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Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (PTS) is a
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their na ...
graduate
seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...
in
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. Founded in 1794, it houses one of the largest theological libraries in the tri-state area.


History

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary was formed in 1959 by consolidating the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.'s Western Theological Seminary and the
United Presbyterian Church of North America The United Presbyterian Church of North America (UPCNA) was an American Presbyterian denomination that existed for one hundred years. It was formed on May 26, 1858 by the union of the Northern branch of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church ...
's Pittsburgh-Xenia Theological Seminary. The consolidation was the result of the 1958 merger between the PCUSA and the UPCNA to form the
United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America The United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA) was the largest branch of Presbyterianism in the United States from May 28, 1958, to 1983. It was formed by the union of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of Ameri ...
. Pittsburgh-Xenia Theological Seminary began with the founding of Service Seminary (Associate Theological Seminary in the town of Service,
Beaver County, Pennsylvania Beaver County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 168,215. Its county seat is Beaver. The county was created on March 12, 1800, from parts of Allegheny and Washington counties. It took ...
) in 1792 by the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania. Prior to that time, the Presbytery was dependent on a supply of ministers sent from
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
. The Rev. John Anderson, D.D., was elected as the first teacher of divinity and the school began with an enrollment of six students. Service Seminary moved several times, from Service to
Canonsburg, Pennsylvania Canonsburg is a borough in Washington County, Pennsylvania, southwest of Pittsburgh. Canonsburg was laid out by Colonel John Canon in 1789 and incorporated in 1802. The population was 9,735 at the 2020 census. The town lies in a rich coal distr ...
, then to
Xenia, Ohio Xenia ( ) is a city in southwestern Ohio and the county seat of Greene County, Ohio, United States. It is east of Dayton and is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area, as well as the Miami Valley region. The name comes from the Greek ...
, where it became Xenia Theological Seminary. This occurred in the 1850s and was prompted by a desire to locate nearer to the growing population in the
Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
. The Rev. Joseph Kyle joined the faculty in 1900 (leaving 4th U.P. Church in
Allegheny, Pennsylvania Allegheny City was a municipality that existed in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania from 1788 until it was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. It was located north across the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh, with its southwest border formed b ...
). In approximately 1914 Kyle was appointed president. In 1920 the trustees determined to move the seminary to St. Louis, Missouri, also to be nearer to potential students in the Plains states. In 1921 the Rev. Dr. Kyle died unexpectedly. This loss of leadership at a crucial transition period created problems for the fledgling institution and it never really took root. In 1930 Xenia merged with a seminary that was founded in Pittsburgh in 1825, which was known as Pittsburgh Seminary (1825-1833; 1913-1930) and Allegheny Seminary (1833-1912). Together Pittsburgh and Xenia formed the Pittsburgh-Xenia Theological Seminary. This institution was later augmented by the resources of Newburgh Seminary, founded in New York City in 1805 by
John Mitchell Mason John Mitchell Mason (March 19, 1770 – December 26, 1829) was an American preacher and theologian who was Provost of Columbia College in the early 1810s, and briefly President of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in the early 1820s. Bi ...
. Western Theological Seminary, the other branch of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary's pre-1959 history, began with the establishment of classical academies in
Washington, Pennsylvania Washington is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Pennsylvania. A part of the Greater Pittsburgh area in the southwestern part of the state, the city is home to Washington & Jefferson College and Pony League baseball. The popula ...
, the first in 1785 by Joseph Smith and another in 1787 by John McMillan. Out of these academies, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA created Western Seminary. It was indeed a western seminary in 1825, furnishing a ministry for the rapidly opening frontier territories along the Ohio River. Since the 1959 consolidation, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary has been located on the former Pittsburgh-Xenia Seminary campus in the Highland Park/East Liberty section of Pittsburgh. It became a PC (U.S.A.) seminary following the 1983 merger between the UPCUSA and the
Presbyterian Church in the United States The Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS, originally Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America) was a Protestant denomination in the Southern and border states of the United States that existed from 1861 to 1983. That y ...
.


Academics

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary is accredited by the
Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS) is an organization of seminaries and other graduate schools of theology. ATS has its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. History It was founded in 1918. The assoc ...
, and the
Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (Middle States Association or MSA) was a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association that performed peer evaluation and regional accreditation of public and private schools in the Mid-Atl ...
. The seminary has scholars in all major fields of theological inquiry, and offers language training in Greek and Hebrew. The following degrees are offered by the institution: *
Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and d ...
(M.Div.) * Master of Divinity with Emphasis in Forming New Faith Communities * Master of Divinity with Certificate in Urban Ministry *Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies (M.A.P.S.) *
Master of Theological Studies A Master of Theological Studies (MTS) is a graduate degree, offered in theological seminary or graduate faculty of theology, which gives students lay training in theological studies. Under Association of Theological Schools in the United States a ...
(MTS) *
Doctor of Ministry The Doctor of Ministry (abbreviated DMin or D.Min.) is a professional doctorate, often including a research component, that may be earned by a minister of religion while concurrently engaged in some form of ministry. It is categorized as an advance ...
(D.Min.) Focus areas include Science and Theology, Missional Leadership, Reformed, Christian Spirituality, Intergenerational Black Church Studies, Eastern Christian, and Creative Writing & Public Theology. The Seminary also cooperates with other institutions within the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education to offer joint degree programs, including: *Master of Divinity/
Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
(
Duquesne University Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( or ; Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a private Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne first opened as the Pittsb ...
) *M.A.P.S./Juris Doctor (Duquesne University) *MTS/Juris Doctor (Duquesne University) *Master of Divinity/
Master of Social Work The Master of Social Work (MSW) is a master's degree in the field of social work. It is a professional degree with specializations compared to Bachelor of Social Work (BSW). MSW promotes macro-, mezzo- and micro-aspects of professional social wor ...
(
University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univer ...
)


Clifford E. Barbour Library

The Clifford E. Barbour Library is a theological library in Western Pennsylvania. Its 300,000 volumes, several online databases, and more than 800 periodical subscriptions make it one of the larger stand-alone theological libraries in the United States. The library is located in a three-story building of American Colonial design, dedicated in 1964. The library houses several valuable collections, including the John M. Mason Memorial Collection, which consists of many rare theological works dating from the Reformation. On display in the Hansen Reading Room are the desk and chair of
Karl Barth Karl Barth (; ; – ) was a Swiss Calvinist theologian. Barth is best known for his commentary '' The Epistle to the Romans'', his involvement in the Confessing Church, including his authorship (except for a single phrase) of the Barmen Decla ...
, dedicated to Pittsburgh Theological Seminary by Barth's son, Markus Barth, a faculty member from 1963–1972. Many of the books and periodicals in the collection were made possible by a $15 million gift from wealthy banker and businessman Thomas Clinton. The library was managed superbly by Dikran Hadidian during its formative years.


Kelso Museum of Near Eastern Archaeology

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary is home to the Kelso Museum of Near Eastern Archaeology. The museum contains a collection of ancient Near Eastern and Palestinian pottery and artifacts brought together by travelers and archeologists over the past 60 years. Many exhibits resulted from the eight excavations of which the seminary has been a part. The Seminary is very involved in
Biblical archaeology Biblical archaeology is an academic school and a subset of Biblical studies and Levantine archaeology. Biblical archaeology studies archaeological sites from the Ancient Near East and especially the Holy Land (also known as Palestine, Land ...
, and sponsors the Zeitah Excavations in Israel at Tel Zayit. The excavation was founded under the direction of Professor Ron E. Tappy, Professor of Bible and Archaeology and director of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary’s Kelso Museum of Near Eastern Archaeology. The excavation began in 1999 with a 55-member international team of experts and volunteers. In July 2005 excavators discovered the Zayit Stone, which contained an inscription dating to the 10th century BCE (King Solomon’s reign). The two-line inscription, on a 33-pound limestone boulder embedded in the stone wall of a building, is the earliest securely-dated example of the complete Hebrew alphabet (an "abecedary"). The letters show a transitional script emerging from Phoenician and leading to the Hebrew national script of the 9th century BCE. The first significant inscription from this period in nearly a century, the discovery was reported in the
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
.


World Mission Initiative

World Mission Initiative (WMI) at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary is a fellowship of Presbyterians dedicated to developing mission vision, nurturing missionary vocation, and cultivating missional congregations. WMI prepares seminarians to become pastors with a mission, and coordinates cross-cultural trips. It has a church focus and works to train world Christian pastors. WMI hosts missionaries, national church leaders, and scholars on campus throughout the year.


Faculty and alumni

Prominent faculty from the seminary's history include: *
Dale Allison Dale C. Allison (born November 25, 1955) is an American New Testament scholar, historian of Early Christianity, and Christian theologian who for years served as Errett M. Grable Professor of New Testament Exegesis and Early Christianity at Pit ...
* M. Craig Barnes * Robert A. J. Gagnon * John Gerstner * Archibald Alexander Hodge * William Swan Plumer * Andrew Purves * Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki * Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield * Robert Dick Wilson Prominent alumni include: * Thomas K. Chadwick * Festo Kivengere * John A. Dalles * Calvin Wilson Mateer, the chairman of the committee for Bible translation of The
Chinese Union Version The ''Chinese Union Version'' (CUV) () is the predominant translation of the Bible into Chinese used by Chinese Protestants, first published in 1919. The text is now available online. The CUV is currently available in both traditional and simpli ...
. * Charles William Kerr, first permanent Protestant Christian minister of
Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...
. * Isaac C. Ketler, founder of Grove City College *
Fred Rogers Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003), commonly known as Mister Rogers, was an American television host, author, producer, and Presbyterian minister. He was the creator, showrunner, and host of the preschool television s ...
* R. C. Sproul * Neil M. Stevenson * Ralph Watkins


References


External links


Official website
{{Authority control Presbyterian Church (USA) seminaries Educational institutions established in 1794 Seminaries and theological colleges in Pennsylvania 1794 establishments in Pennsylvania Universities and colleges in Pittsburgh