Western Seminary is an

interdenominational Interdenominationalism is an evangelical Protestant movement of cooperation among various Christian denominations. History The movement has its origins in the founding of the London Missionary Society, a missionary society, in 1795 by variou ...

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

Christian

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

with campuses in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

;

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

; and

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

. Western Seminary also has online-only degrees and programs and provides non-credit classes through the Center for Leadership Development.

History

Armstrong Hall at Western Seminary - Portland, Oregon

Portland Baptist Bible Institute was organized in the winter of 1925 through the work of Walter B. Hinson. In the following year, further efforts were begun to establish a graduate-level seminary to provide a theological education of greater depth in the

Northwestern United States The Northwestern United States, also known as the American Northwest or simply the Northwest, is an informal geographic region of the United States. The region consistently includes the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. ...

. The Western Baptist Theological Seminary was officially dedicated on October 4, 1927. The board acquired the Philip Buehner House, now Armstrong Hall, and of land on the west slope of Portland's Mt. Tabor in 1944. Additional structures were built and classes convened at the new site in the fall of that year. The Portland campus continues to operate at this site at the crest of the Hawthorne District. The Western Baptist Theological Seminary became Western Seminary. Western Seminary has opened several extension campus locations in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the We ...

. The first branch campus was launched in

in 1986, followed by another in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...

in 1988. A

campus was opened in 1991, as was the former

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

campus in 1992. The Phoenix campus has become an independent seminary,

Phoenix Seminary Phoenix Seminary is an interdenominational Evangelical Christian seminary in Scottsdale, Arizona. History It was founded in 1988 as a branch campus of Western Seminary and became independent in 2004. Academics Phoenix Seminary is accredite ...

. Western Seminary's former Seattle campus is now

The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology is a private graduate school in Seattle, Washington. History The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology was initially established under the auspices of Western Seminary in 1997, becoming independent ...

(formerly Mars Hill Graduate School). Western's presidents have been reputable leaders in theological education, including Earl D. Radmacher (1965–1989) Bert Downs (1998–2008), and Randal Roberts (2008-2021). The current president is Chuck Conniry (starting Feb. of 2021). Dr. Earl Radmacher became president of Western Seminary in 1965, at age 34, the youngest seminary president in the country, leading a school of 90 students. Six years of effort recruiting faculty and students saw the student body increase to 600 students, and Dr. Radmacher led the institution as its president for a total of 25 years

Western has developed many solutions to help non-residential students complete their coursework. Western was one of the earliest institutions to offer the Doctor of Ministry degree, with

modular scheduling Modular scheduling (also known as flex scheduling, flexible modular scheduling, or modular flex scheduling) is a system of timetabling in certain high schools in the United States. History Modular scheduling was developed by schools such as the Ke ...

for easy out of state access. In 1981, Western began an online-only program that served hundreds of students per year in study centers across America and overseas through interactive video curriculum. In adapting courses to DVD and online streaming formats, the Western Seminary Online Campus offers distance learning courses and programs. In 2005, Western expanded its training sites along the west coast by establishing learning cohorts in such cities as

and

Richland, Washington Richland () is a city in Benton County, Washington, United States. It is located in southeastern Washington at the confluence of the Yakima and the Columbia Rivers. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 60,560. Along with the nearby c ...

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

and Bakersfield, California. In 2010, the

campus relocated to

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara (; Spanish for " Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area. Located in the southern Bay Area, the cit ...

. In 2013, Western Seminary changed the name of its online learning department to Western Seminary Online Campus (formerly "Center for Lifelong Learning") as it began to offer its fully online degree program. In 2014, the seminary launched a Seattle Teaching Site in

Bellevue, Washington Bellevue ( ) is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, located across Lake Washington from Seattle. It is the third-largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area and has variously been characterized as ...

to offer classes to the Puget Sound Area. This site was closed in 2020 and replaced by a "pop-up" model. The

campus relocated to a new facility in the Sacramento community of Rocklin, California. In 2016, the

campus relocated to

Milpitas, California Milpitas ( Spanish for "little milpas") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in Silicon Valley. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 80,273. The city's origins lie in Rancho Milpitas, granted to Californio ranchero José Mar� ...

. As part of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the Portland seminary received between $1 million and $2 million in federally backed small business loan from Columbia State Bank as part of the

Paycheck Protection Program The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is a $953-billion business loan program established by the United States federal government during the Donald Trump administration in 2020 through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARE ...

. The company stated it would allow them to retain an undefined number of jobs.

Academics

Western Seminary offers the Master of Arts (MA), Master of Divinity (M.Div.), and Master of Theology (Th.M.) degrees. It also offers the Doctor of Intercultural Studies, Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.), and Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degrees as well as non-credit programs.

Theology and philosophy of ministry

Western Seminary is dedicated to "gospel-centered transformation." The seminary centers all learning and experience - in and out of the classroom - on

the gospel The gospel or good news is a theological concept in several religions. In the historical Roman imperial cult and today in Christianity, the gospel is a message about salvation by a divine figure, a savior, who has brought peace or other benefit ...

. Though Western Seminary students come from a large number of Christian denominations and non-denominational churches, the faculty teaches a conservative and

evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

doctrine, with a philosophy of ministry in and alongside the church. Western Seminary regards the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

as the infallible and inerrant word of God.

Accreditation

Western Seminary is accredited to award master's and doctorate degrees by the

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) is an independent, non-profit membership organization recognized by the United States Department of Education since 1952 as an institutional accreditor for colleges and universities. ...

(NWCCU) and is an accredited member of the

Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS) is an organization of seminaries and other graduate schools of theology. ATS has its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. History It was founded in 1918. The assoc ...

(ATS). The seminary is also a partner with Jerusalem University College in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, as well as a charter member of the Institute of Theological Studies (ITS).

Publications

''Western Magazine'' is a print publication produced semi-annually by Western Seminary and is sent to alumni, supporters, and friends of the Seminary. 'Renewal' is an electronic newsletter published by Western Seminary and sent to alumni, supporters, and friends of the Seminary. 'Transformed' is a blog composed by faculty and alumni of Western Seminary, which was launched in October 2011 to help initiate renewal to the Christian Church community. Articles address a variety of disciplines, including the Bible, theology, ministry practice, leadership, discipleship, culture and reviews of various media that pertain to Christian living. ''The Spurgeon Fellowship Journal'' was inaugurated in October 2007 in an effort "to equip pastors to bring classic pastoral wisdom to bear upon modern ministry challenges." The journal is published online three times a year, focusing each edition on one of three areas: The Pastoral Identity, The Pastoral Task and the Pastoral Confession. Journal articles are contributed by Western Seminary faculty, as well as theologians and pastors around the country. ''Food Trucks In Babylon'' is the official podcast of Western Seminary. The show explores how to live faithfully in a post-christian world and is hosted by Dr.Todd Miles and Dr. Ryan Lister.

Notable alumni

Craig A. Evans Craig Alan Evans (born January 21, 1952) is an American biblical scholar. He is a prolific writer with 70 books and over 600 journal articles and reviews to his name. Career He earned his Bachelor of Arts, B.A in history and philosophy from Cla ...

(Master of Divinity from Western Baptist Seminary) * Robert B. Pamplin, Jr. (Masters of Arts in Theology (1978) and a Doctor of Ministry in Theology (1982) from Western Seminary) * Thomas R. Schreiner (M.Div. and Th.M.) *

Dan Kimball Dan Kimball is an author and was a leading voice in the beginning years of the Emerging Church movement in the United States. Kimball's writings focus on encouraging churches and Christians to creatively make any changes needed in order to break ...

* Tim LaHaye * Matt Mikalatos * Mark Driscoll (pastor) (Master of Arts degree in exegetical theology from Western Seminary) * Bruce A. Ware (M.Div. (1978) and Th.M. (1980) from Western Conservative Baptist Seminary) * George I. Mavrodes (B.D. degree (1953) from Western Baptist Theological Seminary) * Stu Weber (Master of Divinity from Western Seminary) * Bruce Wilkinson (D.D. from Western Conservative Baptist Seminary) * Gary P. Weeden

References

*Thomas, Steve. (10-12-2007)
"The Spurgeon Fellowship Journal
Western Seminary Alumni. Accessed 10-15-2007.

External links

Official website
{{authority control Seminaries and theological colleges in Oregon Seminaries and theological colleges in California Universities and colleges in Sacramento County, California Universities and colleges in Santa Clara County, California Educational institutions established in 1927 Universities and colleges accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities 1927 establishments in Oregon Universities and colleges in Portland, Oregon Mount Tabor, Portland, Oregon Interdenominational seminaries and theological colleges