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In
the depths of the great Depression, the Seventh-day Adventist
Church acted in faith to establish graduate theological education.
Initially focused on the preparation of college Bible
teachers, the Advanced Bible School held its first session in
the summer of 1934 at Pacific Union College in Angwin, California.
Seventh-day
Adventist theological education has always tried to compress
a lot of work into a little time.
In that first twelve-week session, seven courses were
given in the first six-week period, five in the second, plus
six lecture courses in two-week segments. And, Hebrew and Greek courses ran through the
entire period. This
was hardly summer vacation!
As to finances, the first Bulletin reads:
“The charges . . . are as follows: matriculation and
library fee $5.00; tuition for each hour of credit 3.00; room
per week 2.00; board (estimate per week) 4.50.”
Two additional
summer sessions were held at Pacific Union College.
Faculty members for those initial sessions included such
notables as M. L. Andreasen, George McCready Price, Charles
Weniger, W. A. Spicer, A. G. Daniells, H.M.S. Richards, and
Mary McReynolds. Beginning
in 1934 with 71 students, the student body had grown to 93 by
1936. On the heels of
this experimental period, the General Conference of Seventh-day
Adventists in 1936 “heartily approved of the establishment of
this school, and instructed the General Conference Committee
to proceed with plans for its permanent organization and location.”
In the same year the school became the Seventh-day Adventist
Theological Seminary.
With the
summer session of 1937, the Seminary moved to Washington, D.C.
and shared facilities with the General Conference.
The constraints of these quarters were soon felt and
President Milton Kern began working toward a new building that
was dedicated on January 21, 1941 and was intended to accommodate
100 to 125 students. Inscribed
above the rostrum in the chapel was the motto, “From All the
World, Into All the World.”
By the summer term of 1946, there were 121 students in
attendance from 26 countries. The Bulletin for that year introduced the Bachelor of Divinity degree for the first
time, a program later renamed the Master of Divinity degree.
Church
policy fueled additional growth with the Autumn Council of 1953
calling for a “fifth year at the Seminary” for all ministerial
students completing college. The Seminary building became quite overcrowded.
During
these years in Washington, D.C.,
a number of significant developments occurred.
To mention only a few:
· In
1948, the Seminary began holding extension schools in various
world divisions.
· Dr.
Charles Weniger led the Seminary to associate membership in
the American Association of Theological Schools in 1951.
· Also
in 1951, Dr. Siegfried Horn joined the faculty as Professor
Archaeology and History of Antiquity, leading the Seminary’s
first Bible lands tour in 1957.
· In
1955, Dr. Leona Running became the first woman to serve as
a full-time teaching faculty member. [Here we paused to
honor Dr. Running and rejoice in her long and fruitful ministry]
Meanwhile,
in the late 1950s, the Seminary became part of the newly formed
Potomac University and the hunt was on for a large, rural campus. Complications in that search culminated in
a surprising speech by Floyd Rittenhouse at the 1958 Autumn
Council. Rittenhouse, President of Emmanuel Missionary
College, offered to “adopt” the graduate schools of Potomac
University and move them to Michigan.
This fresh idea gained momentum, finally sweeping to
a favorable vote.
The 1959-1960
school year proved a trying one for the Seminary.
Half the faculty and the 118 new students began the year
in Michigan, while the other half of the faculty and in-process
students remained in Washington, D.C. Some of the Michigan students were housed in
summer vacation cottages located miles from campus until after
snow had begun to fall. In
the following year, 1961-1962, life became easier with the Seminary
and the School of Graduate Studies occupying the new Seminary
Hall, sharing the later quadrangle only with the recently completed
Pioneer Memorial Church.
The Seminary
continued to flourish in Berrien Springs.
New degree programs were added to meet a variety of needs.
For example, both the Doctor of Ministry and Doctor of
Theology programs were added in 1973-74, with the Ph.D. program
following in 1982. And the Seminary became increasingly diverse.
When judged by the countries of origin of its faculty
and students, the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary
became arguably the most diverse Seminary in North America.
As the
student body grew toward its current enrollment of some 460
on-campus students and a matching number of off-campus students,
Seminary Hall once again grew crowded.
Associate Dean Ben Schoun began thinking about the problem
in a detailed way in the late 1980s. Dean Werner Vyhmeister, in a report early in
the 1990s, noted severe space problems and scattered resources. Interest in dealing with these problems grew
and University President Niels-Erik Andreasen invested himself
in solving them. To
cite Dean Vyhmeister, “Really, Andreasen was behind this whole
thing.” The hard work
of the University Development Office, the keen interest of donors,
and the formation of a Seminary Building Committee in 1997 spurred
the project on.
As the
project developed it became more than a simple addition of space. The enlarged facilities would include the Center
for Youth Evangelism, the North American Division Evangelism
Institute, and the World Mission Institute.
Seminary Hall would become a vibrant place for learning
and training, and for creative ministry and mission in the service
of God and the church.
On June
13, 2000 excavations began in earnest.
And the Seminary began a year of wandering in the wilderness. Exiled from home, students and faculty were
warmly welcomed first by Andrews Academy and later by Pioneer
Memorial Church only to return briefly to the Academy before
scattering to available classrooms all over campus.
Faculty members operated without offices and students,
often, without desks. But the Promised Land awaited.
Over the
months, construction made steady progress, though slowed by
record snowfalls in December.
With the building wrapped and heated, work continued.
As spring
came, we watched. We
watched the lovely Student Commons area begin to take shape. We watched the Scriptural citations, so carefully chosen, etched
in glass. We watched
the cross lifted high to mark the focus and purpose of the building. And, with each advance, we gave thanks to God for all who helped
to make the new Seminary Hall possible.
It is
worth noting that the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary
has occupied three successive buildings at interesting intervals. In 1941, the institution occupied Seminary
Hall in Washington, D.C. Twenty
years later, in 1961, the Seminary moved into its new building
in Berrien Springs. Forty
years beyond, in 2001, the Seminary once again moves into new
quarters.
Under
the blessing of God, each of the first two moves gave rise to
expanded ministry and widened mission. Our prayer is that it may be the same with
the third until that grand and glorious day when the One who
is the Source of our salvation and the focus of our hope returns
to claim His own. To God be the glory.
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The Advanced Bible School
Pacific Union College, Summer 1934
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