List of New Brunswick Theological Seminary people
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/NBTS_from_George_Street_New_Brunswick_NJ_1880_print.jpg/300px-NBTS_from_George_Street_New_Brunswick_NJ_1880_print.jpg)
New Brunswick Theological Seminary is a Christian seminary affiliated with the Reformed Church in America (RCA), a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination in Canada and the United States that follows the theological tradition and Christian practice of John Calvin.[a][1] The seminary offers that offers professional and graduate degree programs for candidates for ministry and those pursuing careers in academia. The seminary also offers certificates and training programs to lay church leaders seeking advanced courses. For over 230 years, the seminary's faculty and alumni have taken key roles in the ministry of the Reformed Church and other Christian denominations, in academia, and in the professional world.
Founded in 1784, New Brunswick Theological Seminary is the oldest seminary in the United States and one of seminaries operated by the Reformed Church in America. It currently has two campuses: Its main campus, built in 1856, in New Brunswick, New Jersey adjacent to the campus of Rutgers University and its newer campus, opened in 1986, on the grounds of St. John's University in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, New York. While rooted in the Reformed faith, the Seminary is dedicated to providing a comprehensive Christian education as "an inter-cultural, ecumenical school of Christian faith, learning, and scholarship committed to its metro-urban and global contexts."[2]
Leaders of the Seminary
[edit]The board of trustees appoints a president to serve as the seminary's chief administrative and executive officer. The current seminary president is Rev. Micah L. McCreary, M.Div., Ph.D., who has served in that capacity since 2017. The current Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs is Rev. Beth Tanner, Ph.D.
The seminary's first leader was the Rev. John Henry Livingston, who was appointed in 1784 to start instructing candidates for ministry. He began to do so in his New York City home, and a few years moved the seminary to Flatbush. In 1810, Livingston accepted the presidency of Queen's College in New Brunswick, New Jersey (now Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey), and moved the seminary to that city.
The title of President of the Seminary was first used with regard to the administrator of the school in 1923. Previously, the role had been known as Dean of the Seminary from 1883 to 1888 and filled by the oldest professor in years of service who would be entrusted with the management of the seminary. That title became President of the Faculty from 1888 to 1923.[3] Today, the president of the seminary is simultaneously appointed to the John Henry Livingston Professor of Theology, created upon the recommendation of outgoing president M. Stephen James. In 1959, James was appointed to the chair in an emeritus capacity, and the chair was first occupied by the seminary's eight president, Justin Vander Kolk.[4]
# | Portrait | Person | Took office | Left office | Career | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
- | ![]() |
John Henry Livingston (1746–1825) |
1784 | 1825 |
|
[5][6] |
1 | ![]() |
Samuel Merrill Woodbridge (1819–1905) |
1883 | 1901 |
|
[7][8]: pp.40, 397 [9]: p.105 |
2 | - | John Preston Searle (1854-1922) |
1902 | 1922 |
|
[8]: p.165 |
3 | - | John Howard Raven | 1922 | 1924 |
|
[8]: p.207 |
4 | - | William Henry Steele Demarest (1863-1956) |
1925 | 1935 |
|
[8]: pp.32 |
5 | - | John Walter Beardslee, Jr. (1879–1962) |
1935 | 1947 |
|
[10] |
6 | - | Joseph R. Sizoo (1885–1966) |
1947 | 1952 |
|
- |
7 | - | M. Stephen James | 1953 | 1959 |
|
- |
8 | - | Justin W. Vander Kolk | 1959 | 1963 | - | - |
9 | - | Wallace Newlin Jamison (1918–2010) |
1963 | 1969 |
|
[11][12] |
10 | - | Herman J. Ridder (1925–2002) |
1969 | 1971 |
|
[13][14] |
— | - | Lester J. Kuyper (1904–1986) (interim) |
1971 | 1973 |
|
[15] |
11 | - | Howard G. Hageman (1921–1992) |
1973 | 1985 |
|
[16] |
12 | - | Robert A. White | 1985 | 1992 | - | - |
13 | - | Norman J. Kansfield (born 1940) |
1993 | 2005 |
|
[17] |
— | - | Edwin G. Mulder (born 1929) (interim) |
2005 | 2006 |
|
[18][19] |
14 | - | Gregg A. Mast | 2006 | 2017 |
|
[20][21] |
15 | Micah L. McCreary | 2017 | Incumbent |
|
[22] |
Faculty
[edit]Faculty members listed below in bold text were also alumni of the New Brunswick Theological Seminary.
- William Henry Campbell, (1808–1890), professor of Oriental Languages, later eighth President of Rutgers College (1862–1882).
- William Henry Steele Demarest (1863–1956), NBTS Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government, eleventh president of Rutgers University (1906–1924), president of NBTS (1925–1934)
- Philip Milledoler (1775–1852), professor of didactic theology, fifth president of Rutgers College (1825–1840)
Alumni
[edit]- B.D. = Bachelor of Divinity
- M.Div. = Master of Divinity
- M.A. or A.M. = Master of Arts
- D.Min = Doctor of Ministry
Name | Degree | Year | Career | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Gustavus Abeel (1801–1887) |
|
— | ||
Philip Milledoler Brett (1871–1960) |
|
— | ||
Edward Tanjore Corwin (1834-1914) |
B.D. | 1856 |
|
— |
William Henry Steele Demarest |
|
— | ||
William Montague Ferry | 1822 |
|
||
William Elliot Griffis (1843–1928) |
|
— | ||
Henry Demarest Lloyd (1847–1903) |
- | - |
|
— |
Gregg A. Mast | M.Div. | 1976 |
|
— |
Abraham Johannes "A.J." Muste (1885–1967) |
|
— | ||
Jared Waterbury Scudder | 1855 |
|
— | |
John Van Nest Talmage |
|
— | ||
Thomas De Witt Talmage (1832–1902) |
|
— | ||
Samuel Merrill Woodbridge (1819–1905) |
M.A. | 1841 |
|
— |
Samuel Marinus Zwemer (1867–1952)[24] |
M.A. | 1890 |
|
— |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ Note, before 1819, RCA was the North American branch of the Dutch Reformed Church.
Citations
[edit]- ^ Reformed Church in America. Educational Institutions – Seminaries. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
- ^ New Brunswick Theological Seminary. "Our Mission" Archived 2013-10-15 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ^ New Brunswick Theological Seminary. "NBTS Presidents" in New Brunswick Theological Seminary: In Focus - 225th Anniversary Celebration[permanent dead link] Vol. 3, Issue 1 (Fall 2009), 4.
- ^ Hageman, Howard G. Two Centuries Plus: The Story of New Brunswick Seminary (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdsman Publishing Company, 1984), 171.
- ^ Demarest, David D. Centennial of the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church in America, formerly the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, 1784-1884. (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Board of Publication of the Reformed Church in America, 1885), 83–91.
- ^ Frusciano, Thomas J. "Leadership on the Banks: Rutgers' Presidents, 1766–2004", in The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries LIII(1) (June 1991).
- ^ Alumni Catalogue of New York University, 1833–1905: College, Applied Science and Honorary Alumni. (New York: General Alumni Society of New York University, 1906), 8.
- ^ a b c d Raven, John Howard (Rev.) (compiler). Catalogue of the Officers and Alumni of Rutgers College (originally Queen's College) in New Brunswick, N.J., 1766–1916. (Trenton, New Jersey: State Gazette Publishing Company, 1916).
- ^ Raven, John Howard (compiler), Biographical Record. Theological seminary, New Brunswick, 1784-1911 (New Brunswick, New Jersey: New Brunswick Theological Seminary, 1912).
- ^ Hope College, Collection Registers and Abstracts, Archives and College History, W88-0009.1. Beardslee, John W., Jr. (1879-1962). Papers, 1917-1962. 1 folder. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
- ^ Staff. Obituary for Wallace Newlin Jamison, The Jacksonville Journal-Courier (Illinois), 17 October 2010. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
- ^ Illinois College. "Illinois College mourns the loss of beloved professor and dean emeritus" Archived 2014-02-25 at the Wayback Machine (2010). Retrieved 5 February 2014.
- ^ Hope College, Collection Registers and Abstracts, Archives and College History, W88-0100. Ridder, Herman J. (1925-2002). Papers, 1956-1992. 15.50 linear ft, 3 July 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
- ^ "Seminaries Merge for Top Theological Training", The Holland Evening Sentinel, 13 May 1970, 12.
- ^ Hope College, Collection Registers and Abstracts, Archives and College History, W88 0068. Kuyper, Lester J. (1904-1986). Papers, 1694, 1908 1981. 3.50 linear ft. 3 June 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
- ^ Hope College, Collection Registers and Abstracts, Archives and College History W95-1190. Hageman, Howard G. (1921-1992) Papers, 1946-1992. 0.50 linear ft., 25 October 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
- ^ New Brunswick Theological Seminary, The Faculty: Norman J. Kansfield, President, The John Henry Livingston Professor of Theology Archived 2014-02-22 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
- ^ Reformed Church in America, "Mulder Appointed Interim NBTS President", 8 March 2005. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
- ^ McMullin, Sara, "Dr. Edwin G. Mulder: A Life Dedicated to Christ", The Joint Archives Quarterly (Hope College, Western Theological Seminary), 22(1) (Spring 2012).
- ^ New Brunswick Theological Seminary. Faculty Directory: Gregg Alan Mast, President Archived 2013-10-03 at the Wayback Machine (curriculum vitae). Retrieved 13 August 2013.
- ^ Reformed Church in America "News: NBTS Graduate Returns as President" Archived 2013-09-27 at the Wayback Machine (news release) (3 February 2006). Retrieved 13 August 2013.
- ^ Faculty profile - Micah L. McCreary. Faculty Directory: Micah L. McCreary, President.
- ^ Seibold, David H. (2007). Grand Haven in the path of destiny: a history of Grand Haven, Spring Lake, Ferrysburg and adjoining townships (1st ed.). Grand Haven, MI: Grand Haven Historical Museum. ISBN 9781424319008. OCLC 183327308.
- ^ "Zigzag Journeys in the Camel Country: Arabia in Picture and Story". World Digital Library. 1911. Retrieved 2013-09-22.