I am relatively new to this forum, but have enjoyed the discussion regarding seminary education on The Puritan board. One thing that immediately strikes me as I read the various threads is that we do not need any more Reformed seminaries. There is a seminary for each quirk and nuance of the Reformed faith, and each, we must all admit, has its own faults. There is no perfect Seminary. Since Westminster Seminary California has come up a few times in various threads, I believe it is appropriate to set forth a brief introduction to our institution.
This year we celebrate our 25th anniversary. We have been a particular institution, not a branch or satellite campus for over 20 years. Though we share a common tradition and have much respect for Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and their newer campus in Dallas, we are not related in any formal way. Many people do not realize this and we are often misidentified as WTS/CA or Westminster West instead of Westminster Seminary California.
As an institution, it is our intent to apply the best of "Old Princeton" Seminary, of Hodge, Warfield, Vos, and Machen and the best of the Westminster Seminary tradition of Murray and Van Til. More importantly however, we wish to remain faithful to the central tenants of the Reformation and our sixteenth and seventeenth century confessions of faith. In particular, each member of our faculty subscribes both the Westminster Standards and the Three Forms of Unity. Rather than having a dividing influence on our faculty, this unites us as a seminary and keeps us within strict confessional bounds.
Our faculty is made up of some of the most influential pastor/scholars in the modern Reformed world, including, Robert Godfrey, Mike Horton, Scott Clark, Hywell Jones, Dennis Johnson, David Van Drunen, Steve Baugh, Brian Estelle, Ian Duguid and Peter Jones. WSC is adequately sized to provide a great deal of personal interaction with these men on a daily basis, something that can not be achieved through a virtual education or distance program.
The fact that our students come from a variety of denominations, PCA, OPC, RPC, URC, RCUS, CRC and a variety of Reformed Baptist denominations through the Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies, puts us in a unique position to interact with the broader Reformed tradition. Our independence from any particular Reformed denomination is intentional, and has allowed us the intellectual freedom to explore and apply the best of both British and Continental Reformed Theology. Yet the confessional commitments of our faculty safeguard WSC against many of the influences that have gained a foothold among other Reformed institutions.
Though we provide a variety of Masters degrees, including a unique Historical Theology program that has placed students into some of the most prestigious PhD programs in the world (Oxford, Cambridge, Arizona, Virginia, etc.), the central focus of our institution is training candidates for the ministry of the Word. At WSC the faculty take the responsibility of preparing students to proclaim "The Whole Counsel of God" with the greatest seriousness.
In Machen's address at the opening of Westminster Seminary in 1929 he proclaimed that it is the task of the seminary to produce "specialists in the Bible." Over 75 years later we are striving to uphold this vision through our unique emphasis upon doing Exegetical, Biblical, and Systematic Theology in Hebrew and Greek texts in the spirit of "Old Princeton."
This year we celebrate our 25th anniversary. We have been a particular institution, not a branch or satellite campus for over 20 years. Though we share a common tradition and have much respect for Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and their newer campus in Dallas, we are not related in any formal way. Many people do not realize this and we are often misidentified as WTS/CA or Westminster West instead of Westminster Seminary California.
As an institution, it is our intent to apply the best of "Old Princeton" Seminary, of Hodge, Warfield, Vos, and Machen and the best of the Westminster Seminary tradition of Murray and Van Til. More importantly however, we wish to remain faithful to the central tenants of the Reformation and our sixteenth and seventeenth century confessions of faith. In particular, each member of our faculty subscribes both the Westminster Standards and the Three Forms of Unity. Rather than having a dividing influence on our faculty, this unites us as a seminary and keeps us within strict confessional bounds.
Our faculty is made up of some of the most influential pastor/scholars in the modern Reformed world, including, Robert Godfrey, Mike Horton, Scott Clark, Hywell Jones, Dennis Johnson, David Van Drunen, Steve Baugh, Brian Estelle, Ian Duguid and Peter Jones. WSC is adequately sized to provide a great deal of personal interaction with these men on a daily basis, something that can not be achieved through a virtual education or distance program.
The fact that our students come from a variety of denominations, PCA, OPC, RPC, URC, RCUS, CRC and a variety of Reformed Baptist denominations through the Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies, puts us in a unique position to interact with the broader Reformed tradition. Our independence from any particular Reformed denomination is intentional, and has allowed us the intellectual freedom to explore and apply the best of both British and Continental Reformed Theology. Yet the confessional commitments of our faculty safeguard WSC against many of the influences that have gained a foothold among other Reformed institutions.
Though we provide a variety of Masters degrees, including a unique Historical Theology program that has placed students into some of the most prestigious PhD programs in the world (Oxford, Cambridge, Arizona, Virginia, etc.), the central focus of our institution is training candidates for the ministry of the Word. At WSC the faculty take the responsibility of preparing students to proclaim "The Whole Counsel of God" with the greatest seriousness.
In Machen's address at the opening of Westminster Seminary in 1929 he proclaimed that it is the task of the seminary to produce "specialists in the Bible." Over 75 years later we are striving to uphold this vision through our unique emphasis upon doing Exegetical, Biblical, and Systematic Theology in Hebrew and Greek texts in the spirit of "Old Princeton."
