The Near East School of Theology (NEST) is an interdenominational Protestant

Protestantism

Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...

 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...

 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...

 serving the Evangelical

Evangelism

Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....

 churches of the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

 and Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

n churches, and is once again able to accommodate international students who have a special interest in Biblical

Biblical studies

Biblical studies is the academic study of the Judeo-Christian Bible and related texts. For Christianity, the Bible traditionally comprises the New Testament and Old Testament, which together are sometimes called the "Scriptures." Judaism recognizes as scripture only the Hebrew Bible, also known as...

 and Islamic studies

Islamic studies

In a Muslim context, Islamic studies can be an umbrella term for all virtually all of academia, both originally researched and as defined by the Islamization of knowledge...

 in a Middle Eastern context or those especially interested in the Ancient churches.

History

The NEST was formed in 1932 by the merger of the School for Religious Workers in Beirut

Beirut

Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...

 and the School of Religion in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. It was built on a history of evangelical theological education going back to 1835. In 1971 the School was moved to its new home: a modern, well-equipped building two blocks south of the American University of Beirut

American University of Beirut

The American University of Beirut is a private, independent university in Beirut, Lebanon. It was founded as the Syrian Protestant College by American missionaries in 1866...

.

Profile

The NEST is an undergraduate and graduate theological seminary of some 40 students and seven full and two part time faculty. The seminary offers the following programs: B.A. in Christian Education; B.Th. with emphasis in pastoral studies; B.Th. in Christian Education; M.A.C.E., a graduate program for educational ministries; M.Div. for Pastoral ministry; S.T.M., a post graduate research degree; and the S.T.M. in Ministry established jointly with McCormick Theological Seminary

McCormick Theological Seminary

McCormick Theological Seminary is one of eleven schools of theology of the Presbyterian Church . It shares a campus with the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, bordering the campus of the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois...

 in Chicago.

The seminary is housed in a modern building with classrooms, offices, faculty and student lounges, dining facilities, sanctuary and chapel, coffee shop, dormitory rooms for 50 students, six faculty apartments and a gymnasium and theater which are under construction. The library contains 42,000 volumes in Arabic, Armenian, English, French and German.

Church relationship

The NEST is under the auspices and support of four mainline Protestant Evangelical

Evangelicalism

Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...

churches in the Middle East.

External links

• Near East School of Theology