Bangor Theological Seminary

Bangor Theological Seminary Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Bangor Theological Seminary, early 1900s
Location:	Union St., Bangor, Maine
Coordinates:	44°48′6″N 68°46′50″W
Area:	7.5 acres (3 ha)
Built:	1827
Architect:	multiple
Architectural style:	Late Victorian, Federal, Greek Revival
Governing body:	Private
NRHP Reference#:	77000080
Added to NRHP:	August 2, 1977

Located in Bangor, Maine, and Portland, Maine, Bangor Theological Seminary is an ecumenical seminary, founded in 1814, in the Congregational tradition of the United Church of Christ. It is the only accredited graduate school of religion in Northern New England.

The seminary has campuses in Bangor and Portland, Maine. Its primary mission is preparation for Christian ministry. Graduate programs include the Master of Divinity, Master of Arts and Doctor of Ministry degrees. The school is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and Maine Board of Education. Bangor Theological Seminary is an official Open and affirming seminary.

History

Theological Seminary, at Bangor, Maine, an 1853 engraving

Bangor Theological Seminary was originally of a much more conservative tradition/philosophy than it is today. Led by a group of Congregational ministers and lay leaders who wanted to create a center of theological study in northern New England, the Society for Theological Education met on July 27, 1811, in Portland to establish a school. Jonathan Fisher, a founding trustee, described the urgency and importance of the school's mission:

"I am strongly adverse to an unlearned ministry, but if in this district we wait to be supplied from other institutions, I am fully persuaded that the ground would be preoccupied by Sectarians, many of whom will not only be unlearned, but very unlearned."

Granted a charter on February 25, 1814, by the Great and General Court of Massachusetts, the seminary briefly found a home in Hampden, before moving to its present Bangor location in 1819. The seminary began to assume its present shape under the leadership of the Reverend Enoch Pond. A noted scholar and writer, Pond joined the faculty in 1833, became BTS president in 1856, and remained in that capacity until his death in 1882.

Today, Bangor Theological Seminary has academic programs leading to the Master of Divinity degree, the Master of Arts degree, and the Doctor of Ministry degree. The seminary is ecumenical in nature, with over a dozen religious traditions represented among students and faculty. One of seven United Church of Christ seminaries in the United States, it is the only accredited theological institution in northern New England.

Notable alumni

• Elias Bond (1813–1896), Missionary to Hawaii
• Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Governor, Civil War general
• David H. Cyr, Deputy Chief of Chaplains of the U.S. Air Force
• Daniel Dole (1808–1878), Missionary to Hawaii, and founder of Punahou School
• Edward Eaton, President of Beloit College
• Samuel C. Fessenden, U.S. Congressman
• Cyrus Hamlin, Founder of Robert College (Istanbul)
• Daniel Collamore Heath, Publisher
• Charles Henry Howard, Civil War general and editor
• John Davis Paris (1809–1892), Missionary to Hawaii
• Arthur B. Patten, Minister and hymn-writer
• Edward Pond Parker, Minister, and confidante of Mark Twain
• Minot Judson Savage, Minister, author, and spiritualist
• Elkanah Walker, Missionary and early settler in Oregon
• David Atwood Wasson, Minister and transcendentalist

Notable faculty

• Jehudi Ashmun, later a founder of Liberia
• William H. Barbour, later Pastor of Yale College, 1877–87
• Frank W. Clelland, later President of Gammon Theological Seminary
• Samuel Harris, later President of Bowdoin College, 1867-7
• John Russell Herrick, later President of Pacific University and the University of South Dakota
• Levi Leonard Paine
• Enoch Pond
• Burton H. Throckmorton Jr., Pastor and Professor

External links

• Bangor Theological Seminary
• Bangor Theological Seminary catalog