TheChicago Theological Seminary (CTS) is a Christianecumenical American seminary located inChicago,Illinois, and is one of several seminaries historically affiliated with theUnited Church of Christ. It is the oldest institution of higher education in Chicago, originally established in 1855 under the direction of the abolitionist Stephen Peet[3] and theCongregational Church (now the United Church of Christ) by charter of the Illinois legislature.[4]
In addition to being a seminary of the United Church of Christ, CTS offers students coursework necessary to be ordained by theMetropolitan Community Church denomination. It was the firsttheological school to introduce the field education experience into a seminary curriculum,[5] the first to create a distinct Department of Christian Sociology in an American theological school,[6] and the first seminary to award a degree in divinity to a woman in the United States (Florence Fensham, 1902).[7]
The Chicago Theological Seminary at its new location inHyde Park, Chicago
Unintimidated by controversy, Chicago Theological Seminary has a record of setting trends in American faith life and leadership for more than a century.
In the 1850s and 1860s, CTS founder Stephen Peet was a leader in a new generation of 19th-century American abolitionists no longer content to wait for the end of slavery nor to tolerate those who defended it.[8] Under his leadership, the seminary was active in the Underground Railroad and was a leading voice in theChristian Abolitionism movement.
The first CTS curriculum in 1855 was provided for students among congregations and missions across the Midwest. Students were encouraged to learn by direct experience the facts of community life and church needs in an experimental culture. Although such a practice was unknown at that time, this curriculum was the beginning of the first field education component introduced into seminary education. Field education is now a part of every accredited professional theological degree program.
Because of a conviction that training for ministry needed to combine the study ofChristian faith and the world of secular knowledge and action, during President Ozora Davis' tenure in 1900s, CTS moved to the vicinity of theUniversity of Chicago. Under Ozora Davis' leadership the buildings of the seminary were financed and constructed, and the relationship with the University of Chicago established.
After recognizing Florence Fensham with the first American seminary degree awarded to a woman, Chicago Theological Seminary founded the Congregational Training School for Women in 1909 to provideCongregational women with advanced educational training. The school continued its mission until it was subsumed into the Chicago Theological Seminary in 1926. Florence Fensham was the school's first dean, succeeded by Agnes M. Taylor and Margaret M. Taylor after Dean Fensham died unexpectedly in 1912. The Chicago Theological Seminary allow full acceptance of women to its programs in 1926, thereby eliminating the need for a separate institution for women.
In 1892, CTS invitedGraham Taylor, a professor of theology at Hartford Theological Seminary in Connecticut who had shown success in working with the poor, to establish the United States' first Department ofChristianSociology at CTS. Taylor worked closely with leading Chicago activistJane Addams, founder ofHull House, an Americansettlement house. Taylor established theChicago Commons settlement house in Chicago'sFulton Market neighborhood, where with the help of CTS students he brought recreational clubs, classes, a day nursery, and a kindergarten to the working poor. The house had 25 residents and was open to all ethnic groups and religious denominations. Pressed for space, the Chicago Commons moved a few blocks north to the building formerly occupied by the Chicago Congregational Tabernacle, where Taylor expanded the courses offered into the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, which later became theUniversity of Chicago School of Social Service Administration.[9]
In the 1920s,Anton Boisen, a pioneer in the hospitalchaplaincy movement and founder of the Council for the Clinical Training of Theological Students, began lecturing every fall quarter in thesocial ethics department of CTS. In 1932, he became chaplain of Elgin State Hospital (nowElgin Mental Health Center) and founded a Chicago arm of the Council for the Clinical Training of Theological Students. His work to help theological students better understand and minister to physically,mentally, and emotionally ill people ultimately led to the founding of theAssociation for Clinical Pastoral Education. Boisen's ashes are interred in the CTS cloisters.
In 1957, as theAmerican civil rights movement escalated, CTS became the first seminary in the United States to award Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King an Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree in recognition of his activism. Two years later CTS alumnusHoward Schomer, who had received his doctorate of divinity from CTS in 1954, became president of the seminary. Schomer was a conscientious objector and former aide to theUnited Nations Commission on Human Rights who had assisted in the drafting of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. A close associate of King, Schomer in March 1965 led a contingent of CTS students that included scholarship recipient Jesse Jackson, Sr. toSelma, Alabama, to march with local residents againstsegregation.[10] Jackson dropped out of the Master of Divinity program just three courses short of degree completion in order to work on the civil rights movement full time. He went on to foundOperation PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity), a Chicago counterpart to the southern civil rights movement that focused on the economic empowerment of African-Americans and poor people of all races, and theRainbow Coalition, which worked to unite disenfranchised American groups, from racial minorities to small farmers, in order to exercise political power. CTS ultimately awarded Jackson the Master of Divinity in 2000 in recognition of his life's work.[citation needed]
During the 1960s,John W. de Gruchy, a white South African theologian who later became known for his work resisting Apartheid, attended CTS.[11]
In 1965, CTS began a Doctorate of Religion program, one of the first professional doctorates in ministry. As standards for the professional doctorate were established by theAssociation of Theological Schools, the seminary became one of the initial group of six schools to have fully accredited programs of study for theDoctor of Ministry degree.
In the 1980s, CTS engaged in theanti-apartheid movement advocating for the divestment of resources fromSouth Africa. In 1986, the seminary awardedArchbishop Desmond Tutu an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree for his activism to liberate black South Africans.[12]
In 2006, CTS launched the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ)Religious Studies Center (Queer Center), a grant-funded research program and resource for activists seeking to move toward greater justice and to encourage new conversations.[13][14] CTS is also home to the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Religious Archives Network, and the seminary's Heyward Boswell Society for LGBTQ people and allies engages students across campus in social activities. CTS also offers an annual Gilberto Castaneda scholarship award for outstanding GLBT students. CTS has graduated some of the nation's first transgender ministers and has many openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students, staff, and faculty. Several of the seminary's faculty members have published books and articles regarding religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity. The United Church of Christ Coalition for GLBT Concerns lists Chicago Theological Seminary as an officially "Open and Affirming" institution that is especially welcoming to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex concerns.
In 2007, CTS established the Center for the Study ofBlack Faith and Life (CSBFL), becoming the first denominational seminary to have a center devoted to engaging the larger Black Faith community through inclusivity of a variety of religions. CSBFL sponsors the annual C. Shelby Rooks lecture, which brings outstanding black theologians, ministers, activists, and non-profit leaders to campus.[15]
In 2009, CTS became the first free-standingProtestant seminary to endow a faculty chair inJewish studies, with the hope of advancinginterfaith engagement and multi-faith education.[12] The next year, CTS founded the Center for Jewish, Christian, andIslamic Studies (JCIS), the first American program of its kind based in a free-standing theological seminary. This center offers resources to students who concentrate in theology, ethics, and human sciences that enable scholars to experientially and theoretically integrate Jewish, Christian, andMuslim theology with these topics. In 2017, CTS established theInterReligious Institute (IRI), which stands counter to the idea that Christianity is the "normal" religious position for Americans and seeks to create space in the public square for people of other religions and for people with no religion. IRI does this by providing ongoing events, resources, and training materials for the public.[12][16]
In 2019, CTS began a partnership with Bayan Claremont to provide both a graduate certificate and an accredited Master of Divinity in Islamic Chaplaincy at the seminary's Hyde Park campus.[17]
The Chicago Theological Seminary is an independent educational institution located within the broader campus of the University of Chicago.[23] From the top ofRockefeller Chapel, the Main Quadrangles can be seen on the left (West), theOriental Institute and theBooth School of Business andLaboratory Schools can be seen on the right (East). The panoramic is bounded on both sides by theMidway Plaisance (South).
The original buildings were designed by Herbert Riddle and built between 1923 and 1928. Riddle was the architect forMather Tower in the Loop, as well as many buildings in New York. The original CTS building complex included stained glass windows, medieval style groin vaulting, furniture, lighting fixtures, ceramic ornament and tile work, and architectural relics—all of the highest quality of the day.
The seminary, which was for decades located at 5757 South University Avenue in theHyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, adjacent to the University of Chicago, during the 2011/2012 academic year moved to 1407 East 60th Street, also in Hyde Park. The building designed by Riddle that had served as a seminary for decades became home to the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago and theBecker Friedman Institute for Research in Economics.
Construction of the new $30 million CTS facility was a partnership between the University of Chicago and the Chicago Theological Seminary.[24] In May 2008, the University of Chicago Board of Trustees Executive Committee authorized the purchase of two CTS buildings and an adjacent parking lot. Additionally, the University of Chicago agreed to construct a new seminary building at 60th Street and Dorchester Avenue. The seminary's new building, designed byNagle Hartray Architecture, is located at 1407 E. 60th Street and is LEED Gold-certified and fully ADA accessible.[25] By 2013, the building project had acquired numerous private and public funds.[26]
Aerial view of new CTS building on University of Chicago campus
The Robinson & Janet Lapp Learning Commons, centrally located on the third floor of CTS's new building, is a working theological collection of more than 45,000 volumes. The library also subscribes to more than 700 periodicals and runs multiple research database platforms. Special holdings include the Boisen Collection inpsychology and personality science, and the Campbell Morgan Collection named forG. Campbell Morgan, containing his sermons, writings, books, newspaper clips, lecture notes, photographs, and other archival materials. The Commons is also home to a number of rare books, including a 1670 first quarto edition ofThomas Hobbes'Leviathan published in London by Johannem Tomsoni. The collection is strong in the theological subject areas ofBible,Church history, andtheology. Particular fields of note also includeAfrican American religion and spirituality,women's studies,LGBT/queer studies, and Jewish and Christian studies.
Besides the Lapp Learning Commons, CTS students also have access to theUniversity of Chicago Library system, the 11th largest library collection in the United States. CTS students and faculty can use this resource in person.[27]
In addition to being a seminary of the United Church of Christ, it offers students coursework necessary to be ordained by theMetropolitan Community Church.
Franklin Fisk (1888–1901), one of the most widely known theologians and educators of the West, according toThe New York Times,[28]Yale University alumnus and valedictorian, and first president of Chicago Theological Seminary.
Joseph H. George (1901–1906)
Graham Taylor, interim (1906–1908)
Ozora Stearns Davis (1909–1929), prominentCongregational minister, hymn writer, long-time president of CTS, and biographer of his friend journalist Victor Freemont Lawson.[29]
Carl S. Patton, interim (1928–1930)
Albert W. Palmer (1930–1946), Social Gospel reformer, peace activist, pastor[30]
Donald C. Clark, Jr. (2017–2018), Counselor at law, entrepreneur, retired general counsel for theUnited Church of Christ, and past CTS board chair, served as Acting President while Hunt was on sabbatical.
Stephen G. Ray, Jr. (2018–present), Professor, theologian, author, writer, ordained minister, activist, former Neal F. and Ila A. Fisher Professor of Systematic Theology atGarrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.
Anton Boisen—Leading figure in the hospital chaplaincy and clinical pastoral education movements.
Fred Eastman—Theologist, professor, playwright, author, and journalist; chair of dept. of religious drama and literature at CTS (1926–1952)[40]
Clara E. Powell—First female professor at CTS, and English teacher.[41]
Andre LaCocque—Founder of The Center of Jewish-Christian Studies & Professor of Hebrew Scriptures (1969–1999), Theologian, scholar, author and co-author ofThinking Biblically with philosopherPaul Ricoeur
G. Campbell Morgan—British evangelist, preacher and a leading Bible scholar (D.D., 1902)
Graham Taylor—Minister, social reformer, educator and founder of Chicago Commons Settlement House which later became the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration.[6]
RabbiHerman Schaalman—Activist, rabbi, scholar, son ofDachau concentration camp survivor, rabbi emeritus of Congregation Emanuel, past president of the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago, honoree of the Herman Schaalman Chair of Jewish Studies at Chicago Theological Seminary.[42][43]
Laurel C. Schneider, Theologian with special interests in queer and intersectional perspectives with focus on concepts such as multiplicity and polydoxy
Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite—author, former CTS president, syndicated columnist, ordained minister, activist, theologian, and translator of the Bible[38]
Rachel Mikva—Rabbi Herman E. Schaalman Associate Professor of Jewish Studies, director of the Center for Jewish, Christian and Islamic Studies
Rami Nashashibi—community organizer and American Muslim activist who co-founded and continues to serve as the executive director of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN)
Jesse Jackson Sr.—American civil rights activist, politician, and Baptist minister. (M.Div., 2000)
John W. de Gruchy—Anti-Apartheid leader, Karl Barth Prize award recipient, former Robert Selby Taylor Professor of Christian Studies at University of Cape Town (South Africa), and an Extraordinary Professor at the University of Stellenbosch.[44]
Philo Carpenter—Illinois' first pharmacist, managing director of the Chicago Bible Society, abolitionist, school board member, board of health member, organizer of the Relief and Aid Society, and co-organizer of American Anti-Slavery Society.
Otis Moss III—Pastor of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ (D.Min., 2012)
Jared Maurice Arter—Former slave, Virginia school superintendent, author. (B.D.)
Mercy Oduyoye—Methodist theologian known for her work in African women's theology. (2001, D.D.)
Larry Pickens—United Methodist pastor, and ecumenical activist (Ph.D.)
Adam Kotsko—American writer, theologian, religious scholar, and translator, working chiefly in the field ofpolitical theology. (M.A, 2005; Ph.D., 2009)
William Leonard Rowe—Professor emeritus of philosophy at Purdue University who specializes in the philosophy of religion
Emily C. Hewitt—Former Judge and Chief Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims. (D.Min.)
Syngman Rhee—Former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, civil rights activist, teacher
Jesse Jackson Jr.—National co-chair, Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign; former U.S. Representative for the Illinois 2nd District. (M.Div., 1988)
Daniel Crosby Greene—First missionary of the American Board to Japan, member of the committee for the translation of the New Testament into the Japanese and Chinese languages
Daniel Patte—Professor of Religious Studies and of New Testament & Early Christianity at Vanderbilt University (Th.D., 1971 from The Center of Jewish-Christian Studies with André LaCocque)
.jpg)
.jpg)
