Mary F. Scranton introduced Protestant Christianity to Korea from 1885 to 1902. He was known for his three major contributions to Korea: the Paichai College Hall, the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Seoul, and the translated New Testament.
The Evangelical Synod of North America, before 1927 German Evangelical Synod of North America, in German (Deutsche) Evangelische Synode von Nord-Amerika, was a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States existing from the mid-19th century until its 1934 merger with the Reformed Church in the United States to form the Evangelical and Reformed Church. This church merged with the Congregational Christian Churches in 1957 to create the United Church of Christ.
Lexington Theological Seminary is a private Christian seminary in Lexington, Kentucky. Although it is related to the Christian Church, it is intentionally ecumenical with almost 50 percent of its enrollment coming from other denominations. Lexington Theological Seminary is accredited by Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada to award Master of Divinity, Master of Theological Studies, Master of Pastoral Studies, and Doctor of Ministry degrees.
Mercersburg Academy is an independent college-preparatory boarding and day high school in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Founded in 1893, the school enrolls approximately 444 students in grades 9–12, including postgraduates, on a campus about 90 miles northwest by north of Washington, D.C.
Henry Harbaugh Apple was an American clergyman and educator born in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in 1889 and from the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church in 1892. Ordained to the ministry of his denomination, he became pastor of St. John's Church in Philadelphia (1892) and of Trinity Church in York, Pennsylvania. In 1905 he was president of the Potomac Synod of the Reformed Church. In 1909 he was chosen president of Franklin and Marshall College.
Emanuel Vogel Gerhart was an American minister of the German Reformed Church and first president of Franklin and Marshall College.
Gabriel Joseph Fackre (1926–2018) was an American theologian and Abbot Professor of Christian Theology Emeritus at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton, Massachusetts. He was on the school's faculty for 25 years before retiring in 1996. Previous to that he was Professor of Theology and Culture at Lancaster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, teaching there from 1961 through 1970. Fackre has also served as visiting professor or held lectureships at 40 universities, colleges, and seminaries. His papers are housed in Special Collections at Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries, Princeton, New Jersey.
Frederick Augustus Rauch [in Germany, Friedrich August Rauch] was an educator and the founding president of Marshall College. He was a professor of systematic theology and is often credited as the originator of Mercersburg Theology, although Philip Schaff and John Williamson Nevin were more integral in the development of its views.
Henry Harbaugh was a Pennsylvania Dutch clergyman of the German Reformed Church.
William Mann Irvine was an American academic and founding headmaster of Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania.
Richard Druckenbrod was a 20th century Pennsylvania German language teacher, historian, pastor, and writer.
40°02′44″N76°19′05″W / 40.0456°N 76.3181°W
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