Westminster College in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, England is a

theological college A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and Christian theology, theology, generally to prepare them for ordinatio ...

of the

United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2024 it had approximately 44,000 members in around 1,250 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. The URC is a Trinitarian church whose theolog ...

. Its principal purpose is training for the

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

of ministers, but is also used more widely for training within the denomination.

History

The college was founded in London in 1844 with a temporary home in the

Exeter Hall Exeter Hall was a large public meeting place on the north side of the Strand in central London, opposite where the Savoy Hotel now stands. From 1831 until 1907 Exeter Hall was the venue for many great gatherings of activists for various cause ...

in the

Strand Strand or The Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * ...

, before moving to permanent premises in Queen's Square,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1859. It then moved to

in 1899 following the gift of a prime site of land near the centre of the city by two

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

sisters, Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson, both noted biblical scholars. Following an appeal for funds from the wider

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

congregation, the college commissioned a new building designed by Henry Hare and built between 1897 and 1899. In 1967 the college began to amalgamate with

Cheshunt College Cheshunt (/ˈtʃɛzənt/ CHEZ-ənt) is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, England, situated within the London commuter belt approximately north of Central London. The town lies on the River Lea and Lee Navigation, bordering th ...

, Cambridge, presaging the union of the

Congregational Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity, Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice Congregationalist polity, congregational ...

and

churches to form the United Reformed Church in 1972. The dedication of a new college chapel took place in 1921; it was given by Sir William Noble, 1st Baronet and his wife Margaret. The gift was to commemorate the death of their son William Black Noble in World War I. The 11 stained glass windows are by

Douglas Strachan Douglas Strachan Hon. RSA (26 May 1875, Aberdeen, Scotland – 20 November 1950) is considered the most significant Scottish designer of stained glass windows in the 20th century. He is best known for his windows at the Peace Palace in The Hagu ...

. The decoration of the

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

was completed in 1929 by W. Jowsey.

Lewis and Gibson

Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson were noted for their study of one of the earliest versions of the Old Gospels, in the

Syriac Sinaiticus The Syriac Sinaiticus or Codex Sinaiticus Syriacus (syrs), known also as the Sinaitic Palimpsest, of Saint Catherine's Monastery (Sinai, Syr. 30), or Old Syriac Gospels is a late-4th- or early-5th-century manuscript of 179 folios, containing a nea ...

manuscript discovered in

Saint Catherine's Monastery Saint Catherine's Monastery ( , ), officially the Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Catherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai, is a Christian monastery located in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. Located at the foot of Mount Sinai ...

on the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai ( ; ; ; ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a land bridge between Asia and Afri ...

. The other important contributions to the field of Aramaic and Theology are the publications of the

Codex Climaci Rescriptus Codex Climaci Rescriptus is a collective palimpsest manuscript consisting of several individual manuscripts underneath, Christian Palestinian Aramaic texts of the Old and New Testament as well as two apocryphal texts, including the Dormition of t ...

, a 6th-century

palimpsest In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off in preparation for reuse in the form of another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid ski ...

written in

Christian Palestinian Aramaic Christian Palestinian Aramaic was a Western Aramaic languages, Western Aramaic dialect used by the Melkite, Melkite Christian community, predominantly of Jews, Jewish descent, in Palestine (region), Palestine, Transjordan (region), Transjordan an ...

which contains portions of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

and

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

, and another palimpsest manuscript of the Forty Martyrs of the Sinai desert and the Story of Eulogios, the Stone Cutter in the same Aramaic dialect. The sisters found the manuscripts in the antiquities market of Cairo and acquired them for the library in Westminster College. They were sold in 2010 to the

Green Collection The Green Collection, later known as the Museum Collection, is one of the world's largest private collection of rare biblical texts and artifacts, made up of more than 40,000 biblical antiquities assembled by the Green family, founders of the Am ...

, displayed in the

Museum of the Bible The Museum of the Bible is a museum in Washington, D.C., United States, owned by Museum of the Bible, Inc., a non-profit organization established in 2010 by the David Green (entrepreneur), Green family. The museum documents the narrative, histo ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

They edited also many other important manuscripts in Syriac and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

. In 1897 Lewis and Gibson also found and purchased some fragments of parchment of the

Cairo Genizah The Cairo Geniza, alternatively spelled the Cairo Genizah, is a collection of some 400,000 Jewish manuscript fragments and Fatimid administrative documents that were kept in the '' genizah'' or storeroom of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat or Ol ...

whilst travelling in the Middle East. With the support of

Solomon Schechter Solomon Schechter (‎; 7 December 1847 – 19 November 1915) was a Moldavian-born British-American rabbi, academic scholar and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America, President of the ...

they made several more trips to the Middle East, locating the majority of the

Genizah A genizah (; , also ''geniza''; plural: ''genizot'' 'h''or ''genizahs'') is a storage area in a Judaism, Jewish synagogue or cemetery designated for the temporary storage of worn-out Hebrew-language books and papers on religious topics prior t ...

at the

Ben Ezra Synagogue The Ben Ezra Synagogue (; ), sometimes referred to as the El-Geniza Synagogue () or the Synagogue of the Levantines (al-Shamiyin), is a former Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in the Fustat part of Old Cairo, Egypt. According to loca ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

. Schechter identified the fragments as forming part of the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

Wisdom of Sirach The Book of Sirach (), also known as The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, The Wisdom of Jesus son of Eleazar, or Ecclesiasticus (), is a Jewish literary work originally written in Biblical Hebrew. The longest extant wisdom book from antiqui ...

. The Cairo Genizah collection was put up for sale by Westminster College for £1.2 million in 2013. The two

Oxbridge Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford, Universities of Oxford and University of Cambridge, Cambridge, the two oldest, wealthiest, and most prestigious universities in the United Kingdom. The term is used to refer to them collect ...

libraries, the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and

Cambridge University Library Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of over 100 libraries Libraries of the University of Cambridge, within the university. The library is a major scholarly resource for me ...

combined to raise funds to buy the collection from Westminster after it was put up for sale. This is the first time the two libraries have collaborated for such a fundraising effort. The money was used by Westminster College to help finance a £7 million refurbishment of the College in 2013–2014.

Today

The college is not part of the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, but has joined with six other religious colleges in Cambridge to form the

Cambridge Theological Federation The Cambridge Theological Federation (CTF) is an association of theological colleges, courses and houses based in Cambridge, England and founded in 1972. The federation offers several joint theological programmes of study open to students in mem ...

, which is affiliated with the university. Currently, Westminster has connected with it around 50 students; some in training for ministry in the United Reformed Church, and some studying for other work or pleasure. Westminster is served by five academic staff, covering the traditional theological disciplines of Systematic Theology, Church History, Old Testament Studies, New Testament Studies and Pastoral Studies. Traditionally, most students have studied for four years, which includes an internship year working in a local church. However, the College now trains many students part-time and via distance learning, as well as through full-time in-house courses. Most students still work, nonetheless, either for a BA or MA degree (awarded by Anglia Ruskin University) or a BTh or BA/Tripos degree (awarded by Cambridge University). Since 2017 the Westminster College site has also been home to the Woolf Institute of Abrahamic Faiths and

Faraday Institute for Science and Religion The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion is an interdisciplinary academic research institute based in Cambridge, England. It is named after the 19th-century English scientist Michael Faraday, the pioneer of electromagnetic induction. It w ...

.BB+C Architects
Woolf Institute of Abrahamic Faiths
accessed 21 August 2018 Westminster College is also affiliated with the American writer and Presbyterian theologian,

Frederick Buechner Carl Frederick Buechner ( ; July 11, 1926 – August 15, 2022) was an American author, Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies ...

. The College awards an annual prize for Excellence in Writing named after the author.

Notable alumni

Notable former students include *

Thomas Walter Manson Thomas Walter Manson (July 22, 1893 – May 1, 1958), FBA was an English biblical scholar. Born in North Shields on July 22, 1893, he was educated at Tynemouth Municipal High School and the University of Glasgow where he was awarded an M.A. In ...

, the biblical scholar and

Rylands Professor The Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis is a professorship or chair in the Department of Religions and Theology at the University of Manchester, England. Formerly in the Faculty of Theology, the chair resides now in the School of A ...

in the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

Lesslie Newbigin James Edward Lesslie Newbigin (8 December 1909 – 30 January 1998) was a British theologian, missiologist, missionary and author. Though originally ordained within the Church of Scotland, Newbigin spent much of his career serving as a mis ...

, ecumenist, bishop, scholar and pioneer of the Church of South India * William Paton, a precursor to Newbigin and a seminal figure in modern

ecumenism Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...

* W. D. Davies, known for his work on

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

and his Jewish background

Notable staff

Patrick Carnegie Simpson Patrick Carnegie Simpson (1865 – 1947) was a Presbyterian churchman and author during the Scottish Church Crisis. After his ordination in 1895, he served in several towns in Scotland and England (notably Renfield Church in Glasgow, and Egr ...

, Professor of Church History from 1914 to 1937 * James Oswald Dykes, Principal and Barbour Professor of Divinity from 1888 to 1907 *

Herbert Henry Farmer Herbert Henry Farmer (27 November 1892 – 13 January 1981) was a British Presbyterian minister, philosopher of religion, and academic. Having served in pastoral ministry from 1919 to 1931, he moved into academia as a member of the staff of Har ...

, Barbour Professor of Systematic Theology from 1935 to 1960

Gallery

Westminster College, Cambridge entrance.jpg, Front gate WestminsterCollegeCambridge.jpg, Westminster College sits on one of the busier intersections of

's ring road Hallway of Westminster College, Cambridge.jpg, The College Peter Lorimer painting in Westminster College, Cambridge.jpg, Peter Lorimer
(first principal) Stained Glass Windows in Westminster College, Cambridge 004.jpg, Chapel
(stained glass) Logos of Presbyterian Churches on the dining hall in Westminster College, Cambridge.jpg, Ceiling dining hall
(with logos of Presbyterian churches) File:Pedestrian entrance to Woolf Institute from Madingley Road.jpg, Pedestrian entrance to the Woolf Institute Building

References

External links

Official website

Cambridge Theological Federation website
{{Coord, 52.210366, N, 0.111933, E, type:edu_region:GB, display=title Reformed church seminaries and theological colleges Presbyterianism in England Buildings by Henry Hare Institutions of the Cambridge Theological Federation Bible colleges, seminaries and theological colleges in England