Motto | His Story is our story |
---|---|
Type | Private |
Active | September 15, 2000–2018 |
Location | , , |
Campus | Suburban |
Website | www.nwts.edu |
Northwest Theological Seminary was a theological seminary in the Reformed Christian tradition located in Lynnwood, Washington. It closed in 2018. [1]
Northwest Theological Seminary was founded in 2000 in Lynnwood, Washington. [2] There had long been a desire to bring a Reformed theological seminary to the Pacific Northwest that would ably train men for gospel ministry. Northwest Theological Seminary was charged with emphasizing biblical theology in the tradition of Geerhardus Vos, presuppositional apologetics in the tradition of Cornelius Van Til, and orthodox confessionalism in the classic Calvinistic tradition. After a year of prayer and preparation by the board of directors, faculty, staff, students and numerous supporters, Northwest opened its doors at Lynnwood Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Lynnwood, Washington on September 4, 2001.
The education of Northwest Theological Seminary was built on the following principles: the inerrancy of the Bible, the centrality of Christ, the biblical-theological method of teaching the Word of God, the presuppositional apologetics of Cornelius Van Til, the orthodox confessionalism of the classical Calvinistic tradition, and Reformed presbyterianism. [3] The seminary's doctrine was firmly founded in the Bible and classic (orthodox) Presbyterian canons (the Westminster Standards and the Three Forms of Unity). [4]
Northwest Theological Seminary offered two programs of study: the Master of Divinity (M.Div.) and the Master of Theological Studies (M.T.S.). The seminary published its own journal Kerux: The Journal of Northwest Theological Seminary that printed biblical-theological material in the Reformed/Calvinistic tradition. [5] [6]
The M.Div. was a 3-year program that equipped qualified men pursuing ordination with the necessary preaching and teaching skills and knowledge to begin their ministry. M.Div. students were required to learn methodology of Scriptural analysis and exegesis in the original languages, church history and biblical and systematic theology.
The M.T.S. was a 2–year program that presented a curriculum covering many aspects of scriptural analysis and exegetical work in the original languages as well as church history, and biblical and systematic theology.
NWTS was somewhat unusual in comparison to most seminaries. The institution did not own any buildings, and had no plans to build. [7] NWTS did not have a standard "business model." [8] It did not seek any kind of accreditation but measured itself only on the basis of what it saw as its biblical mission.
Northwest Theological Seminary's enrollment was intentionally limited so it could provide ministerial candidates with "one on one" mentoring. [9] [10]
Westminster Theological Seminary (WTS) is a Protestant theological seminary in the Reformed theological tradition in Glenside, Pennsylvania. It was founded by members of the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary in 1929 after Princeton chose to take a liberal direction during the Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy.
Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield was an American professor of Reformed theology at Princeton Seminary from 1887 to 1921. He served as the last principal of the Princeton Theological Seminary from 1886 to 1902. After the death of Warfield in office, Francis Landey Patton took over the functions of the office as the first president of seminary. Some conservative Presbyterians consider him to be the last of the great Princeton theologians before the split in 1929 that formed Westminster Theological Seminary and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
Presuppositionalism is an epistemological school of Christian apologetics that examines the presuppositions on which worldviews are based, and invites comparison and contrast between the results of those presuppositions.
Gordon Haddon Clark was an American philosopher and Calvinist theologian. He was a leading figure associated with presuppositional apologetics and was chairman of the Philosophy Department at Butler University for 28 years. He was an expert in pre-Socratic and ancient philosophy and was noted for defending the idea of propositional revelation against empiricism and rationalism, in arguing that all truth is propositional. His theory of knowledge is sometimes called scripturalism.
John Mcelphatrick Frame is a retired American Christian philosopher and Calvinist theologian especially noted for his work in epistemology and presuppositional apologetics, systematic theology, and ethics. He is one of the foremost interpreters and critics of the thought of Cornelius Van Til.
Because scholars have tended to use the term in different ways, Biblical theology has been notoriously difficult to define.
Meredith George Kline was an American theologian and Old Testament scholar. He also had degrees in Assyriology and Egyptology.
The Princeton theology was a tradition of conservative Reformed and Presbyterian theology at Princeton Theological Seminary lasting from the founding of that institution in 1812 until the 1920s, after which, due to the increasing influence of theological liberalism at the school, the last Princeton theologians left to found Westminster Theological Seminary. The appellation has special reference to certain theologians, from Archibald Alexander to B. B. Warfield, and their particular blend of teaching, which together with its Old School Presbyterian Calvinist orthodoxy sought to express a warm evangelicalism and a high standard of scholarship. W. Andrew Hoffecker argues that they strove to "maintain a balance between the intellectual and affective elements in the Christian faith."
Mid-America Reformed Seminary is a graduate-level theological institution located in Dyer, Indiana, providing a biblical and theological education in the classic Reformed (Calvinistic) tradition. The seminary offers a three-year Master of Divinity degree program for students seeking ordination. A two-year Master of Theological Studies degree is offered for students who desire a theological education without seeking the ordained ministry.
Greg L. Bahnsen was an American Reformed philosopher, apologist, and debater. He was a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and a full-time Scholar in Residence for the Southern California Center for Christian Studies (SCCCS). He is also considered a contributor to the field of Christian apologetics, as he popularized the presuppositional method of Cornelius Van Til. He is the father of David L. Bahnsen, an American portfolio manager, author, and television commentator.
Christian apologetics is a branch of Christian theology that defends Christianity.
John Henry Gerstner was an American Reformed and Presbyterian theologian and professor of Church History at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and Knox Theological Seminary. He was an expert on the life and theology of Jonathan Edwards.
Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. is a Reformed theologian, and an ordained minister in the Reformed Presbyterian Church General Assembly. He is particularly known for his support for and publication on the topics of orthodox preterism and postmillennialism in Christian eschatology, as well as for theonomy and Young Earth creationism. He holds that each of these theological distinctives are logical and theological extensions of his foundational theology.
Redemptive-historical preaching is a method of preaching that emerged from the Reformed churches of the Netherlands in the early 1940s. The debate concerned itself with the question: "How are we to preach the historical narratives of the Bible?"
Geerhardus Johannes Vos was a Dutch-American Calvinist theologian and one of the most distinguished representatives of the Princeton Theology. He is sometimes called the father of Reformed Biblical theology.
Jennings Ligon Duncan III is an American Presbyterian scholar and pastor.
Gerald Irvin Williamson was an American Reformed theologian, pastor, and author.
Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. is a Calvinist theologian, Presbyterian minister, and was the Charles Krahe Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1999 to 2008. He became the Professor Emeritus, Biblical and Systematic Theology in 2008.
Cornelius Van Til was a Dutch-American reformed philosopher and theologian, who is credited as being the originator of modern presuppositional apologetics.
Samuel Talbot Logan Jr. is an American ecclesiastical historian and Presbyterian minister. He is professor of Church history at Biblical Theological Seminary and former president of Westminster Theological Seminary. He served as president from 1991 to 2005. He is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Logan's tenure was abruptly terminated in 2005 by the seminary's board of trustees due to their perception that he was too inclusive of liberal scholarship.