Since the editors of THE MINISTRY are devoting a special issue of this journal to our Theological Seminary, and since the majority of its readers are either ministers in service or ministers in training, it seems appropriate that we tell you something of the Seminary, its purposes, its program, and its personnel.
Because of pressures toward higher standards of scholarship in our schools, the denomination in its 1930 Autumn Council accepted the principle of accreditation for its colleges and secondary schools in the United States. This step made necessary the obtaining of advanced training by a large number of our teachers: teachers of English, history, science, languages, mathematics, et cetera. Since we had no Seventh-day Adventist facilities for offering advanced training in these lines, it was necessary for these teachers to pursue such study in nondenominational schools. Experience has long ago taught us that this procedure is neither wise nor safe. Many thus engaged lost their way and are lost to the work.
While pursuing studies in secular subjects in non-Adventist schools is fraught with hazards, it is abundantly clear that the study of the Bible, Biblical languages, and church history in such schools is altogether unacceptable. It was for this reason, therefore, that the denomination's leadership developed the plan of offering advanced training in Bible, Biblical languages, church history, and related subjects in our own ranks.
As first conceived, the school was to be a roving school held each summer on a selected senior college campus. The first such school was held at Pacific Union College in the summer of 1934, and was known as the Advanced Bible School.
The leadership of the denomination stood squarely behind the new undertaking. The first meeting giving official consideration to this development was held on November 7, 1933, in the office of the president of the General Conference, 3. L. McElhany, and was attended by I. H. Evans, J. L. Shaw, W. H. Branson, F. M. Wilcox, M. E. Kern, H. T. Elliott, C. P. Crager, L. E. Froom, and W. I. Smith. I. H. Evans was chairman of the meeting. A number of important actions were taken, including agreement on the holding of such a school, the courses to be offered, and teaching personnel as follows:
Dean and Instructor in Bible, M. E. Kern
Instructor in Bible, M. L. Andreasen
Instructor in Bible and Missions, B. P. Hoffman
Instructor in Church History, W. M. Landeen
Instructor in Speech, C. E. Weniger
Instructor in Teaching Methods, G. F. Wolfkill
Instructor in Biblical Languages, L. L. Caviness
Instructor in Science and Religion, G. McC. Price
Special features included lectures on:
Evangelism and the Bible, C. B. Haynes
Spirit of Prophecy, A. G. Daniells
Missions, W. A. Spicer Ministry, I. H. Evans
Health, Dr. Mary McReynolds
The program was carried out, with marked satisfaction to all who were privileged to attend.
Similar sessions were conducted in the summers of 1935 and 1936 at Pacific Union College. So successful was the undertaking that at the 1936 General Conference session, action was taken making the school permanent, and it was also voted that it should be located at Washington, D.C. Here it was operated in wholly inadequate quarters until a new and suitable building was provided in 1941.
In its beginning and for a number of years thereafter the entire faculty was borrowed from other organizations. When it was voted that the institution should be permanent, steps were taken to build a full-time faculty, to develop a strong library, to equip the institution suitably for the work assigned, and to seek authorization to grant graduate degrees, all of which aims have been progressively attained.
Degrees Offered
With the developing awareness that the denomination's ministry was in need of facilities for study beyond those offered in our senior colleges, the work of the Seminary was broadened to make this type of training available as well. A one-year (four quarters) course leading to the M.A. degree in religion was developed, also a three-year course (ten quarters) which leads to the regular seminary degree known as the Bachelor of Divinity, or B.D. To date degrees have been granted as follows:
201 Master of Arts
177 Master of Arts in Religion
34 Bachelor of Divinity
Recently the work of the Seminary has been reorganized under five departments of study, namely:
Department of Old Testament
Department of New Testament
Department of Systematic Theology and Christian Philosophy
Department of Church History
Department of Practical Theology
The scope of the present offerings may be better understood when we state that one hundred sixty-nine separate courses of study are offered. Or stated in another way, allowing an individual to take a maximum allowed study load of sixteen hours per quarter, it would require continuous attendance of seven and a quarter years to complete all the courses now offered, not including any time for thesis preparation.
In pursuing the B.D. degree one may major in any one of the nine following fields:
Archeology and History of Antiquity
Bible and Systematic Theology
Biblical Greek
Biblical Hebrew
Biblical Languages
Church History
Counseling and Guidance
Practical Theology
Preaching and Speech
The strength of any school is to a very large degree measured by the strength of the individual teachers. With sympathetic undergirding of the institution's financial needs by the General Conference, progressive steps have been taken to build up a strong full-time faculty. Some of the denomination's best teachers have joined our staff, and a high standing of scholarship is maintained. A strong spiritual tone likewise pervades the institution. The members of our regular staff are presented pictorially in this article, together with the lines of instruction they carry.
The Seminary reaps rich benefits because of its proximity to the denomination's headquarters, in that a goodly number of General Conference workers are drawn upon to present certain courses and lines of study, which they are qualified by special training and experience to give. These include the following guest instructors and lecturers, with their particular fields:
Roy Allan Anderson Preaching and Worship
Henry E. Andren Counseling and Guidance
Dorothy Foreman Beltz Human Relationships
LeRoy E. Froom History of Prophetic Interpretation
Alvin W. Johnson Religious Liberty
Louise C. Kleuser Practical Theology
J. Wayne McFarland, M.D. Health Evangelism
Frank H. Yost Systematic Theology
Francis D. Nichol Christian Theology
Confidently we believe that the Seminary has an increasingly larger contribution to make in training the denomination's ministry and its teachers for better service for God in the finishing of the work. To this end we gladly serve.
