Christ's College was one of three colleges in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

founded by the Free Church of Scotland for the training of ministers following the

Disruption of 1843 The Disruption of 1843, also known as the Great Disruption, was a schism in 1843 in which 450 evangelical ministers broke away from the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland. The main conflict was over whether the Church of Sc ...

. The other two were

New College, Edinburgh New College is a historic building at the The University of Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh which houses the university's School of Divinity. It is one of the largest and most renowned centres for studies in Theology and Religious studies, R ...

and

Trinity College, Glasgow Trinity College, Glasgow, Scotland, is the Church of Scotland's College at the University of Glasgow. It provides special supervision of candidates for the ministry through a Principal (appointed by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotlan ...

. Following the Church reunion of 1929, Christ's College became a

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

college and was integrated into the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

. It is now based within the university's King's College campus in

Old Aberdeen Old Aberdeen is part of Aberdeen in Scotland. Old Aberdeen was originally a separate burgh, which was erected into a burgh of barony on 26 December 1489. It was incorporated into adjacent Aberdeen by Act of Parliament in 1891. It retains the sta ...

. The college's former buildings in the west end of Aberdeen are no longer used by the church or university. The post of Master of Christ's College is still a Church of Scotland appointment, but for most purposes it is closely connected with the University of Aberdeen's School of Divinity, History and Philosophy. The current Master is the Rev. Professor John Swinton, who was appointed in 2012. The principal role of Christ's College is to oversee the preparation and formation of ministerial candidates for the Church of Scotland. From its offices in the University of Aberdeen, the college collaborates closely with the divinity faculty to ensure candidates receive appropriate academic training for the ministry, funding a lectureship in Practical Theology, organizing extramural lectures and seminars, and hosting an annual lecture at the beginning of each academic year. In addition, the college maintains the Divinity Library, which serves all undergraduates within the department. It also contributes to the spiritual life of the university, organising a weekly Chapter Service during each academic term. The college administers the Lumsden and Sachs Fellowship, awarded to the University of Aberdeen's most outstanding graduating student in Divinity and Religious Studies.

Footnotes

{{authority control Church of Scotland University of Aberdeen Bible colleges, seminaries and theological colleges in Scotland Educational institutions established in 1846 1846 establishments in Scotland

See also

Footnotes