St Mary's College, St Andrews
Encyclopedia
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
, in Fife
Fife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
- in full, the New College of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - was founded in 1538 by Archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
James Beaton
James Beaton
Dr. James Beaton was a Scottish church leader, the uncle of Dr. David Cardinal Beaton and the Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland....
, uncle of Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
David Beaton
David Beaton
The Most Rev. Dr. David Cardinal Beaton was Archbishop of St Andrews and the last Scottish Cardinal prior to the Reformation.-Career:...
on the site of the pedagogy or St Johns College (founded 1418).
St Mary's College was intended to preserve the teachings of the Roman Catholic church against the "heretical" teachings of the reformers. It was dedicated to a revival of learning on the Continental trilingual model and from the outset laid emphasis on the knowledge of Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
. In 1579, nineteen years after the Reformation
Scottish Reformation
The Scottish Reformation was Scotland's formal break with the Papacy in 1560, and the events surrounding this. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation; and in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines, and politically in...
brought fundamental changes to the religious life of the Scottish nation
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, St Mary's College was reconstituted as the Faculty of Divinity
Divinity (academic discipline)
Divinity is the study of Christian and other theology and ministry at a school, divinity school, university, or seminary. The term is sometimes a synonym for theology as an academic, speculative pursuit, and sometimes is used for the study of applied theology and ministry to make a distinction...
of the University.
In that role the college has continued ever since, marked by an illustrious succession of scholars and teachers, and, in modern times especially, by a stream of alumni who have distinguished themselves and served Church and community in every part of the world. At present the Faculty and School of Divinity forms an academic community of some 131 persons: 16 members of staff; 55 postgraduate students; and 60 undergraduates.
St Mary's College retains much of its original sixteenth century buildings, specifically the north and West ranges. The Quad contains a thorn tree said to have been planted by Mary, Queen of Scots, during her many visits to St.Andrews. The Quad also contains the historic King James Library founded by King James VI & I in 1612.
The College is one of five approved centres for the training of Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
ministers. Graduates include the Very Rev Dr Finlay Macdonald
Finlay Macdonald (moderator)
Finlay A. J. Macdonald is a retired minister of the Church of Scotland. He was Principal Clerk to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from 1996 until 2010...
, the immediate past Principal Clerk to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and a former Moderator.
The Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts
Institute for Theology, Imagination & the Arts
The Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts is an institute within St Mary's College, the School of Divinity at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, which 'aims to advance and enrich an active conversation between Christian theology and the arts - bringing rigorous theological thinking...
(ITIA) was founded within the College by professors Trevor Hart and Jeremy Begbie
Jeremy Begbie
Jeremy Begbie, BA, BD, Ph.D., LRAM, ARCM, FRSCM, is Thomas A. Langford Research Professor at Duke Divinity School, Duke University. He was previously the Associate Principal of Ridley Hall, Cambridge, as well as an Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge...
(currently Thomas A. Langford Research Professor at Duke Divinity School) in 2000.