Union Theological Seminary
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (shortened to UTS or Union) is a private ecumenical liberal Christian seminary[4] in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, affiliated with Columbia University. Columbia University lists UTS among its affiliate schools, alongside Barnard College and Teachers College. Since 1928, the seminary has served as Columbia's constituent faculty of theology.[5] In 1964, UTS also established an affiliation with the neighboring Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Despite its affiliation with Columbia University, UTS is an independent institution with its own administration and Board of Trustees. UTS confers the following degrees: Master of Divinity (MDiv), Master of Divinity & Social Work dual degree (MDSW), Master of Arts in religion (MAR), Master of Arts in Social Justice (MASJ), Master of Sacred Theology (STM), Doctor of Ministry (DMin), and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).
For other organizations with the same name, see Union Theological Seminary (disambiguation). "Union Seminary" redirects here. For the institution in Pennsylvania that preceded Albright College, see Albright College.
Other name
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
Unitas, Veritas, Caritas (Latin)
Unity, Truth, Love
1836 (1836)
$112.6 million (2019)[1]
38
210
W. 120th St. and Broadway, New York, NY 10027
2.3 acres (0.93 ha)
1908
Late Gothic Revival, Collegiate Gothic
0595
April 23, 1980
November 15, 1967 (Brown Memorial Tower, James Tower, James Memorial Chapel)[3]
UTS is the oldest independent seminary in the United States and has long been known as a bastion of progressive Christian scholarship, with a number of prominent thinkers among its faculty or alumni. It was founded in 1836 by members of the Presbyterian Church in the USA,[6] but was open to students of all denominations. In 1893, UTS rescinded the right of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church to veto faculty appointments, thus becoming fully independent. In the 20th century, Union became a center of liberal Christianity. It served as the birthplace of the Black theology, womanist theology, and other theological movements. It houses the Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, one of the largest theological libraries in the Western Hemisphere.[7]
– Skinner and McAlpin Professor of Practical Theology
Mary C. Boys
– Professor of Old Testament; contributed to Genesis in the New Oxford Annotated Bible (New Revised Standard Version)
David M. Carr
– Henry Luce, III Professor of Reformation Church History
Euan Cameron
– Appointed Professor of Bible in 1998, becoming the first person to hold a joint professorship at both Union and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. His dual appointment has been described as a major step in strengthening ties between the two seminaries.
Alan Cooper
– Christiane Brooks Johnson Professor of Psychology and Religion
Pamela Cooper-White
– Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary as well as the Canon Theologian at the Washington National Cathedral.
Kelly Brown Douglas
– Visiting professor of Theology
Roger Haight
Esther J. Hamori - Professor of Hebrew Bible
Brigitte Kahl – Professor of New Testament
– Associate Professor of Ecumenical Theology
Chung Hyun Kyung
Aliou C. Niang - Associate Professor of New Testament
Jerusha T. Rhodes - Associate Professor of Islam and Interreligious Engagement
Kosen Greg Snyder - Senior Director and assistant professor of Buddhist Studies
John J. Thatamanil – Professor of Theology and World Religions
– Professor of Religious Philosophy and Christian Practice
Cornel West
Andrea C. White – Associate Professor of Theology and Culture
– Brazilian theologian and writer
Rubem Alves
(Bachelor of Divinity, 1877) – controversial American missionary to China (1877–1909)
William Scott Ament
– radio news show writer and host
John Batchelor
– Class of 1860: clergyman, educator, and hymnologist.
Frederic Mayer Bird
– German Lutheran theologian and Nazi resister, attended UTS in 1930 for postgraduate studies and a teaching fellowship under Reinhold Niebuhr
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
– founder of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) movement
Anton Boisen
– Biblical scholar and author; former Hundere Distinguished Professor of Religion and Culture at Oregon State University
Marcus Borg
– Episcopal priest and author. He was one of the most prominent of the gay clergy to come out of the closet when he did so in 1977. For two years in 1956 and 1957, Boyd engaged in post-graduate studies at Union Theological Seminary where he wrote his first book, Crisis in Communication. He participated in the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements in the 1960s.
Malcolm Boyd
– William Marcellus McPheeters professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary
Walter Brueggemann
– writer, novelist, poet, essayist, theologian, and ordained Presbyterian minister. Buechner described his time at Union at length in his 1982 autobiographical work, The Sacred Journey. In 2008 Union honored Buechner with the Unitas Distinguished Alumni/ae Awards, bestowed upon alumni/ae who exemplify the Seminary's academic breadth, diversity, and inclusiveness.[25]
Frederick Buechner
– poet
David Budbill
(Bachelor of Divinity, 1855) – a rifle shooting Congregational missionary in Sioux Indian territory who could bark a squirrel, swing an axe or dispense Gospel with equal fervor and efficiency.
Edwin Otway Burnham
(BD 1952) – president of the National Council of Churches from 1972 to 1975[26][27]
W. Sterling Cary
– anthropologist and missionary
Gladwyn M. Childs
(1848), Presbyterian clergy, missionary, Oriental scholar, writer
Oliver Crane
(Master of divinity, 1929) – labor union activist and strategist responsible for the passage of Medicare
Nelson Cruikshank
– noted American peace activist and member of the Chicago Seven
David Dellinger
(Master of Sacred Theology) – Sri Lankan theologian, former director of the Ecumenical Institute for Study and Dialogue, Methodist minister, and a pioneer in promoting Buddhist–Christian dialogue
Lynn de Silva
(B.D. 1944) – President of Hollins College, first Chancellor of the Municipal College System of the City of New York, and President of the New School for Social Research
John R. Everett
(B.D. 1927) – early figure in U.S. psychosomatic medicine
Helen Flanders Dunbar
– Shailer Mathews Professor of Religious Ethics, the Philosophy of Religion, and Theology at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago
Franklin I. Gamwell
– New Testament exegete, theologian, and author most recently of When in Romans[29]
Beverly Roberts Gaventa
evolutionary biologist
J. T. Gulick
– Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University. Author of 9 books and over 70 articles[30]
David P. Gushee
– emeritus professor of theology at McGill University, and theologian of the cross.
Douglas John Hall
– former Moderator of the General Assembly for the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.
Edler Garnet Hawkins
– lesbian feminist theologian and priest in the Episcopal Church
Carter Heyward
– Scottish writer and broadcaster and was formerly Bishop of Edinburgh
Richard Holloway
– Professor of Theology at the Divinity School at the University of Chicago
Dwight Hopkins
– co-founder of the Highlander Center
Myles Horton
– former presidential advisor and United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom (2011–2013)
Suzan Johnson Cook
– Professor of Sociology, Religious Studies, and Global Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara and Director of the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies
Mark Juergensmeyer
– President New Brunswick Theological Seminary 1993–2005 and Senior Scholar in Residence, Theological School, Drew University
Norman J. Kansfield
– Minister and social activist
Mineo Katagiri
– Mayor of Schenectady, New York, Member of the United States House of Representatives, Lieutenant Governor of New York
George R. Lunn
(1860-1938) – Minister, former United States Ambassador to Liberia, and founder of the Maryland Industrial and Agricultural Institute for Colored Youths.
Ernest Lyon
– missionary educator to Bulgaria; journalist, Christian Science Monitor; author of numerous books
Reuben H. Markham
– existential psychologist
Rollo May
– pastor in Harlem
James David Manning
(PhD) – Moderator of the United Church of Canada
Bruce McLeod
– author and radio and television personality
Lisa Oz
– first Black student, organized theology department at Howard University
John Bunyan Reeve
(1938) – founder of Operation Crossroads Africa, a forerunner of the Peace Corps
James Herman Robinson
– pioneering psychologist
Carl Rogers
Leroy S. Rouner - Professor of Philosophy, Religion, and Philosophical Theology at Boston University
- Episcopal priest and author
Fleming Rutledge
– Indian Christian theologian, philosopher and historian
V.C. Samuel
– scholar of religion and literature
Nathan A. Scott, Jr.
– President of Union Theological Seminary
Henry Sloane Coffin
– former associate director of the National Civil Liberties Bureau (American Civil Liberties Union)
William Gayley Simpson
– a Chinese Christian evangelist who played an instrumental role in the revival movement among the Chinese in mainland China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia during the 1920s and 1930s
John Sung
– feminist writer
John Stoltenberg
– Metropolitan of Marthoma Syrian Church in India
Juhanon Mar Thoma
– socialist
Norman Thomas
(born 1964) - Baptist minister, radio host, author, civil rights activist, and politician
Conrad Tillard
(b. 1932) – feminist biblical scholar
Phyllis Trible
- composer who developed the Virtue Notagraph
Constance Cochnower Virtue
– U.S. Senator from Georgia (2021-) and senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta[31]
Raphael Warnock
– womanist theologian
Delores S. Williams
– Biblical scholar and activist
Walter Wink
Union Seminary Quarterly Review
Altman, Jake. Socialism Before Sanders: The 1930s Movement from Romance to Revisionism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
Handy, Robert T. A History of Union Theological Seminary in New York. New York: Columbia University Press, 1987.