History & Ecumenics

The study of the history of Christianity is an integrative, interdisciplinary program. It encompasses social, theological, institutional, and cultural history of the world’s Christian communities, their ideas, and practices.

Princeton Theological Seminary nurtures a broad perspective on Christianity’s historical and contemporary expansion and expression throughout the world, including representative theologies emanating both from the Global South and North.

Students learn to research, analyze, and contextualize the changing roles of religion, in both ancient and modern culture, and develop ethical, moral reasoning and critical thinking skills, with particular attention to Christianity’s larger history and global expansion.

The faculty are experts in early and medieval Christianity, the Reformation, modern Europe and America, the history of mission, and Christianity in the non-Western world.

The Mackay Chair in World Christianity, which brings international guest professors to teach at the Seminary, is also a significant dimension of the department’s global approach to history.