Trinity Southwest University (TSU) is an unaccredited evangelical Christian institution of

higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

with an office in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

. Principally a theological school that encompasses both the

Bible college A Bible college, sometimes referred to as a Bible institute or theological institute or theological seminary, is an evangelical Christian or Restoration Movement Christianity, Christian institution of higher education which prepares students for C ...

and

theological seminary 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 ...

concepts of Christian education, it offers

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...

programs and degrees in biblical studies, theological studies, archaeology and biblical history, biblical counseling, biblical representational research, and university studies.

History

TSU was founded as Southwest Biblical Seminary in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

, where it provided Bible-oriented education for local students. In 1989 it relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico. According to TSU, in 1990 it began an official association with "an internationally-known Bible college and seminary" (not identified), but it became an independent institution of higher education in 2001. Most TSU students enroll in distance education. As of 2007 the typical student was an adult between 40 and 49 years old. At that time, the school occupied a former church in Albuquerque. As of October 2021 its location was described as "a strip mall in Albuquerque."

Doctrine

TSU is evangelical Christian in its orientation; it calls itself "trans-denominational". The school holds that biblical scripture, specifically "the ancient Hebrew Tanakh and the New Testament", is "the only written, divinely inspired representation of reality given by God to humankind, speaking with absolute and authority in all matters upon which it touches."

Affiliations and accreditation status

TSU is not

accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

by any accreditor recognized by the

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a cabinet-level department of the United States government, originating in 1980. The department began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and ...

. The institution's position is that "any governmental association or oversight ... is inappropriate for a

faith-based organization A faith-based organization is an organization whose values are based on faith and beliefs, which has a mission based on social values of the particular faith, and which most often draws its activists (leaders, staff, volunteers) from a particular ...

or institution, and constitutes a fundamental violation of church/state separation". Accordingly, students are ineligible for governmental financial assistance. The institution states that it operates in New Mexico under a religious exemption authorized by state law. TSU is a member of the

Association of Christian Schools International The Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI), founded in 1978, is an international organization of evangelical Christian schools. Its headquarters are in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It offers tiers of oversight, from school accredit ...

Archaeology

Since 2005, TSU's executive dean Steven Collins has directed excavations at Tall el-Hammam in Jordan, a

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

settlement which he argues was the biblical city of Sodom. He has written several books on the topic. Other

biblical archaeologists Biblical archaeology is an academic school and a subset of Biblical studies and Levantine archaeology. Biblical archaeology studies archaeological sites from the Ancient Near East and especially the Holy Land (also known as Land of Israel and ...

have rejected the identification because it is inconsistent with biblical literalist chronology; according to ''

Christianity Today ''Christianity Today'' is an evangelical Christian media magazine founded in 1956 by Billy Graham. It is published by Christianity Today International based in Carol Stream, Illinois. ''The Washington Post'' calls ''Christianity Today'' "eva ...

'', "few archaeologists outside of those working on the excavation team believe that Tall el-Hammam is Sodom." Collins and his colleagues claim that Tall el-Hammam was destroyed in a sudden catastrophe, based on the discovery of burnt brick, melted pottery and

geophysical Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct investigations acros ...

signatures of high temperatures. In a 2021 paper, they argued that this was a

meteor air burst A meteor air burst is a type of air burst in which a meteoroid explodes after entering a planetary body's atmosphere. This fate leads them to be called fireballs or bolides, with the brightest air bursts known as superbolides. Such meteoroids w ...

similar to the

Tunguska event The Tunguska event was a large explosion of between 3 and 50 TNT equivalent, megatons that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Yeniseysk Governorate (now Krasnoyarsk Krai), Russia, on the morning of 30 June 1908. The explosion over ...

. Soon after its publication, physicist Mark Boslough, who is cited in the paper, raised several concerns about its contents and the background of its authors, and Elisabeth Bik, an expert in investigating

scientific misconduct Scientific misconduct is the violation of the standard codes of scholarly method, scholarly conduct and ethics, ethical behavior in the publication of professional science, scientific research. It is the violation of scientific integrity: violati ...

, identified possible doctored images. The authors initially denied tampering with the photos but eventually published a correction in which they admitted to inappropriate image manipulation. In April 2025, the paper was retracted citing "errors in methodology, analyses, and interpretation".

References

External links

TrinitySouthwest.com
(official website)
TSU-edu.us
(official website) {{authority control Universities and colleges established in 1990 1990 establishments in Oklahoma Seminaries and theological colleges in New Mexico Education in Albuquerque, New Mexico Evangelicalism in New Mexico Buildings and structures in Albuquerque, New Mexico Unaccredited Christian universities and colleges in the United States Evangelical universities and colleges in the United States