(In the Beginning was the Word) , established = , type =

College A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

, endowment = , staff = , faculty = , rector = , chancellor = , principal = Oliver D. Crisp , free_label = Teaching staff , free = 20 , students = 98 , undergrad = 60 , postgrad = 50 , doctoral = , colours = , city =

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

, state =

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, country =

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, coor = , campus = , affiliations =

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

, website
www.st-andrews.ac.uk/divinity/
St Mary's small

St Mary's College, founded as New College or College of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the home of the Faculty and School of

Divinity Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine

within the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

, in

, Scotland.

History

The college was founded in 1538 by

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

James Beaton James Beaton (or Bethune) (1473–1539) was a Roman Catholic Scottish church leader, the uncle of David Cardinal Beaton and the Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland. Life James Beaton was the sixth and youngest son of John Beaton of Balfour, ...

, uncle of

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

David Beaton David Beaton (also Beton or Bethune; 29 May 1546) was Archbishop of St Andrews and the last Scotland, Scottish Cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal prior to the Scottish Reformation, Reformation. Career Cardinal Beaton was the sixth and youngest ...

on the site of the Pedagogy or St John's College (founded 1418). St Mary's College was intended to preserve the teachings of the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

church against the

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

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 (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. In 1579, nineteen years after the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

brought fundamental changes to the religious life of the Scottish nation, St Mary's College was reconstituted, under the influence of

Andrew Melville Andrew Melville (1 August 1545 – 1622) was a Scottish scholar, theologian, poet and religious reformer. His fame encouraged scholars from the European continent to study at Glasgow and St. Andrews. He was born at Baldovie, on 1 August 154 ...

, as the Faculty of

Divinity Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine

of the university. At its foundation in 1538 St Mary's was intended to be a College for instruction in Divinity, Law, and Medicine, as well as in Arts, but its career on this extensive scale was short-lived. Under a new foundation and erection, confirmed by Parliament in 1579, it was set apart for the study of Theology only, and it has remained a Divinity College ever since. From 1580 onwards each Principal has acted as primarius Professor of Divinity, or first Master. 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 Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...

, during her many visits to St. Andrews. The Quad also contains the historic King James Library founded by

King James VI & I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...

in 1612. In addition, the College has The Roundel, a 16th-century building dedicated for doctoral students studying divinity at the University of St Andrews. Roundel

The college is one of five approved centres for the training of

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

ministers. Graduates include the Very Rev Dr Finlay Macdonald, the immediate past Principal Clerk to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and a former Moderator. Beginning May 2018, the Principal of St Mary's College was Rev. Dr. Stephen Holmes, also Head of the School of Divinity, who replaced

Ian Bradley Ian Campbell Bradley (born 28 May 1950) is a British academic, author and broadcaster. He is Emeritus Professor of Cultural and Spiritual History at the University of St Andrews, where he was Principal of St Mary's College and honorary Church ...

(

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

). Since January 2022

Oliver Crisp Oliver may refer to: Arts, entertainment and literature Books * ''Oliver the Western Engine'', volume 24 in ''The Railway Series'' by Rev. W. Awdry * ''Oliver Twist'', a novel by Charles Dickens Fictional characters * Ariadne Oliver, ...

has taken up the Principal and Head of School positions, previously having been Acting Head of the School of Divinity since October 2021.

Rankings

As of May 2015, the Faculty and School of Divinity forms an academic community of some 131 persons: 16 members of staff; 55 postgraduate students; and 60 undergraduates. According to

The Complete University Guide Three national rankings of universities in the United Kingdom are published annually – by ''The Complete University Guide'', ''The Guardian'' and jointly by ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times''. Rankings have also been produced in the past ...

2016, the School of Divinity is placed first in the United Kingdom for undergraduate studies ahead of Durham in second place and Cambridge in third. In the 2016

Guardian University Guide Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Uni ...

, it is also ranked first in the United Kingdom in religious studies and theology.

Centres

The college has four research centres. The Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts (ITIA) was founded within the college by professors Trevor Hart and

Jeremy Begbie Jeremy Sutherland Begbie, BA, BD, PhD, LRAM, ARCM, (born 1957) is Thomas A. Langford Distinguished Research Professor of Theology at Duke Divinity School, Duke University, where he directs Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts. He is a systema ...

(currently Thomas A. Langford Research Professor at Duke Divinity School) in 2000. It "aims to advance and enrich an active conversation between Christian theology and the arts – bringing rigorous theological thinking to the arts, and bringing the resources of the arts to the enterprise of theology." The current director is Dr Gavin Hopps. The Centre for the Study of Religion and Politics (CSRP) was founded in November 2004 by a group of academics attached to the Schools of Divinity, International Relations, Modern Languages, and Philosophical and Anthropological Studies. The need for a centre of learning to consider the role of religion and politics was highlighted by the support garnered from a diverse range of scholars and religious and political figures who endorsed the Centre's establishment. These supporters who have continued as Patrons of the Centre include

Gustavo Gutiérrez Gustavo Gutiérrez Merino (born 8 June 1928) is a Peruvian philosopher, Catholic theologian, and Dominican priest, regarded as one of the founders of Latin American liberation theology. He currently holds the John Cardinal O'Hara Professo ...

, Cardinal O'Brien, Bishop Desmond Tutu,

Carole Hillenbrand Carole Hillenbrand, (born 1943), is a British Islamic scholar who is Emerita Professor in Islamic History at the University of Edinburgh and Professor of Islamic History at the University of St Andrews. She is the Vice-President of the British ...

, Ian Linden, Julian Filochowski, J.D.Y. Peel, Rev Joel Edwards, Professor George P. Smith II and Dr. P.T.W. Baxter. The current director is Professor Mario Aguilar The Institute for Bible, Theology & Hermeneutics (IBTH) was established in 2009 to give formal identity to the long-standing project of research into Scripture and theology that has been associated with the work at St Mary's School of Divinity. The institute introduces its aims as seeking, "To overcome the sense of fragmentation within the field of Divinity that burdens many within the Academy, promoting intra-disciplinary conversation between Biblical Studies and the various fields of Theology, thus providing a core identity for a more integrated discipline competent to engage in inter-disciplinary research. With the study of general hermeneutical theory and practice at its centre, it will be outward-looking and keen to engage with issues arising from the contemporary world." The current director is Dr Mark Elliott. The Logos Institute for Analytic and Exegetical Theology was founded in 2016 by Professor

Alan Torrance Alan Torrance (born 1956) is professor of systematic theology at St Mary's College of the University of St Andrews. Previously he lectured at King's College London from 1993–1998, where he was also Director of the Research Institute in Systematic ...

and Dr Andrew Torrance. The Institute "is committed to scholarship that reflects a concern for: transparency; simplicity in expression; clear, logical argumentation; and rigorous analysis. It also reflects a radical commitment to interdisciplinary engagement, particularly between the fields of philosophy, theology, biblical studies, and the sciences. Its faculty consists of world-leading scholars in the fields of biblical studies, theology, and philosophy." The current director is Professor

Notable faculty

* John Douglas, Principal of the College from 1547 to 1574 (later

Archbishop of St Andrews The Bishop of St. Andrews ( gd, Easbaig Chill Rìmhinn, sco, Beeshop o Saunt Andras) was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of St Andrews in the Catholic Church and then, from 14 August 1472, as Archbishop of St Andrews ( gd, Àrd-easbaig ...

) * John Black (martyr), Roman Catholic martyr, Second Master *

, various posts including Principal from 1580 to 1607 and Rector of the University 1590-1597 * Robert Howie Principal from 1607 to 1647 *

Samuel Rutherford Samuel Rutherford (also Rutherfurd or Rutherfoord; – 29 March 1661) was a Scottish Presbyterian pastor and theologian who wrote widely read letters, sermons, devotional and scholastic works. As a political theorist, he is known for "L ...

, Professor of Divinity 1638-1661, Principal from 1647 to 1661 * Alexander Colville, Principal 1662 to 1666 *

James Hadow James Hadow (1667–1747) was a Scottish minister who served as Principal of St Mary's College, St Andrews from 1707 till 1747. Life He was born in Douglas, South Lanarkshire, Scotland on 13 August 1667. He died on 4 May 1747 at St An ...

, Principal of the college 1707-1747 * Thomas Halyburton, Professor of Divinity 1710-1712 * Allan Menzies Professor of Biblical Criticism 1869 to 1916 * John Cunningham Principal - Moderator of the General Assembly in 1886 *

, Emeritus Professor of Systematic Theology and founder of the Logos Institute for Analytic and Exegetical Theology *

, Principal of St. Mary's College and Head of the School of Divinity, Professor of

Analytic theology Analytic Theology (AT) refers to a growing body of primarily Christian theological literature resulting from the application of the methods and concepts of late-twentieth-century analytic philosophy. In the last decade, various lectures, study ce ...

References

External links

* *
ITIA website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's College, Saint Andrews 1538 establishments in Scotland Category A listed buildings in Fife Church of Scotland Colleges of the University of St Andrews Bible colleges, seminaries and theological colleges in Scotland Listed educational buildings in Scotland Educational institutions established in the 1530s