Cherry Hill Seminary provides higher education and practical training in modern pagan and nature spiritualities, offering the first graduate-level education for Pagan ministry in the world. Cherry Hill Seminary offers online distance-learning classes, regional workshops, and intensive retreats. Cherry Hill Seminary is a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

under the laws of the United States, offering master's-level degrees under authority of the state of

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

, with a business office located in Columbia.

History

The seminary was founded in the early 1990s by Kirk White, Cat Chapin-Bishop, and Laura Wildman-Hanlon of Vermont's Church of the Sacred Earth. Classes were conducted first by mail, then brought online in 2000. White recruited nonprofit consultant and Cherry Hill Seminary student Holli Emore to serve as the chair of the first working board of directors, which began meeting in January 2007. The seminary was granted tax-exempt status by the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...

in March 2007. By the end of that year, Emore became the seminary’s first executive director, and the seminary relocated its business operations and incorporation to South Carolina. Cherry Hill named its library in honor of longtime faculty member Judy Harrow in June 2009. The master's program was announced the next month. In fall 2010, 38 students were matriculated into either a master's or a certificate program, and many more enrolled in courses outside the formal programs. Cherry Hill Seminary granted its first Master of Divinity degree in Pagan pastoral counseling to Sandra Lee Harris of Sacred Well Congregation in May 2012. Evidence of that degree was submitted to the Association of Professional Chaplains as part of the recipient's application for evaluation of theological equivalency by the Board of Chaplaincy Certification, Inc. in lieu of a graduate degree from an accredited seminary. BCCI notified the recipient in November 2012 that her educational credentials had been accepted.

Academic standing

Cherry Hill Seminary has been granted an official religious exemption from South Carolina requirements for educational institutions, meaning it can legally grant

Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and ...

degrees. Cherry Hill Seminary is unaccredited at this time.

Programs

Courses include topics in ethics, religious history, ministry, leadership, chaplaincy, ritual, spirituality and formation, social justice, and more. Registered students receive access to an online classroom for course content, discussion and assignments. Most courses hold live meetings on Skype. Master's degrees include: Master of Pagan Studies and Master of Divinity, with areas of focus corresponding to the Department of Ministry, Advocacy and Leadership; Department of Pagan Pastoral Counseling and Chaplaincy; and Department of Theology and Religious History. "Insights" short courses are for anyone in the public and last only four weeks, addressing specific topics, often on popular subjects or a particular skill. The Seminary is gradually adding self-directed asynchronous short courses. Pagan Life Academy is a series of eight print lessons (not correspondence) developed especially for incarcerated Pagans and ministers working with Pagans in correctional facilities. The Community Ministry Certificate is a non-professional 15-month asynchronous self-study with an assigned faculty mentor for non-professionals serving their communities. The first CMC graduates were awarded their certificates in spring of 2018.

External links

Cherry Hill Seminary

Pagan Academia and Cherry Hill Seminary with Candace Kant

Church of Green and Blue

Guidestar Nonprofit Profile

Online Wiccan and Pagan Schools – Are They Right for You?

Wendy Griffin Conference on Current Pagan Studies 2015

Cherry Hill Seminary Awards First-Ever Pagan Master of Divinity Degree

References

{{authority control Modern pagan organizations based in the United States Seminaries and theological colleges in South Carolina Pagan studies Modern pagan organizations established in the 1990s