Claremont School of Theology (CST) is an American

graduate school Postgraduate or graduate education refers to Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have earned an Undergraduate education, un ...

focused on religion and theology and located in

Claremont, California Claremont () is a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a popul ...

. CST is fully recognized and approved as one of thirteen official theological schools of the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...

History

Founded as the Maclay School of Theology in

San Fernando, California San Fernando (Spanish language, Spanish for "Ferdinand III of Castile, St. Ferdinand") is a General-law municipality, general-law city in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It ...

, in 1885, (and thus

Claremont Lincoln University Claremont Lincoln University (CLU) is a regionally accredited private nonprofit online university in Claremont, California. It offers a number of master's degree programs. History In March 2008, the Board of Trustees at Claremont School o ...

) the Methodist seminary was founded by Charles Maclay, founder of the town of San Fernando, former Methodist minister and state senator. The school became affiliated with the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

(USC) from 1900 to 1957, staying on the USC campus until it moved to its present location in Claremont. The school is one of thirteen seminaries affiliated with the

, though usually more than forty different denominations are represented in the student body in any given school term. In a 2008 meeting, the board of trustees set in motion the Claremont University Project by approving the following mission statement: "As an ecumenical and inter-religious institution, Claremont School of Theology seeks to instill students with the ethical integrity, religious intelligence, and intercultural understanding necessary to become effective in thought and action as leaders in the increasingly diverse, multireligious world of the 21st century." On May 16, 2011, the University Project was officially named Claremont Lincoln University. In doing so, CST became a founding member of a new multireligious consortium - this was the original intent for

(CLU). On April 21, 2014, CST's board of trustees announced an official end to the relationship with Claremont Lincoln University. The mutual split resulted from an acknowledgement that both institutions' "fundamental philosophies have diverged" when "Claremont Lincoln decided to move away from its interreligious roots and become a secular-focused university" after CLU announced "a decision to discontinue several of its programs". In the same announcement, CST's board of trustees affirmed a commitment to maintaining relationships with its partner schools (the

Academy for Jewish Religion (California) The Academy for Jewish Religion California (AJRCA), is a Jewish seminary in Los Angeles. It trains rabbis, cantors and chaplains to serve congregations and organizations of any Jewish denomination.Nancy Sokoler Steiner"Academy of Jewish Religion ...

and Bayan Claremont). Claremont school of theology

In July 2017, after failing to reach agreement with Claremont Graduate University about a land deal, CST began negotiations to merge with

Willamette University Willamette University is a private liberal arts college with locations in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United States. Originally named the Oregon Institute, the school was an unaffiliated ...

in Salem, Oregon. After the signing of a memorandum of understanding in May 2019, in July 2020, the school began the 2-3 year process of moving to and embedding with Willamette. In 2021, following years of legal battles between the Claremont Consortium, the Claremont School of Theology decided to "maintain its presence in Southern California with its main campus located in Claremont, while also retaining a partnership in Salem with Willamette". CST is home to the Ancient Biblical Manuscript Center (ABMC), a research center devoted to the documentary history of Judaism and Christianity. It also houses the Center for Process Studies (CPS), a joint faculty center of Claremont School of Theology and the Claremont Graduate University. The CPS promotes a "relational approach" found in process thought, specifically

process theology Process theology is a type of theology developed from Alfred North Whitehead's (1861–1947) process philosophy, most notably by Charles Hartshorne (1897–2000), John B. Cobb (b. 1925) and Eugene H. Peters (1929-1983). Process theology and pr ...

. CST also has a strong representation of students and faculty from all along the

Pacific Rim The Pacific Rim comprises the lands around the rim of the Pacific Ocean. The ''Pacific Basin'' includes the Pacific Rim and the islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Rim roughly overlaps with the geologic Pacific Ring of Fire. List of co ...

. It houses the Center for Pacific and Asian-American Ministries (CPAAM), which provides ministerial education and other services to enhance ministry to Pacific and Asian American constituencies of all denominations. Among the non-Methodist institutions sharing the CST campus are the Episcopal Theological School at Claremont and the Disciples Seminary Foundation.

Accreditation

, the

Western Association of Schools and Colleges The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) was an organization providing School accreditation, accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary school, secondary and elementary schools in California and Hawaii, ...

(WASC) Senior College and University Commission had the Claremont School of Theology listed as "

Accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

with Notice of Concern" related to a commission action from February 2020. However, the school is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS).

Notable faculty

* Jon Berquist * Philip Clayton *

John B. Cobb John Boswell Cobb, Jr. (born 9 February 1925) is an American theologian, philosopher, and environmentalist. Cobb is often regarded as the preeminent scholar in the field of process philosophy and process theology, the school of thought associ ...

(emeritus) *

Monica Coleman Monica A. Coleman (born 1974) is a contemporary theologian associated with process theology and womanist theology. She is a Professor oAfricana Studies at the University of Delaware She is Faculty Co-Director Emerita for the Center for Process Stu ...

(emerita) *

Roland Faber Roland Faber (born 1960) is an author and Kilsby Family/John B. Cobb, Jr., Professor of Process Studies at Claremont School of Theology and Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Claremont Graduate University. He is Executive Co-Director of the C ...

David Ray Griffin David Ray Griffin (August 8, 1939 – November 26, 2022) was an American professor of philosophy of religion and theology and a 9/11 conspiracy theorist.Sources describing David Ray Griffin as a "conspiracy theorist", "conspiracist", "conspirac ...

(emeritus) * Rolf Knierim (emeritus) *

Burton L. Mack Burton L. Mack (1931 – March 9, 2022) was an American author and scholar of early Christian history and the New Testament. He was John Wesley Professor emeritus in early Christianity at the Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, California. ...

(emeritus) *

Dennis R. MacDonald Dennis Ronald MacDonald (born 1946) is the John Wesley Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at the Claremont School of Theology in California. MacDonald proposes a theory wherein the earliest books of the New Testament were responses ...

* James M. Robinson (emeritus) *

Rosemary Radford Ruether Rosemary Radford Ruether (1936–2022) was an American feminist scholar and Roman Catholic theologian known for her significant contributions to the fields of feminist theology and ecofeminist theology. Her teaching and her writings helped est ...

James A. Sanders James A. Sanders (28 November 1927 in Memphis, Tennessee – 1 October 2020) was an American scholar of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible and one of the Dead Sea Scrolls editors. He was the first to translate and edit the Psalm Scroll, which contain ...

(emeritus) * Deepak Shimkhada (adjunct) *

Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki (born 1933) is an author and United Methodist professor emeritus, emerita of Christian theology, theology at Claremont School of Theology. She is also co-director of the Center for Process Studies' at Claremont. Suchocki ...

(emerita) * Marvin A. Sweeney

Notable alumni

* David Augsburger *

Michel Weber Michel Weber (born 1963) is a Belgian philosopher. He is best known as an interpreter and advocate of the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, and has come to prominence as the architect and organizer of an overlapping array of international sc ...

Thomas Jay Oord Thomas Jay Oord (born 1965) is a theologian, philosopher, and multidisciplinary scholar who directs a doctoral program at Northwind Theological Seminary and the Center for Open and Relational Theology. He formerly taught for sixteen years as a tenu ...

* Robert B. "Bobs" Watson *

* Mary Elizabeth Moore * Tripp Fuller

References

External links

*
Accreditation information
at

* {{authority control United Methodist seminaries Seminaries and theological colleges in California Schools accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Educational institutions established in 1885 Claremont, California San Gabriel Valley 1885 establishments in California