List of Reformed Seminaries?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Alan has identified the difficulty in narrowly connecting any of the schools in the OP with a particular denomination. Even those that are denominationally affiliated, like Covenant Theological Seminary or Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, serve a broader constituency than their overseeing denominations.

Westminster California serves the following denominations (in relative order of representation within the student body): PCA, OPC, URCNA, KAPC (Korean-American Presbyterian), ARBCA, CRC, and various other Reformed Baptist (SBC/Acts29, Sovereign Grace, etc.) or non-denominational churches. Many in the last category will end up in Reformed or Presbyterian denomination before they graduate. I am pretty sure you would find a pretty similar breakdown in the student body at WTS, without the URCNA & ARBCA.

It may also be helpful to identify where the faculty members at each seminary have their ministerial credentials. For example, WSC (full-time) faculty: OPC (5), URCNA (5), PCA (3).
 
Thanks, Mark--this helps flesh things out for folks. There are churches that we serve more than others, but all told our seminary has a fairly wide constituency (and even more so the Westminsters, as larger institutions). And also as Mark said, it is also helpful to know where ministers have their credentials: our full-time faculty is OPC (2) and URC (3), with a number of regular adjuncts from the OPC, PCA and URC.

Peace,
Alan
 
One other question, besides the ones that Mark and Alan (two above posts) ask could be helpful in narrowing the search. Is a church-run seminary important to you? Does theological education belong to and is under the authority of the church, or does it belong to institutions that are are independent from the authority of the Church?
 
One other question, besides the ones that Mark and Alan (two above posts) ask could be helpful in narrowing the search. Is a church-run seminary important to you? Does theological education belong to and is under the authority of the church, or does it belong to institutions that are are independent from the authority of the Church?

I know this question wasn't directed towards me to answer, but i'm guessing seminaries choose to be "denominational affiliated" because of funding maybe? It's a lot easier to ask for funding from a presbytery or overseers of churches which they know promotes their doctrine and practice. It's kinda like giving money to charity, people would will give to a charity or fund if they first know they can trust if it will go to the stated causes.

That's just one man's thought's though, I could be way off but I tried anyway..oh well carry on.
 
Whitefield Theological Seminary - Home -- Whitefield Theological Seminary is generally highly regarded. For example, R. C. Sproul got his Ph.D from there.

RC SProul got a second one there (and I am not sure if it was earned or awarded), but his PhD was from the Free University of Amsterdam though he finished it at Harvard.


Also Westminster Theological Seminary ( Glenside, Pennsylvania) does not ''serve'' the OPC, though the 2 are very closely related. Same with Mid America and the URC. They are independant seminaries that serve multiple NAPARC denominations.
 
R C Sr is a "doctorandus" from the Free Univ of Amsterdam, which means that he did not finish his PhD there. Hence the abbr. Drs. It's a little confusing.

Westminster Seminary California "serves" (educates) ministerial candidates from many different congregations (independent) and denominations. We were founded to serve all the NAPARC denominations:



  1. [*=1]The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARPC)
    [*=1]The Canadian Reformed Churches (CanRC)
    [*=1]The Reformed Church of Quebec (ERQ)
    [*=1]The Free Reformed Churches of North America (FRCNA)
    [*=1]The Heritage Reformed Congregations (HRC)
    [*=1]The Korean American Presbyterian Church (KAPC)
    [*=1]The Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC)
    [*=1]The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)
    [*=1]The Presbyterian Reformed Church (PresRC)
    [*=1]The Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS)
    [*=1]The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA)
    [*=1]The United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA)

We also have students from the Christian Reformed Church, the ARBCA, and other denominations and federations including several from overseas (that are not listed above). We also serve more Korean denominations than are listed on the NAPARC website. We've had a number of students from the NKST (Church of Christ in the Sudan Among the Tiv) from Nigeria, some from Malawi, and Uganda. We've had students from the Reformed and Presbyterian Church in New Zealand.

Those of our North American students who come from or go into Reformed denominations/federations in N. America tend to go mostly into the PCA, the OPC, and the URCNA in that order (I think). Mark MacVey can correct me if I'm wrong on this.​
 
I wouldn't assume this to be the case. Regionally accredited seminaries (or with ATS accreditation) may or may not accept such credits. It's at their discretion. Check with the receiving institution.
 
One other question, besides the ones that Mark and Alan (two above posts) ask could be helpful in narrowing the search. Is a church-run seminary important to you? Does theological education belong to and is under the authority of the church, or does it belong to institutions that are are independent from the authority of the Church?

This a very good and helpful question. In the case of the Westminster seminaries, being independent from one overseeing denominational body is not incidental. Because Westminster was founded as an alternative to Princeton and the PCUSA, they were necessarily an independent institution. However, even after the formation of the OPC, both the denomination and the school rejected the idea that the OPC should be directly responsible for the governance of Westminster. D.G. Hart gives a helpful account of this in his recent history of the OPC: Between the Times: The Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Transition 1945-1990. In 1944 the OPC formed a study committee to look into the issue of oversight of seminary education and eventually supported the majority report (authored in part by Murray, Kuiper, and Wolley) that argued against the OPC directly overseeing the work of Westminster. Although they acknowledged that the church did in some sense have a duty to oversee the training of its ministers, they agreed that their authority was limited and that theological education was not properly a task of the church (they differed amongst themselves as to why this was the case). I am sure many here on the PB may disagree with this position, but it seems that it was the majority position within the young OPC. (This would make for some good discussion, perhaps in a different thread, I fear we have already hijacked this one).

I think it is also important to point out that oversight by a denomination does not necessarily guarantee more institutional fidelity than being independent. The history of Princeton Seminary and Calvin Seminary (with all respect to Mr. Wyman above) present the dangers of denominational control over theological institutions. It also not quite true to say that the church has no authority over independent seminaries. The oversight of WSC comes through the Presbyterian and Reformed ministers and elders that govern the seminary through the Board of Trustees and the faculty who are ordained and called by their presbyteries, classes, or churches to teach at the seminary. We are accountable to the church because our faculty have ordination vows and confessional commitments to uphold. The fact that our faculty is spread amongst three denominations, in my opinion, provides a safeguard for the seminary in the unfortunate case that one of those denominations would stray from its confessional commitments.
 
Last edited:
I did not mention what Scott did with respect to churches from abroad. Mid-America has educated ministerial candidates from Asia, Africa, India, Russia, Central and South America, Europe, etc. For instance, in the incoming class we have admitted students from, in addition to the States and Canada, Ghana, New Zealand, the Philippines, Taiwan, and a student from the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales. Probably one or two more from such places coming in..this is just off the top of my head.

While we are not the school of a particular denomination, the Faculty is all appointed to teach here by their respective judicatories (consistories or presbyteries holding credentials), and our constituent churches (URCNA, OPC, PCA, and RCUS particularly) all have seats on our Board, held by elders or ministers of the respective denominations or federations. We are formally outside the churches but through these established mechanisms we are very much responsive to, and the servants of, the various churches that support us and send their students to us (we require not only pastoral endorsement but approval of the body of local elders for M.Div. students). And all faculty must subscribe to the TFU and Westminster. There are many ways in which we seek to insure devotion and responsiveness to our supporting churches.

Peace,
Alan
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top