Erskine Theological Seminary - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Erskine Theological Seminary is an institution of graduate theological

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

and pastor

Pastor

The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....

al education. The Seminary

Seminary

A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...

is based in Due West

Due West, South Carolina

Due West is a town in Abbeville County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 1,209 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Due West is located at ....

, South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, and also offers classes at four extension sites in the region: Augusta, Georgia

Augusta, Georgia

Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...

, Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

, Columbia, South Carolina

Columbia, South Carolina

Columbia is the state capital and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 129,272 according to the 2010 census. Columbia is the county seat of Richland County, but a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. The city is the center of a metropolitan...

and Greenville, South Carolina

Greenville, South Carolina

-Law and government:The city of Greenville adopted the Council-Manager form of municipal government in 1976.-History:The area was part of the Cherokee Nation's protected grounds after the Treaty of 1763, which ended the French and Indian War. No White man was allowed to enter, though some families...

. It is in the conservative Presbyterian

Presbyterianism

Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...

tradition, and primarily prepares candidates for ordained

Holy Orders

The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....

Christian

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

ministry

Minister of religion

In Christian churches, a minister is someone who is authorized by a church or religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance to the community...

. The Seminary, which was founded in 1837, is now the graduate arm of Erskine College

Erskine College

Erskine College is a four year, Christian liberal arts college located in Due West, South Carolina.-Early history:Established in 1839 by the Associate Reformed Synod of the South as an academy for men, Erskine College became the first four year, church-related college in South Carolina...

, a liberal arts college established in 1839, affiliated with the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church

Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church

The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church as it exists today is the remnant of a small denomination, which was formed from the Synod of the South, a division of the Associate Reformed Church...

History

The Seminary was founded in 1837 and was originally named "The Clark and Erskine Seminary." When Erskine College was founded two years later in 1839, the Seminary was incorporated into it. The Seminary became a distinct establishment from Erskine College again in 1858. The two continued as separate institutions until they were once again united under a single president and board in 1925, an arrangement that continues to the present.

The name "Erskine" was taken from Ralph

Ralph Erskine (preacher)

Ralph Erskine was a Scottish churchman.Ralph Erskine was the brother of another prominent churchman, Ebenezer Erskine.After studying at the University of Edinburgh, Ralph was ordained assistant minister at Dunfermline in 1711...

and Ebenezer Erskine

Ebenezer Erskine

Ebenezer Erskine was a Scottish minister whose actions led to the establishment of the Secession Church ....

. The brothers were notable preachers in Scotland and were among the founders of one of the two Scottish Churches in the roots of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, the Associate Presbytery. The name "Clark" came from Dr. Thomas Clark. Born in Scotland, Clark was a student of Ebenezer Erskine. In 1764, he migrated to America and after the Revolutionary War, moved to South Carolina, where he became pastor at Cedar Spring and Long Cane Churches.

Ebenezer Erskine Pressly

Ebenezer Erskine Pressly

Ebenezer Erskine Pressly was the first president of Erskine Theological Seminary, beginning his service in 1838.E. E. Pressly was a native of Cedar Springs, South Carolina...

was the first President of Clark and Erskine Seminary.

Erskine Theological Seminary is known for the development of "The Erskine Declaration

Erskine Declaration

The Erskine Declaration was a proclamation of students enrolled at Erskine Theological Seminary that declared that racial segregation was inappropriate for most Christian congregations...

," which was a proclamation of students enrolled at Erskine declaring that racial segregation was inappropriate for most Christian congregations. It became a pattern for declarations from several other seminary student bodies in the 1980s and 1990s.

On April 22, 2011 five members of the Erskine College and Seminary faculties issued a Good Friday Statement alleging toleration of what they describe as neo-orthodoxy

Neo-orthodoxy

Neo-orthodoxy, in Europe also known as theology of crisis and dialectical theology,is an approach to theology in Protestantism that was developed in the aftermath of the First World War...

among the Seminary faculty and supporting their understanding of the Bible as "inerrant in the original autographs"

Biblical inerrancy

Biblical inerrancy is the doctrinal position that the Bible is accurate and totally free of error, that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact." Some equate inerrancy with infallibility; others do not.Conservative Christians generally believe that...

as the official position of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.

Campus

Most Seminary functions are housed today in Bowie Divinity Hall, which was dedicated in 1984. The building was funded by a gift of $1-million from Mr. and Mrs W. Parker Bowie of Iva, South Carolina

Iva, South Carolina

Iva is a town in Anderson County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 1,156 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Iva is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all of it land....

. It houses classrooms, faculty and administrative offices, the McLane Media Center, Bowie Chapel, and lounges for students and faculty.

Alongside Bowie stands McQuiston Hall, the first building at Erskine dedicated exclusively for Seminary operations. McQuiston was constructed in 1938, funded by a gift from Dr. & Mrs. William H. McQuiston of Monticello, Arkansas

Monticello, Arkansas

Monticello is a city in Drew County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 9,327. The city is the county seat of Drew County. It is the home of the University of Arkansas at Monticello.-History:...

. McQuiston was renovated in 2004-2005 and today serves as a dormitory. The Seminary's distance learning function is housed in Reid Hall, along with the library's Department of Special Collections and Archives.

Other buildings on the campus of the College and Seminary, such as the McCain Library and Moffatt Dining Hall, house services and resources for both sides of the institution as a whole.

In addition to offerings on the main Seminary campus in Due West, Erskine Seminary offers courses at extension sites in Columbia

Columbia, South Carolina

, Greenville

Greenville, South Carolina

, and Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston, South Carolina

, and in Augusta, Georgia

Augusta, Georgia

. The Seminary has applied to its accrediting agencies

Educational accreditation

Educational accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met...

for permission to begin granting degrees at the Columbia site.

Organization and administration

Erskine Theological Seminary operates together with Erskine College

Erskine College

under the leadership of a single president and board of trustees. President Randall T. Ruble

Randall T. Ruble

Dr. Randall T. Ruble is an American academic and from 26 October 2006 to 2010 was the president of Erskine College.-Personal life:He was born in Augusta County, Virginia, was educated in the public schools of Rockbridge County, Virginia, and graduated from high school in Collingdale,...

announced his retirement effective June 30, 2010, and a search committee to recommend his successor to the Board of Trustees was appointed in September, 2009. Dr. David A. Norman was unanimously elected by the Board of Trustees in May, 2010, and started his presidency on July 1, 2010.

The day-to-day operation of the Seminary is supervised by an Executive Vice President. The current Executive Vice President is H. Neely Gaston. Gaston, who took office in 2003, is a 1989 graduate of the Seminary and a minister in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. The Dean of the Faculty is Robert W. Bell, also an ARP minister.

The students of the Seminary are organized in a Student Body Association, which provides leadership and services for the students' community life. The president of the Student Body Association, who, along with a vice president, secretary, and treasurer, is elected each year by the students, represents the student body in meetings of the faculty with voice but not vote.

The Seminary's endowment is intermingled with that of the College, which has a total value of about $52-million. Approximately $10-million of the total endowment benefits the Seminary exclusively, primarily in the form of endowed scholarship aid for students.

The eighteen permanent tenured and tenure track faculty members are organized in departments of History and Theology, Bible, and Ministry. Faculty in the department of History and Theology have expertise in patristic and Reformation church history, systematic theology

Systematic theology

In the context of Christianity, systematic theology is a discipline of Christian theology that attempts to formulate an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the Christian faith and beliefs...

, and the study of Christian ethics

Christian ethics

The first recorded meeting on the topic of Christian ethics, after Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, Great Commandment, and Great Commission , was the Council of Jerusalem , which is seen by most Christians as agreement that the New Covenant either abrogated or set aside at least some of the Old...

. Professors in the Bible department teach courses in Old Testament

Old Testament

The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

and New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

studies. Faculty assigned to the Ministry department teach in the areas of pastoral care

Pastoral care

Pastoral care is the ministry of care and counseling provided by pastors, chaplains and other religious leaders to members of their church or congregation, or to persons of all faiths and none within institutional settings. This can range anywhere from home visitation to formal counseling provided...

, Christian education, and worship

Christian worship

In Christianity, worship is adoration and contemplation of God.-Overview:Throughout most of Christianity's history, corporate Christian worship has been primarily liturgical, characterized by prayers and hymns, with texts rooted in, or closely related to, the Scripture, particularly the Psalter;...

, including homiletics

Homiletics

Homiletics , in theology the application of the general principles of rhetoric to the specific department of public preaching. The one who practices or studies homiletics is called a homilist....

.

Erskine is a member institution of the Atlanta Theological Association, which facilitates several forms of collaboration among member seminaries, including cross-registration of students. Executive Vice President Gaston was elected to a two year term as President of the A.T.A. in 2009.

Academics

Erskine Seminary is accredited, together with Erskine College

Erskine College

, by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is one of the six regional accreditation organizations recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation...

. In addition, the Seminary is a fully accredited member institution of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada

Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada

The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada is an organization of seminaries and other graduate schools of theology. ATS has its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and has more than 250 member institutions...

.

The Seminary is accredited to award master’s

Master of Arts (postgraduate)

A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

and doctoral

Doctor of Ministry

The Doctor of Ministry degree is, according to The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada , a doctoral level degree oriented toward ministerial leadership often in an area of applied theology, such as missions, evangelism, church leadership, pastoral psychology or the...

degrees, namely, the Master of Arts in Christian Education, Master of Church Music, Master of Arts in Counseling Ministry, Master of Arts in Practical Ministry, Master of Arts in Theological Studies, Master of Divinity

Master of Divinity

In the academic study of theology, the Master of Divinity is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America...

, Master of Theology

Master of Theology

A Master of Theology is an advanced theological research degree offered by universities, divinity schools, and seminaries.-North America:In North America, the Master of Theology is considered by the Association of Theological Schools to be the minimum educational credential for teaching...

, and Doctor of Ministry

Doctor of Ministry

degrees. In addition, the Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission has authorized the Seminary to offer instruction in Christian Education, Church Music, Counseling Ministry, Divinity, Ministry, Practical Ministry, Theological Studies, and Theology.

In the 2008-2009 academic year, Erskine Seminary had an unduplicated head count of 450 students. This means 450 individuals registered for at least one course. 162 of these were candidates for the Master of Divinity

Master of Divinity

In the academic study of theology, the Master of Divinity is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America...

degree and 96 were in the Doctor of Ministry

Doctor of Ministry

degree program. 66 were special students, and 47 took regularly scheduled courses for continuing education credit. Most of the remainder were candidates for one of the several Master of Arts degrees, while six were in certificate programs for students who lack a Bachelor's degree

Bachelor's degree

A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

.

The student body at Erskine Seminary is made up of members of approximately thirty Christian denominations. In the 2008-2009 academic year, the largest single denominational grouping was made up of Baptists of whom there were about eighty. The second largest denominational group was United Methodist, with 74 students. The next largest group were Associate Reformed Presbyterians

Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church

The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church as it exists today is the remnant of a small denomination, which was formed from the Synod of the South, a division of the Associate Reformed Church...

, of which there were 67. Other Presbyterian denominations represented in the student body included the Presbyterian Church (USA)

Presbyterian Church (USA)

The Presbyterian Church , or PC, is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. Part of the Reformed tradition, it is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S...

, the Presbyterian Church in America

Presbyterian Church in America

The Presbyterian Church in America is an evangelical Protestant Christian denomination, the second largest Presbyterian church body in the United States after the Presbyterian Church . The PCA professes a strong commitment to evangelism, missionary work, and Christian education...

, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church

Orthodox Presbyterian Church

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church is a conservative Presbyterian denomination located primarily in the United States. It was founded by conservative members of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America who strongly objected to the pervasive Modernist theology during the 1930s . Led...

, the Presbyterian Church of East Africa

Presbyterian Church of East Africa

Presbyterian Church of East Africa is a Presbyterian denomination headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. It was started by missionaries from Scotland, most notable of whom was Dr John Arthur. It has its headquarters in Nairobi South C....

, and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana

Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana

The Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana is a Protestant Christian denomination in Ghana. It is popularly referred to as the "EP Church". It has strong roots in the Evangelical and Reformed traditions.-History:...

. In addition, there were 10 Episcopal and Anglican students, and 24 students from the African Methodist Episcopal Church

African Methodist Episcopal Church

The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the A.M.E. Church, is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination based in the United States. It was founded by the Rev. Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816 from several black Methodist congregations in the...

. About a quarter of the Seminary's students were women, and thirty percent were African American.

Notable people

John H. Leith

John Haddon Leith was an important Presbyterian theologian and ordained minister who was the Pemberton Professor of Theology at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia from 1959 to 1990...

(1919-2002), a Presbyterian pastor and theologian, was an alumnus of Erskine College

Erskine College

(1940) and took courses at the Seminary during his undergraduate career, before matriculating at Columbia Theological Seminary

Columbia Theological Seminary

Columbia Theological Seminary is one of the ten theological institutions affiliated with the Presbyterian Church . It is located in Decatur, Georgia. Dr. Stephen A. Hayner is the seminary's president.-Description:...

. Leith was inducted into Erskine's Academic Hall of Fame in 1991.

Thomas G. Long

Thomas G. Long

Dr. Thomas Grier Long is the Bandy Professor of Preaching at Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He received his BA degree from Erskine College in 1968, the Master of Divinity from Erskine Theological Seminary in 1971, and the Ph.D. from Princeton Theological...

is an alumnus of both Erskine College (1968) and Erskine Theological Seminary (1971). A survey of seminary professors and religion editors conducted by Baylor University

Baylor University

Baylor University is a private, Christian university located in Waco, Texas. Founded in 1845, Baylor is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.-History:...

in 1996 named Long one of the "twelve most effective preachers" in the English-speaking world.

Hughes Oliphant Old is a member of the faculty and Dean of the Institute for Reformed Worship at Erskine Seminary. Old is the author of fourteen books and many articles and lectures on Christian worship

Christian worship

and preaching.

External links

Erskine Theological Seminary Official Page

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History

Campus

Organization and administration

Academics

Notable people

Further reading

External links