Alma White College was a

Bible college A Bible college, sometimes referred to as a Bible institute or theological institute, is an evangelical Christian or Restoration Movement Christian institution of higher education which prepares students for Christian ministry with theological educ ...

Zarephath, New Jersey Zarephath (, ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) and located in Franklin Township, in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States, about north of Princeton.Pillar of Fire Church The Pillar of Fire International, also known as the Pillar of Fire Church, is a Methodist Christianity, Christian denomination with headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey. The Pillar of Fire Church affirms the Articles of Religion (Methodist), Meth ...

. The academic institution is now succeeded by

Pillar College Pillar College (formerly Somerset Christian College) is a private evangelical Christian college with the main campus in Newark, New Jersey and educational locations in Somerset, Paterson, Plainfield, and Jersey City. Pillar College is accredited ...

History

In June 1917 an elderly German professor came to

Zarephath Zarephath may refer to the following : ; Places * Alternative name for Ancient Phoenician city Sarepta, now Sarafand, Lebanon * Zarephath, New Jersey in the United States ;Other * Raising of the son of the widow of Zarephath * Zarephath Wines ...

, the headquarters of the Pillar of Fire, and offered to teach college level classes. Several other classes were organized around a standard college curriculum. The college was first allowed by the

New Jersey Department of Education The New Jersey Department of Education (NJ DOE) administers state and federal aid programs affecting more than 1.4 million public and non-public elementary and secondary school children in the state of New Jersey. The department is headquartered ...

to grant

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

and

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degrees in 1921 and the name Alma White College was chosen. Alma White's son,

Arthur Kent White Arthur Kent White (March 15, 1889 – September 16, 1981) was a bishop, and the general superintendent of the Pillar of Fire Church in Zarephath, New Jersey, and the president of Belleview College. The church was started by his mother, Alma ...

was the first president starting in 1921.

Alma White Alma Bridwell White (June 16, 1862 – June 26, 1946) was the founder and a bishop of the Pillar of Fire Church. In 1918, she became the first woman bishop of Pillar of Fire in the United States. She was a proponent of feminism. She also ass ...

was the founder of the church. In 1923 the

Ku Klux Klan in New Jersey The Ku Klux Klan has had a history in the U.S. state of New Jersey since the early part of the 1920s. The Klan was active in the areas of Trenton and Camden and it also had a presence in several of the state's northern counties in the 1920s. It ...

provided funding for the school, allowing it to become "the second institution in the north avowedly run by the Ku Klux Klan to further its aims and principles."

said that the Klan philosophy "will sweep through the intellectual student classes as through the masses of the people." At that time, the Pillar of Fire was publishing the pro-KKK monthly periodical ''

The Good Citizen ''The Good Citizen'' was a sixteen-page monthly political periodical edited by Bishop Alma White and illustrated by Reverend Branford Clarke. ''The Good Citizen'' was published from 1913 until 1933 by the Pillar of Fire Church at their hea ...

''. In 1927 the college conferred its first

Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...

degree.

retired as president in 1971. The college made the decision to shut down its liberal arts and science programs. The state gave the school permission to allow the students already enrolled to complete their studies until graduation. It graduated its last student in June 1978. The buildings suffered heavy damage in 1971, 1999, and 2011 from flooding on the

Delaware and Raritan Canal The Delaware and Raritan Canal (D&R Canal) is a canal in central New Jersey, built in the 1830s, that served to connect the Delaware River to the Raritan River. It was an efficient and reliable means of transportation of freight between Philadel ...

and the

Millstone River The Millstone River is a tributary of the Raritan River in central New Jersey in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Garden State Canoeing'', Seneca Press, 2002. The Millstone River begins in western Monmouth County and flows westward throu ...

. After the closing of the college, the Pillar of Fire continued to operate Zarephath Bible Institute BI which historically had operated on the campus. In early 2001, on the same campus, the Pillar of Fire founded Somerset Christian College. Following the flooding caused by

Hurricane Irene Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011. The ninth named storm, first hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 2011 At ...

in 2011, the Zarephath campus buildings have been condemned, and all classes meet at Stonecrest Church in

Warren, New Jersey Warren Township is a township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. The township is a bedroom suburb of New York City in the much larger New York metropolitan area, located within the Raritan Valley region. As of the 2020 United State ...

Administration

was president from 1921 to 1971. *Gertrude Metlen Wolfram (1888–1959) was the dean of the college.

Notable and noteworthy graduates

honorary

D.D. A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ra ...

(1927) *

Alton Milford Young Alton Milford Young (May 24, 1884 – July 16, 1950) was the Grand or Imperial Kaliff and the Imperial Kludd of the Ku Klux Klan in New Jersey. The Imperial Kludd is the chaplain of the Imperial Klonvokation and he performs "such other duties as ...

(1927) * Donald Justin Wolfram,

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

* Robert Barney Dallenbach, B.A. *Joseph Gross, current general superintendent,

Pillar of Fire International The Pillar of Fire International, also known as the Pillar of Fire Church, is a Methodist Christianity, Christian denomination with headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey. The Pillar of Fire Church affirms the Articles of Religion (Methodist), Meth ...

*Johannes Maas (B.A. 1958), president of Worldwide Faith Missionshttp://feedtheorphans.org *John Gross, former president,

WEC International WEC International is an interdenominational mission agency of evangelical tradition which focuses on evangelism, discipleship and church planting, through music and the arts, serving addicts and vulnerable children, through Christian education, ...

*James P. Butler class of 1971. Retired after 38 years as a Team Leader with the N.J. Superior Court Criminal Division. Earned a master's degree from FDU in 1986. Six other graduates in 1971 went on to become Probation Officers, Chief of Detectives/Public Safety Director, Supervisor of the New Mexico Highway Patrol, Funeral Director

History

Administration

Notable and noteworthy graduates

See also

References

Further reading