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Union Theological Seminary (New York City)

Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (UTS) is a private ecumenical Christian liberal seminary[4] in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, affiliated with Columbia University. Since 1928, the seminary has served as Columbia's constituent faculty of theology. In 1964, UTS also established an affiliation with the neighboring Jewish Theological Seminary of America. UTS confers the following degrees: Master of Divinity (MDiv), Master of Divinity & Social Work dual degree (MDSW), Master of Arts in religion (MAR), Master of Arts in Social Justice (MASJ), Master of Sacred Theology (STM), and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).

Union Theological Seminary
Seal of Union Theological Seminary
Latin: Seminarium Theologicum Unioniense Novi Eboraci
Other name
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
MottoUnitas, Veritas, Caritas (Latin)
Motto in English
Unity, Truth, Love
TypePrivate seminary
Established1836; 187 years ago (1836)
Endowment$112.6 million (2019)[1]
PresidentSerene Jones
Academic staff
38
Students210
Location, ,
United States
Websiteutsnyc.edu
Union Theological Seminary
LocationW. 120th St. and Broadway, New York, NY 10027
Coordinates40°48′41″N 73°57′51″W / 40.81139°N 73.96417°W / 40.81139; -73.96417
Area2.3 acres (0.93 ha)
Built1908
ArchitectAllen & Collens
Architectural styleLate Gothic Revival, Collegiate Gothic
NRHP reference No.80002725[2]
NYCL No.0595
Significant dates
Added to NRHPApril 23, 1980
Designated NYCLNovember 15, 1967 (Brown Memorial Tower, James Tower, James Memorial Chapel)[3]

UTS is the oldest independent seminary in the United States and has long been known as a bastion of progressive Christian scholarship, with a number of prominent thinkers among its faculty or alumni. It was founded in 1836 by members of the Presbyterian Church in the USA,[5] but was open to students of all denominations. In 1893, UTS rescinded the right of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church to veto faculty appointments, thus becoming fully independent. In the 20th century, Union became a center of liberal Christianity. It served as the birthplace of the Black theology, womanist theology, and other theological movements. It houses the Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, one of the largest theological libraries in the Western Hemisphere.[6]

History edit

Early history edit

 
1883 campus, Park Avenue and 70th Street[7]

Union Theological Seminary was founded in 1836. During the late 19th century it became one of the leading centers of liberal Christianity in the United States. In 1891, Charles A. Briggs, who was being installed as the chair of biblical studies, delivered an inaugural address in which he questioned the verbal inspiration of Scripture.[8] When the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. vetoed Briggs' appointment and eventually deposed Briggs for heresy two years later, Union removed itself from denominational oversight.[9] In 1939 the Auburn Theological Seminary moved to its campus and departed in 2014.[10]

Among its graduates were the historian of Christianity Arthur McGiffert; biblical scholar James Moffatt; Harry Emerson Fosdick, the pastor of Riverside Church who served as professor during his tenure there; and the Socialist leader Norman Thomas.

Union Settlement edit

 
Side view at Claremont Avenue between W. 120th and W. 119th streets (1910)

In 1895, members of the Union Theological Seminary Alumni Club founded Union Settlement Association, one of the oldest settlement houses in New York City. After visiting Toynbee Hall in London and inspired by the example of Hull House in Chicago, the alumni decided to create a settlement house in the area of Manhattan enclosed on the north and south by East 96th and 110th Streets and on the east and west by the East River and Central Park.

The neighborhood, known as East Harlem, was filled with new tenements but devoid of any civic services. The ethos of the settlement house movement called for its workers to "settle" in such neighborhoods in order to learn first-hand the problems of the residents. “It seemed to us that, as early settlers, we had a chance to grow up with the community and affect its development,” wrote William Adams Brown, Theology Professor, Union Theological Society (1892–1930) and President, Union Settlement Association (1915–1919).[11]

Union Settlement still exists, providing community-based services and programs to support the immigrant and low-income residents of East Harlem. One of East Harlem's largest social service agencies, Union Settlement reaches more than 13,000 people annually at 17 locations throughout East Harlem through a range of programs, including early childhood education, youth development, senior services, job training, the arts, adult education, nutrition, counseling, a farmers' market, community development, and neighborhood cultural events.

20th century to present edit

Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich made UTS the center of both liberal and neo-orthodox Protestantism in the inter-war period. Niebuhr joined UTS in 1929 and Tillich in 1933. Prominent public intellectual Cornel West commenced a promising academic career at UTS in 1977. As liberalism lost ground to conservatism after the 1960s (while neo-orthodoxy dissipated) and thus declined in prestige, UTS ran into financial difficulties and shrank significantly because of a reduced student base.

Eventually, the school agreed to lease some of its buildings to Columbia University and to transfer ownership of and responsibility for the Burke Library to Columbia. These agreements helped stabilize the school's finances, which had been hobbled by increasing library costs and the need for substantial campus repairs.

On July 1, 2008, feminist theologian Serene Jones became Union's first female president in its 172-year history, succeeding Joseph C. Hough Jr.[12]

On June 10, 2014, Jones announced that the Seminary would be joining the movement to divest from the fossil fuels industry in protest at the damage the industry is causing to the environment.[13] The Seminary's $108 million endowment will no longer include any fossil fuel investments.

Although administratively independent from Columbia, Union is represented by one voting faculty member, and one non-voting student observer member, of the Columbia University Senate.[14]

Campus edit

 
Brown Memorial Tower
 
Union Theological Seminary entrance on Broadway

Union's campus is located in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, bordered by Claremont Avenue, Broadway, and West 120th and 122nd Streets. The brick and limestone English Gothic revival architecture, by architects Allen & Collens, completed in 1910, includes the tower, which adapts features of the crossing tower of Durham Cathedral. Adjacent to Teachers College, Barnard College, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and the Manhattan School of Music, Union has cross-registration and library access agreements with all of these schools.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 23, 1980, and parts were made a New York City designated landmark in 1965.[3] Some sections of the campus are now on long-term lease to Columbia University.

Library edit

The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, one of the largest theological libraries in North America, contains holdings of over 700,000 items. The Burke's holdings include extensive special collections, including Greek census records from 20 CE, a rare 12th-century manuscript of the Life of St. Boniface, and one of the first African-American hymnals, published in Philadelphia in 1818.

The Burke Library also maintains a number of world-renowned archival collections, including the Archives of Women in Theological Scholarship and the Missionary Research Library Archives.

In 2004 Union's Burke Library became fully integrated into the Columbia University Libraries system, which holds over 14 million volumes. The library is named in honor of Walter Burke, a generous benefactor to the library who served as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Seminary from 1976 to 1982.

Faculty edit

Both Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich taught at the seminary. Nieburhr joined the faculty in 1929 and retired in 1952. Tillich was recruited by Niebuhr to UTS following his dismissal from the University of Frankfurt. Nazi officials terminated Tillich from the University of Frankfurt and placed him on their list of "undesirables". Tillich subsequently narrowly escaped arrest by the Gestapo in October 1933 and made his way out of Germany joining UTS in December, 1933.[15]

In 1930, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Postgraduate Teaching Fellow at the seminary. He later returned in 1939 to be a member of the faculty and to escape Nazi harassment in Germany. Writing of his experience there in his book Barcelona, Berlin, New York, Bonhoeffer was dismayed by the liberalism of the seminary and its students, noting, "The students are completely clueless with respect to what dogmatics is really about. They are not familiar with even the most basic questions. They become intoxicated with liberal and humanistic phrases, are amused at the fundamentalists, and yet basically are not even up to their level...."[16] Referring to Union Seminary, Bonhoeffer noted: "A seminary in which numerous students openly laugh during a public lecture because they find it amusing when a passage on sin and forgiveness ...is cited has obviously, despite its many advantages, forgotten what Christian theology in its very essence stands for" (pp. 309–10). He soon regretted his decision and decided that he had to return to Germany to resist the Nazis. He took the last ship from New York to Germany in late August 1939. Due to his secret involvement with the 20 July plot on Hitler's life, he was executed at the Flossenbürg concentration camp on April 8, 1945, only 15 days before the United States Army liberated the camp.

American theologian, James Hal Cone, one of the founders of liberation theology and influential in the development of Black theology, began teaching at Union Theological Seminary in New York City in 1970, holding the distinguished Charles A. Briggs Chair in systematic theology from 1977 until his death in 2018.

Serene Jones, the seminary's first female president, was inaugurated in November 2008. replacing Joseph Hough, UTS' immediate past president. Civil rights activist Cornel West joined the faculty in July 2012, and rejoined again in 2021.[17]

Notable current faculty edit

 
Cornel West
  • Mary C. Boys – Skinner and McAlpin Professor of Practical Theology
  • David M. Carr – Professor of Old Testament; contributed to Genesis in the New Oxford Annotated Bible (New Revised Standard Version)
  • Euan Cameron – Henry Luce, III Professor of Reformation Church History
  • Alan Cooper – Appointed Professor of Bible in 1998, becoming the first person to hold a joint professorship at both Union and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. His dual appointment has been described as a major step in strengthening ties between the two seminaries.
  • Pamela Cooper-White – Christiane Brooks Johnson Professor of Psychology and Religion
  • Kelly Brown Douglas – Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary as well as the Canon Theologian at the Washington National Cathedral.
  • Gary Dorrien – American social ethicist and theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics
  • Roger Haight – Visiting professor of Theology
  • Esther J. Hamori - Professor of Hebrew Bible
  • Brigitte Kahl – Professor of New Testament
  • Chung Hyun Kyung – Associate Professor of Ecumenical Theology
  • Aliou C. Niang - Associate Professor of New Testament
  • Jerusha T. Rhodes - Associate Professor of Islam and Interreligious Engagement
  • Kosen Greg Snyder - Senior Director and assistant professor of Buddhist Studies
  • John J. Thatamanil – Professor of Theology and World Religions
  • Cornel West – Professor of Religious Philosophy and Christian Practice
  • Andrea C. White – Associate Professor of Theology and Culture
  • Jason Wright – Board of Trustees member[18]

Several of Union's members also teach in the Religious Studies department at Columbia University, the Teachers College, Columbia University, New York Theological Seminary, and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

Notable former faculty edit

 
James Cone
 
Delores S. Williams
  • Michelle Alexander – writer, civil rights advocate, author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, opinion columnist for The New York Times. Visiting professor from 2016 to 2021.
  • Charles Augustus Briggs – Professor of Hebrew and Cognate Languages (1874–1891) and of Biblical Theology (1891–1904); an important early leader of the Modernist movement
  • Raymond E. Brown (1928–1998) – Professor of New Testament (1971-1990), member of the Pontifical Bible Commission, and the first Catholic to gain tenure[19]
  • Charles Butler (1802–1897) – founder
  • Henry Sloane Coffin – President of Union and a leading theological liberal. Coffin also obtained his Bachelor of Divinity from the Union Theological Seminary in 1900. He declined an offer to become president of Union Theological Seminary in 1916. In 1926, offered the presidency (a second time), he accepted and retained the post until 1945.
  • James Cone (1936-2018) – a founder of Black theology, he was Charles Augustus Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology until his death
  • W. D. Davies, (1911–2001), Welsh-born Edward Robinson Professor of Biblical Theology, noted New Testament scholar and Congregationalist Minister.
  • Harrison S. Elliot (1882–1951) – author and leader in the Y.M.C.A., Religious Education Association, and Union Theological Seminary.
  • James A. Forbes, Joe R. Engle Professor of Preaching before becoming senior pastor of Riverside Church, after which he continued to serve as an adjunct professor.
  • Harry Emerson Fosdick – First minister of Riverside Church and professor of homiletics
  • Beverly Wildung Harrison - a Christian feminist ethicist, she taught for 34 years at Union and was the Caroline Williams Beaird Professor of Ethics. She was the first woman president of the North American Society of Christian Ethics.
  • Paul F. Knitter – Paul Tillich Professor of Theology
  • John Macquarrie – Professor of Systematic Theology (1962–70), afterwards Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford and Canon Residentiary of Christ Church, Oxford (1970–1986)
  • John Anthony McGuckin  – Nielsen Professor of Early and Byzantine Church History, President of the Sophia Institute, Archpriest of the Orthodox Church
  • Christopher Morse – Dietrich Bonhoeffer Professor of Theology & Ethics
  • J. Brooke Mosley, president
  • Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) – Professor of Applied Christianity – Christian social ethics, author of the influential The Nature and Destiny of Man (1941), and the Serenity Prayer (popularized through the Twelve-step program)
  • Peter C. Phan – the inaugural holder of the Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought at Georgetown University[20]
  • Robert Pollack – professor of Science and Religion
  • Edward Robinson – Biblical scholar and discoverer of Robinson's Arch and Hezekiah's Tunnel in Jerusalem
  • Philip Schaff (1819–1893) – Theologian and ecclesiastical historian who served as chair of theological encyclopedia and Christian symbolism, then as chair of Hebrew and the cognate languages, followed by chair of sacred literature, and finally chair of church history until his death in 1893.
  • William Greenough Thayer Shedd — Professor of Sacred Literature (1863–1874) and of Systematic Theology (1874–1890)
  • Dorothee Soelle – Socially engaged German theologian
  • Paul Tillich (1886–1965) – German-American theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher
  • Phyllis Trible (b. 1932) – served as a visiting professor of Old Testament
  • Ann Belford Ulanov – Christiane Brooks Johnson Memorial Professor of Psychiatry and Religion
  • Harry F. Ward – chairman of the ACLU and Professor of Ethics
  • Delores S. Williams earned her PhD from Union Theological Seminary, and later became the Paul Tillich Professor of Feminist Theology at Union Theological Seminary Her title was later changed to the Paul Tillich Professor of Theology and Culture. Following retirement, she became professor emerita.
  • Walter Wink – Biblical scholar and activist

Notable alumni edit

 
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
 
Oliver Crane
 
David Dellinger
 
Conrad Tillard
 
Raphael Warnock

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ As of June 30, 2019. "U.S. and Canadian 2019 NTSE Participating Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2019 Endowment Market Value, and Percentage Change in Market Value from FY18 to FY19 (Revised)". National Association of College and University Business Officers and TIAA. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  2. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  3. ^ a b "Union Theological Seminary" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. November 15, 1967. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
  4. ^ "Mission & Vision". Union Theological Seminary. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  5. ^ "Timeline, 1836 to 1869 - Union Theological Seminary". Archived from the original on August 5, 2012. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
  6. ^ "The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary | Columbia University Libraries". library.columbia.edu.
  7. ^ A History of Real Estate, Building and Architecture in New York City During the Last Quarter of a Century. New York City: Record and Guide. 1898. pp. 371.
  8. ^ Hart, D. G.; Muether, John (2007). Seeking a Better Country: 300 Years of American Presbyterianism. Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing. p. 183. ISBN 9780875525747. OCLC 122974080.
  9. ^ Hart & Muether, pg. 183
  10. ^ . Auburn Theological Seminary web site. Archived from the original on February 21, 2010. Retrieved January 21, 2010.
  11. ^ A Teacher and His Times, William Adams Brown, Scribner, 1940.
  12. ^ "Serene Jones, President of the Faculty and Roosevelt Professor of Systematic Theology - Union Theological Seminary". Archived from the original on August 5, 2012. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
  13. ^ . Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  14. ^ A Guide to the University Senate, University Senate Office, Columbia University (February 2019).
  15. ^ Stone, Ronald H. (2012). Politics and Faith: Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich at Union Seminary in New York. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press. pp. 55–56. ISBN 978-0-88146-385-9.
  16. ^ Bonhoeffer, Dietrich (2008). Barcelona, Berlin, New York: 1928-1931 (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Vol. 10) (1st English-language ed.). Minneapolis: Fortress Press. pp. 265–266. ISBN 978-1-4514-7965-2. OCLC 33206791.
  17. ^ @CornelWest (March 8, 2021). "I am blessed to announce with my dear..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  18. ^ Ackerman, Jon (August 18, 2020). "Washington's Jason Wright follows Christ as he becomes NFL's first Black team president". SportsSpectrum.com. from the original on September 4, 2020. Retrieved September 4, 2020.
  19. ^ Niebuhr, Gustav (August 11, 1998). "Raymond E. Brown, 70, Dies; A Leading Biblical Scholar". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  20. ^ "Peter Phan". berkleycenter.georgetown.edu. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  21. ^ "Unitas Awards: Union Theological Seminary". Union Theological Seminary New York.
  22. ^ "Gets New Church Post". Courier News. December 20, 1955. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  23. ^ Roberts, Sam (November 19, 2021). "Rev. W. Sterling Cary, Pioneering Black Churchman, Dies at 94". The New York Times. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  24. ^ Biographical Record of the Alumni of Amherst College, During Its First Half of the Century 1821–1871. W. S. Tyler (contribution). Amherst College. 1883. p. 189.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  25. ^ Beverly Roberts Gaventa, When in Romans: An Invitation to Linger with the Gospel According to Paul, Grand Rapids: Baker Press. Description. Forthcoming, November 15, 2016.
  26. ^ "Home". Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  27. ^ "Who Is Raphael Warnock?: Everything To Know About Ebenezer Baptist Pastor Running For Georgia Senate". News One. January 30, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
  28. ^ Martin, Douglas. "George W. Webber, Social Activist Minister, Dies at 90", The New York Times, July 12, 2010. Accessed July 13, 2010.

Further reading edit

  • Altman, Jake. Socialism Before Sanders: The 1930s Movement from Romance to Revisionism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
  • Handy, Robert T. A History of Union Theological Seminary in New York. New York: Columbia University Press, 1987.

External links edit

  • Official website

union, theological, seminary, york, city, union, theological, seminary, city, york, private, ecumenical, christian, liberal, seminary, morningside, heights, manhattan, affiliated, with, columbia, university, since, 1928, seminary, served, columbia, constituent. Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York UTS is a private ecumenical Christian liberal seminary 4 in Morningside Heights Manhattan affiliated with Columbia University Since 1928 the seminary has served as Columbia s constituent faculty of theology In 1964 UTS also established an affiliation with the neighboring Jewish Theological Seminary of America UTS confers the following degrees Master of Divinity MDiv Master of Divinity amp Social Work dual degree MDSW Master of Arts in religion MAR Master of Arts in Social Justice MASJ Master of Sacred Theology STM and Doctor of Philosophy PhD Union Theological SeminarySeal of Union Theological SeminaryLatin Seminarium Theologicum Unioniense Novi EboraciOther nameUnion Theological Seminary in the City of New YorkMottoUnitas Veritas Caritas Latin Motto in EnglishUnity Truth LoveTypePrivate seminaryEstablished1836 187 years ago 1836 Endowment 112 6 million 2019 1 PresidentSerene JonesAcademic staff38Students210LocationNew York City New York United StatesWebsiteutsnyc wbr eduUnion Theological SeminaryU S National Register of Historic PlacesNew York City Landmark No 0595Show map of New York CityShow map of New YorkShow map of the United StatesLocationW 120th St and Broadway New York NY 10027Coordinates40 48 41 N 73 57 51 W 40 81139 N 73 96417 W 40 81139 73 96417Area2 3 acres 0 93 ha Built1908ArchitectAllen amp CollensArchitectural styleLate Gothic Revival Collegiate GothicNRHP reference No 80002725 2 NYCL No 0595Significant datesAdded to NRHPApril 23 1980Designated NYCLNovember 15 1967 Brown Memorial Tower James Tower James Memorial Chapel 3 UTS is the oldest independent seminary in the United States and has long been known as a bastion of progressive Christian scholarship with a number of prominent thinkers among its faculty or alumni It was founded in 1836 by members of the Presbyterian Church in the USA 5 but was open to students of all denominations In 1893 UTS rescinded the right of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church to veto faculty appointments thus becoming fully independent In the 20th century Union became a center of liberal Christianity It served as the birthplace of the Black theology womanist theology and other theological movements It houses the Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary one of the largest theological libraries in the Western Hemisphere 6 Contents 1 History 1 1 Early history 1 1 1 Union Settlement 1 2 20th century to present 2 Campus 2 1 Library 3 Faculty 3 1 Notable current faculty 3 2 Notable former faculty 4 Notable alumni 5 See also 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External linksHistory editEarly history edit nbsp 1883 campus Park Avenue and 70th Street 7 Union Theological Seminary was founded in 1836 During the late 19th century it became one of the leading centers of liberal Christianity in the United States In 1891 Charles A Briggs who was being installed as the chair of biblical studies delivered an inaugural address in which he questioned the verbal inspiration of Scripture 8 When the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U S A vetoed Briggs appointment and eventually deposed Briggs for heresy two years later Union removed itself from denominational oversight 9 In 1939 the Auburn Theological Seminary moved to its campus and departed in 2014 10 Among its graduates were the historian of Christianity Arthur McGiffert biblical scholar James Moffatt Harry Emerson Fosdick the pastor of Riverside Church who served as professor during his tenure there and the Socialist leader Norman Thomas Union Settlement edit nbsp Side view at Claremont Avenue between W 120th and W 119th streets 1910 In 1895 members of the Union Theological Seminary Alumni Club founded Union Settlement Association one of the oldest settlement houses in New York City After visiting Toynbee Hall in London and inspired by the example of Hull House in Chicago the alumni decided to create a settlement house in the area of Manhattan enclosed on the north and south by East 96th and 110th Streets and on the east and west by the East River and Central Park The neighborhood known as East Harlem was filled with new tenements but devoid of any civic services The ethos of the settlement house movement called for its workers to settle in such neighborhoods in order to learn first hand the problems of the residents It seemed to us that as early settlers we had a chance to grow up with the community and affect its development wrote William Adams Brown Theology Professor Union Theological Society 1892 1930 and President Union Settlement Association 1915 1919 11 Union Settlement still exists providing community based services and programs to support the immigrant and low income residents of East Harlem One of East Harlem s largest social service agencies Union Settlement reaches more than 13 000 people annually at 17 locations throughout East Harlem through a range of programs including early childhood education youth development senior services job training the arts adult education nutrition counseling a farmers market community development and neighborhood cultural events 20th century to present edit Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich made UTS the center of both liberal and neo orthodox Protestantism in the inter war period Niebuhr joined UTS in 1929 and Tillich in 1933 Prominent public intellectual Cornel West commenced a promising academic career at UTS in 1977 As liberalism lost ground to conservatism after the 1960s while neo orthodoxy dissipated and thus declined in prestige UTS ran into financial difficulties and shrank significantly because of a reduced student base Eventually the school agreed to lease some of its buildings to Columbia University and to transfer ownership of and responsibility for the Burke Library to Columbia These agreements helped stabilize the school s finances which had been hobbled by increasing library costs and the need for substantial campus repairs On July 1 2008 feminist theologian Serene Jones became Union s first female president in its 172 year history succeeding Joseph C Hough Jr 12 On June 10 2014 Jones announced that the Seminary would be joining the movement to divest from the fossil fuels industry in protest at the damage the industry is causing to the environment 13 The Seminary s 108 million endowment will no longer include any fossil fuel investments Although administratively independent from Columbia Union is represented by one voting faculty member and one non voting student observer member of the Columbia University Senate 14 Campus edit nbsp Brown Memorial Tower nbsp Union Theological Seminary entrance on BroadwayUnion s campus is located in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan New York City bordered by Claremont Avenue Broadway and West 120th and 122nd Streets The brick and limestone English Gothic revival architecture by architects Allen amp Collens completed in 1910 includes the tower which adapts features of the crossing tower of Durham Cathedral Adjacent to Teachers College Barnard College the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and the Manhattan School of Music Union has cross registration and library access agreements with all of these schools The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 23 1980 and parts were made a New York City designated landmark in 1965 3 Some sections of the campus are now on long term lease to Columbia University Library edit Main article Burke Library The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary one of the largest theological libraries in North America contains holdings of over 700 000 items The Burke s holdings include extensive special collections including Greek census records from 20 CE a rare 12th century manuscript of the Life of St Boniface and one of the first African American hymnals published in Philadelphia in 1818 The Burke Library also maintains a number of world renowned archival collections including the Archives of Women in Theological Scholarship and the Missionary Research Library Archives In 2004 Union s Burke Library became fully integrated into the Columbia University Libraries system which holds over 14 million volumes The library is named in honor of Walter Burke a generous benefactor to the library who served as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Seminary from 1976 to 1982 Faculty editThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed August 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message Both Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich taught at the seminary Nieburhr joined the faculty in 1929 and retired in 1952 Tillich was recruited by Niebuhr to UTS following his dismissal from the University of Frankfurt Nazi officials terminated Tillich from the University of Frankfurt and placed him on their list of undesirables Tillich subsequently narrowly escaped arrest by the Gestapo in October 1933 and made his way out of Germany joining UTS in December 1933 15 In 1930 Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Postgraduate Teaching Fellow at the seminary He later returned in 1939 to be a member of the faculty and to escape Nazi harassment in Germany Writing of his experience there in his book Barcelona Berlin New York Bonhoeffer was dismayed by the liberalism of the seminary and its students noting The students are completely clueless with respect to what dogmatics is really about They are not familiar with even the most basic questions They become intoxicated with liberal and humanistic phrases are amused at the fundamentalists and yet basically are not even up to their level 16 Referring to Union Seminary Bonhoeffer noted A seminary in which numerous students openly laugh during a public lecture because they find it amusing when a passage on sin and forgiveness is cited has obviously despite its many advantages forgotten what Christian theology in its very essence stands for pp 309 10 He soon regretted his decision and decided that he had to return to Germany to resist the Nazis He took the last ship from New York to Germany in late August 1939 Due to his secret involvement with the 20 July plot on Hitler s life he was executed at the Flossenburg concentration camp on April 8 1945 only 15 days before the United States Army liberated the camp American theologian James Hal Cone one of the founders of liberation theology and influential in the development of Black theology began teaching at Union Theological Seminary in New York City in 1970 holding the distinguished Charles A Briggs Chair in systematic theology from 1977 until his death in 2018 Serene Jones the seminary s first female president was inaugurated in November 2008 replacing Joseph Hough UTS immediate past president Civil rights activist Cornel West joined the faculty in July 2012 and rejoined again in 2021 17 Notable current faculty edit nbsp Cornel WestMary C Boys Skinner and McAlpin Professor of Practical Theology David M Carr Professor of Old Testament contributed to Genesis in the New Oxford Annotated Bible New Revised Standard Version Euan Cameron Henry Luce III Professor of Reformation Church History Alan Cooper Appointed Professor of Bible in 1998 becoming the first person to hold a joint professorship at both Union and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America His dual appointment has been described as a major step in strengthening ties between the two seminaries Pamela Cooper White Christiane Brooks Johnson Professor of Psychology and Religion Kelly Brown Douglas Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary as well as the Canon Theologian at the Washington National Cathedral Gary Dorrien American social ethicist and theologian Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics Roger Haight Visiting professor of Theology Esther J Hamori Professor of Hebrew Bible Brigitte Kahl Professor of New Testament Chung Hyun Kyung Associate Professor of Ecumenical Theology Aliou C Niang Associate Professor of New Testament Jerusha T Rhodes Associate Professor of Islam and Interreligious Engagement Kosen Greg Snyder Senior Director and assistant professor of Buddhist Studies John J Thatamanil Professor of Theology and World Religions Cornel West Professor of Religious Philosophy and Christian Practice Andrea C White Associate Professor of Theology and Culture Jason Wright Board of Trustees member 18 Several of Union s members also teach in the Religious Studies department at Columbia University the Teachers College Columbia University New York Theological Seminary and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America Notable former faculty edit nbsp James Cone nbsp Delores S WilliamsMichelle Alexander writer civil rights advocate author of The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness opinion columnist for The New York Times Visiting professor from 2016 to 2021 Charles Augustus Briggs Professor of Hebrew and Cognate Languages 1874 1891 and of Biblical Theology 1891 1904 an important early leader of the Modernist movement Raymond E Brown 1928 1998 Professor of New Testament 1971 1990 member of the Pontifical Bible Commission and the first Catholic to gain tenure 19 Charles Butler 1802 1897 founder Henry Sloane Coffin President of Union and a leading theological liberal Coffin also obtained his Bachelor of Divinity from the Union Theological Seminary in 1900 He declined an offer to become president of Union Theological Seminary in 1916 In 1926 offered the presidency a second time he accepted and retained the post until 1945 James Cone 1936 2018 a founder of Black theology he was Charles Augustus Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology until his death W D Davies 1911 2001 Welsh born Edward Robinson Professor of Biblical Theology noted New Testament scholar and Congregationalist Minister Harrison S Elliot 1882 1951 author and leader in the Y M C A Religious Education Association and Union Theological Seminary James A Forbes Joe R Engle Professor of Preaching before becoming senior pastor of Riverside Church after which he continued to serve as an adjunct professor Harry Emerson Fosdick First minister of Riverside Church and professor of homiletics Beverly Wildung Harrison a Christian feminist ethicist she taught for 34 years at Union and was the Caroline Williams Beaird Professor of Ethics She was the first woman president of the North American Society of Christian Ethics Paul F Knitter Paul Tillich Professor of Theology John Macquarrie Professor of Systematic Theology 1962 70 afterwards Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford and Canon Residentiary of Christ Church Oxford 1970 1986 John Anthony McGuckin Nielsen Professor of Early and Byzantine Church History President of the Sophia Institute Archpriest of the Orthodox Church Christopher Morse Dietrich Bonhoeffer Professor of Theology amp Ethics J Brooke Mosley president Reinhold Niebuhr 1892 1971 Professor of Applied Christianity Christian social ethics author of the influential The Nature and Destiny of Man 1941 and the Serenity Prayer popularized through the Twelve step program Peter C Phan the inaugural holder of the Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought at Georgetown University 20 Robert Pollack professor of Science and Religion Edward Robinson Biblical scholar and discoverer of Robinson s Arch and Hezekiah s Tunnel in Jerusalem Philip Schaff 1819 1893 Theologian and ecclesiastical historian who served as chair of theological encyclopedia and Christian symbolism then as chair of Hebrew and the cognate languages followed by chair of sacred literature and finally chair of church history until his death in 1893 William Greenough Thayer Shedd Professor of Sacred Literature 1863 1874 and of Systematic Theology 1874 1890 Dorothee Soelle Socially engaged German theologian Paul Tillich 1886 1965 German American theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher Phyllis Trible b 1932 served as a visiting professor of Old Testament Ann Belford Ulanov Christiane Brooks Johnson Memorial Professor of Psychiatry and Religion Harry F Ward chairman of the ACLU and Professor of Ethics Delores S Williams earned her PhD from Union Theological Seminary and later became the Paul Tillich Professor of Feminist Theology at Union Theological Seminary Her title was later changed to the Paul Tillich Professor of Theology and Culture Following retirement she became professor emerita Walter Wink Biblical scholar and activistNotable alumni editSee also Union Theological Seminary alumniThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed August 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message nbsp Dietrich Bonhoeffer nbsp Oliver Crane nbsp David Dellinger nbsp Conrad Tillard nbsp Raphael WarnockRubem Alves Brazilian theologian and writer William Scott Ament Bachelor of Divinity 1877 controversial American missionary to China 1877 1909 John Batchelor radio news show writer and host Frederic Mayer Bird Class of 1860 clergyman educator and hymnologist J Seelye Bixler 16th president of Colby College Dietrich Bonhoeffer German Lutheran theologian and Nazi resister attended UTS in 1930 for postgraduate studies and a teaching fellowship under Reinhold Niebuhr Anton Boisen founder of Clinical Pastoral Education CPE movement Marcus Borg Biblical scholar and author former Hundere Distinguished Professor of Religion and Culture at Oregon State University Malcolm Boyd Episcopal priest and author He was one of the most prominent of the gay clergy to come out of the closet when he did so in 1977 For two years in 1956 and 1957 Boyd engaged in post graduate studies at Union Theological Seminary where he wrote his first book Crisis in Communication He participated in the civil rights and anti Vietnam War movements in the 1960s Walter Brueggemann William Marcellus McPheeters professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary Frederick Buechner writer novelist poet essayist theologian and ordained Presbyterian minister Buechner described his time at Union at length in his 1982 autobiographical work The Sacred Journey In 2008 Union honored Buechner with the Unitas Distinguished Alumni ae Awards bestowed upon alumni ae who exemplify the Seminary s academic breadth diversity and inclusiveness 21 David Budbill poet Edwin Otway Burnham Bachelor of Divinity 1855 a rifle shooting Congregational missionary in Sioux Indian territory who could bark a squirrel swing an axe or dispense Gospel with equal fervor and efficiency Calvin Otis Butts III senior pastor of the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City W Sterling Cary BD 1952 president of the National Council of Churches from 1972 to 1975 22 23 Gladwyn M Childs anthropologist and missionary Grigor Cilka reverend missionary teacher and founder of first Protestant parish in Korce Albania Joseph Gallup Cochran class of 1847 reverend Presbyterian missionary teacher 24 Oliver Crane 1848 Presbyterian clergy missionary Oriental scholar writer Nelson Cruikshank Master of divinity 1929 labor union activist and strategist responsible for the passage of Medicare David Dellinger noted American peace activist and member of the Chicago Seven Lynn de Silva Master of Sacred Theology Sri Lankan theologian former director of the Ecumenical Institute for Study and Dialogue Methodist minister and a pioneer in promoting Buddhist Christian dialogue John R Everett B D 1944 President of Hollins College first Chancellor of the Municipal College System of the City of New York and President of the New School for Social Research Helen Flanders Dunbar B D 1927 early figure in U S psychosomatic medicine Franklin I Gamwell Shailer Mathews Professor of Religious Ethics the Philosophy of Religion and Theology at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago Francis L Garrett Chief of Chaplains of the U S Navy Beverly Roberts Gaventa New Testament exegete theologian and author most recently of When in Romans 25 J T Gulick evolutionary biologist Susan E Goff suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia David P Gushee Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University Author of 9 books and over 70 articles 26 Douglas John Hall emeritus professor of theology at McGill University and theologian of the cross Mark Hanson former Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Edler Garnet Hawkins former Moderator of the General Assembly for the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America Carter Heyward lesbian feminist theologian and priest in the Episcopal Church Richard Holloway Scottish writer and broadcaster and was formerly Bishop of Edinburgh Dwight Hopkins Professor of Theology at the Divinity School at the University of Chicago Myles Horton co founder of the Highlander Center William H Hudnut III former Mayor of Indianapolis Indiana 1976 1992 Ada Maria Isasi Diaz Professor of Ethics and Theology at Drew University Suzan Johnson Cook former presidential advisor and United States Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom 2011 2013 Mark Juergensmeyer Professor of Sociology Religious Studies and Global Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara and Director of the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies Norman J Kansfield President New Brunswick Theological Seminary 1993 2005 and Senior Scholar in Residence Theological School Drew University Mineo Katagiri Minister and social activist James Franklin Kay Professor of Homiletics and Liturgics at Princeton Theological Seminary George R Lunn Mayor of Schenectady New York Member of the United States House of Representatives Lieutenant Governor of New York Ernest Lyon 1860 1938 Minister former United States Ambassador to Liberia and founder of the Maryland Industrial and Agricultural Institute for Colored Youths Reuben H Markham missionary educator to Bulgaria journalist Christian Science Monitor author of numerous books Rollo May existential psychologist Rachel Kollock McDowell religion editor of the New York Times 1920 1948 Andrew McLellan former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland James David Manning pastor in Harlem Bruce McLeod PhD Moderator of the United Church of Canada William P Merrill first president on the Church Peace Union writer of Rise Up O Men of God Frederick Buckley Newell Bachelor of Divinity 1916 Bishop of The Methodist Church Henry F C Nichols member of the Wisconsin State Assembly Lisa Oz author and radio and television personality Eunice Blanchard Poethig PhD 1985 minister Presbyterian Church USA leader and educator Paul Raushenbush American Baptist minister and Religion Editor for The Huffington Post John Bunyan Reeve first Black student organized theology department at Howard University Scott Rennie minister of the Church of Scotland at Queen s Cross Church Aberdeen Joseph L Roberts Jr senior pastor of Atlanta s Ebenezer Baptist Church from 1975 to 2005 James Herman Robinson 1938 founder of Operation Crossroads Africa a forerunner of the Peace Corps Carl Rogers pioneering psychologist Leroy S Rouner Professor of Philosophy Religion and Philosophical Theology at Boston University Fleming Rutledge Episcopal priest and author V C Samuel Indian Christian theologian philosopher and historian E P Sanders a principal founder of the New Perspective on Paul movement Nathan A Scott Jr scholar of religion and literature Henry Sloane Coffin President of Union Theological Seminary William Gayley Simpson former associate director of the National Civil Liberties Bureau American Civil Liberties Union Andrea Smith Indigenous intellectual and anti violence activist John Sung a Chinese Christian evangelist who played an instrumental role in the revival movement among the Chinese in mainland China Taiwan and Southeast Asia during the 1920s and 1930s John Stoltenberg feminist writer Juhanon Mar Thoma Metropolitan of Marthoma Syrian Church in India Norman Thomas socialist Conrad Tillard born 1964 Baptist minister radio host author civil rights activist and politician K H Ting President emeritus of the Three Self Patriotic Movement and China Christian Council Phyllis Trible b 1932 feminist biblical scholar Constance Cochnower Virtue composer who developed the Virtue Notagraph Raphael Warnock U S Senator from Georgia 2021 and senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta 27 George W Webber 1920 2010 President of the New York Theological Seminary 28 Floyd Wilcox third president of Shimer College Delores S Williams womanist theologian Walter Wink Biblical scholar and activistSee also editUnion Seminary Quarterly ReviewReferences edit As of June 30 2019 U S and Canadian 2019 NTSE Participating Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2019 Endowment Market Value and Percentage Change in Market Value from FY18 to FY19 Revised National Association of College and University Business Officers and TIAA Retrieved September 25 2020 National Register Information System National Register of Historic Places National Park Service July 9 2010 a b Union Theological Seminary PDF New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission November 15 1967 Retrieved December 23 2019 Mission amp Vision Union Theological Seminary Retrieved March 15 2019 Timeline 1836 to 1869 Union Theological Seminary Archived from the original on August 5 2012 Retrieved October 26 2009 The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary Columbia University Libraries library columbia edu A History of Real Estate Building and Architecture in New York City During the Last Quarter of a Century New York City Record and Guide 1898 pp 371 Hart D G Muether John 2007 Seeking a Better Country 300 Years of American Presbyterianism Phillipsburg N J Presbyterian amp Reformed Publishing p 183 ISBN 9780875525747 OCLC 122974080 Hart amp Muether pg 183 About Us Auburn Theological Seminary web site Archived from the original on February 21 2010 Retrieved January 21 2010 A Teacher and His Times William Adams Brown Scribner 1940 Serene Jones President of the Faculty and Roosevelt Professor of Systematic Theology Union Theological Seminary Archived from the original on August 5 2012 Retrieved October 26 2009 WeAreClimateChange Archived from the original on March 3 2016 Retrieved December 18 2016 A Guide to the University Senate University Senate Office Columbia University February 2019 Stone Ronald H 2012 Politics and Faith Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich at Union Seminary in New York Macon Georgia Mercer University Press pp 55 56 ISBN 978 0 88146 385 9 Bonhoeffer Dietrich 2008 Barcelona Berlin New York 1928 1931 Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works Vol 10 1st English language ed Minneapolis Fortress Press pp 265 266 ISBN 978 1 4514 7965 2 OCLC 33206791 CornelWest March 8 2021 I am blessed to announce with my dear Tweet via Twitter Ackerman Jon August 18 2020 Washington s Jason Wright follows Christ as he becomes NFL s first Black team president SportsSpectrum com Archived from the original on September 4 2020 Retrieved September 4 2020 Niebuhr Gustav August 11 1998 Raymond E Brown 70 Dies A Leading Biblical Scholar The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved March 5 2017 Peter Phan berkleycenter georgetown edu Retrieved November 20 2017 Unitas Awards Union Theological Seminary Union Theological Seminary New York Gets New Church Post Courier News December 20 1955 Retrieved November 19 2021 Roberts Sam November 19 2021 Rev W Sterling Cary Pioneering Black Churchman Dies at 94 The New York Times Retrieved November 19 2021 Biographical Record of the Alumni of Amherst College During Its First Half of the Century 1821 1871 W S Tyler contribution Amherst College 1883 p 189 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint others link Beverly Roberts Gaventa When in Romans An Invitation to Linger with the Gospel According to Paul Grand Rapids Baker Press Description Forthcoming November 15 2016 Home Retrieved December 18 2016 Who Is Raphael Warnock Everything To Know About Ebenezer Baptist Pastor Running For Georgia Senate News One January 30 2020 Retrieved February 1 2020 Martin Douglas George W Webber Social Activist Minister Dies at 90 The New York Times July 12 2010 Accessed July 13 2010 Further reading editAltman Jake Socialism Before Sanders The 1930s Movement from Romance to Revisionism New York Palgrave Macmillan 2019 Handy Robert T A History of Union Theological Seminary in New York New York Columbia University Press 1987 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Union Theological Seminary New York City Official website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Union Theological Seminary New York City amp oldid 1187853310, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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