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History of Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary was established in 1812, the first Seminary founded by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. The establishment of The Theological Seminary at Princeton marked a turning point in American theological education.
The College of New Jersey, later to become Princeton University, was supportive of this plan because they recognized that specialized training in theology required more attention than they could give.
With fewer than a dozen students, in 1812 Archibald Alexander was the first, and for one year the only, professor. He was joined the following year by a second professor, Samuel Miller, who came to Princeton from the pastorate of the Wall Street Church in New York.
The original “Design of the Seminary” noted that the purpose of the Seminary is:
So it was that Princeton Seminary deliberately defined itself as a school of “that piety of the heart,” a training center for church leaders of all sorts, which specialized in preaching, the cure of souls, evangelism, and missions.
The other side of the piety-learning formula was equally important for the founders of the Seminary. The new institution was never described as a Protestant monastery or retreat, a place distinguished mainly for prayer and meditation. It was to be a school with teachers and students, library and books, ideas of the mind as well as convictions of the heart, all in the service of “solid learning.” The Reformed tradition, to which Princeton Seminary was and is committed, has always magnified intellectual integrity of the faith. Theology has been a highly respected word on the campus.
Affiliated from the beginning with the Presbyterian Church and the wider Reformed tradition, Princeton Theological Seminary is a denominational school with an ecumenical, interdenominational, and worldwide constituency. This is reflected in the faculty, in the curriculum of studies, and in the student body. The Seminary has been served by a remarkable succession of presidents:
Jonathan Lee Walton became the Seminary’s eighth president in January 2023. Prior to his appointment, he served as dean of Wake Forest University’s School of Divinity where he occupied the Presidential Chair in Religion & Society, and as the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church at Harvard University. Dr. Walton is trained as a social ethicist whose scholarship focuses on the intersection of evangelical Christianity, mass media, and political culture. He is the author of two books and has published widely across various academic journals, books, magazines, and newspapers.