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Former name | Westminster Theological Seminary |
|---|---|
| Established | 1882 |
Religious affiliation | United Methodist Church |
Academic affiliation | Washington Theological Consortium |
| President | David McAllister-Wilson |
| Location | , United States |
| Campus | Urban |
| Colors | Purple and White |
| Website | www |
Wesley Theological Seminary is a United Methodist Church seminary in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1882.
Wesley Theological Seminary can trace its roots back to the 1881 meeting of the Methodist Protestant Church's Maryland Annual Conference. [1] Legislation was passed during the meeting that would lead to the founding of Westminster Theological Seminary in 1882. The seminary was located on the campus of Western Maryland College in Westminster, Maryland (hence its name).
In 1939, Westminster became one of the ten theological schools under the newly formed Methodist Church. [1] Upon its association with this new, larger denomination, Westminster quickly experienced a period of growth. Because of this continued growth, it was determined in 1955 that Westminster should move to a more central location, namely, Washington, D.C. In 1958, Westminster moved to its current location and was renamed Wesley Theological Seminary. [1]
Upon the formation of the United Methodist Church, Wesley became one of the 13 theological schools under the jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church and still is to this day. [1]
Wesley is a member of the Washington Theological Consortium [2] and is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada.
Wesley offers Master of Divinity (M.Div.), Master of Arts (MA), Master of Theological Studies (MTS), and Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) degrees. [3] In addition, Wesley offers a dual degree program in concert with neighboring American University. Graduates of the dual degree program receive a Master of Theological Studies from Wesley and a Master of Arts degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution or International Development.
Wesley also offers the National Capital Semester for Seminarians program which gives seminarians the opportunity to come to Washington, DC to see how theology interacts with public policy. This program is conducted by the Churches' Center for Theology and Public Policy which is an ecumenical organization that serves to research and explore the relationship between theology and issues of social and public policy.
Wesley Theological Seminary is governed by a Board of Governors and is under the jurisdiction of the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church.
As of late 2023, the president is the Rev. Dr. David McAllister-Wilson, [4] who was installed in 2002. Since its formation in 1882, Westminster/Wesley has had ten presidents: Thomas Hamilton Lewis (1882-1886), James Thomas Ward (1886-1897), [5] Hugh Latimer Elderdice (1897-1933), Fred Garrigus Holloway (1933-1935), Charles Edward Forlines (1935-1943), Lester Allen Welliver (1943-1955), Norman L. Trott (1955-1967), [6] John Lowden Knight (1967-1982), and G. Douglass Lewis (1982-2002).
The student body of Wesley Theological Seminary is culturally, denominationally, and theologically diverse. In 2008 there were 760 master and doctoral students of which 56% were women and 43% were an ethnic minority. [7] Thirty-eight denominations were represented among members of the student body. [7] Denominationally, the student body was primarily made up of United Methodists. However, there were significant numbers of students from other Methodist and non-Methodist faith traditions such as African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, Baptist, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Episcopal, United Church of Christ, and Unitarian Universalist.
By 2013, the seminary hosted 700 students from 30 denominations. [8]
By 2023, the seminary hosted 701 students, of which 53.21% were from an ethnic minority baackground and 48.5% were women. [9]
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.
Union Presbyterian Seminary is a Presbyterian seminary in Richmond, Virginia, and Charlotte, North Carolina, offering graduate theological education in multiple modalities: in-person, hybrid, and online.
For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and divinity schools.
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Nashotah House is an Anglican seminary in Nashotah, Wisconsin. The seminary opened in 1842 and received its official charter in 1847. The institution is independent and generally regarded as one of the more theologically conservative seminaries in the Episcopal Church. It is also officially recognized by the Anglican Church in North America. Its campus was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.
Candler School of Theology is one of seven graduate schools at Emory University, located in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. A university-based school of theology, Candler educates ministers, scholars of religion and other leaders. It is also one of 13 seminaries affiliated with the United Methodist Church.
Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), formally called the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, located at 3737 Seminary Road in Alexandria, Virginia is the largest and second oldest accredited Episcopal seminary in the United States.
Western Theological Seminary (WTS) is a private seminary located in Holland, Michigan. Established in 1866, it is affiliated with the Reformed Church in America, a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination in Canada and the United States.
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.
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.
Boston University School of Theology (STH) is the oldest theological seminary of American Methodism and the founding school of Boston University, the largest private research university in New England. It is one of thirteen theological schools maintained by the United Methodist Church. BUSTH is a member of the Boston Theological Institute consortium.
The Congregational Methodist Church is a Methodist denomination located primarily in the southern United States and northeastern Mexico. It is aligned with the Holiness movement and adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology. As of 1995, the denomination reported 14,738 members in 187 churches.
Seminary of the Southwest is an Episcopal seminary in Austin, Texas. It is one of nine accredited seminaries of the Episcopal Church in the United States. Seminary of the Southwest forms Christian leaders pursuing ordination within the church, as well as those interested in lay forms of ministry, including chaplaincy and counseling.
The Vanderbilt Divinity School and Graduate Department of Religion is an interdenominational divinity school at Vanderbilt University, a major research university located in Nashville, Tennessee. It is one of only six university-based schools of religion in the United States without a denominational affiliation that service primarily mainline Protestantism.
Wesley Biblical Seminary is a private seminary in the Methodist (Wesleyan-Arminian) tradition in Ridgeland, Mississippi. It was founded in 1974 and serves men and women who come from thirty denominations from all across the United States and other countries. WBS is fully virtual offering polysynchronous online learning with headquarters located outside Jackson, Mississippi.
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.
John Wesley Edward Bowen was born into American slavery and became a Methodist clergyman, denominational official, college and university educator and 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.
Winebrenner Theological Seminary (WTS) is a private evangelical Christian seminary located in Findlay, Ohio and associated with the Churches of God General Conference (CGGC). It was established in 1942 as a graduate school of theology of Findlay College and received its charter from the state of Ohio to become an independent, degree-granting institution in 1961. The seminary derives its name from the founder of the denomination, John Winebrenner, who established the group in 1825 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Towson United Methodist Church is a large United Methodist Church in the historic Hampton subdivision of Towson, a suburb in Baltimore County, Maryland. Its past, rooted in 19th-century America and subsequent growth in the two centuries since then, has closely paralleled the nation's political and sociological trends. It was a congregation split in 1861 on the eve of the American Civil War in a border state of divided loyalties, which eventually reunited and built a church in the post–World War II era of the 1950s, a time of reconciliation and rapid growth by mainline Protestant denominations, especially in the more affluent suburbs.
38°56′23″N77°05′24″W / 38.9398°N 77.0901°W
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