Trinity School for Ministry

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Trinity School for Ministry (TSM) (legally Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry) is a seminary of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA) ^[1] located in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. The newest of the major Episcopal seminaries, it is generally associated with the Low Church (evangelical) wing of the Episcopal Church.

[edit] History

In the mid 1970s, several prominent evangelical-leaning Episcopal clergymen and lay leaders became disillusioned with what they considered the liberal theology and "theological relativism" of the existing Episcopal seminaries. Some members of this group had been involved with the charismatic movement that began in the mid-1960s in some parishes, while others, many associated with the Fellowship of Witness, held to a more traditional Anglican Evangelicalism.

These advocates for conservatism in the ECUSA began to meet and plan a new seminary with a curriculum based on orthodox Protestant theology and evangelical principles. Prior to TSM's founding, Virginia Theological Seminary had widely been acknowledged as the premier evangelical, Protestant-oriented theological institution in the denomination, but VTS had gradually over the 20th century liberalized its doctrinal and ethical positions.

In 1976, Alfred Stanway, a retired Australian missionary bishop to Tanganyika (present-day Tanzania), accepted the call to become the first dean of TSM. Beginning with 17 students and meeting in rented space, Trinity held its first classes in September 1976. Stanway served for two years before retiring. His successor, John Rodgers, oversaw major growth during his 12-year tenure. In 1989, William C. Frey resigned as Bishop of Colorado to become the third dean and president. In 1996, Peter C. Moore, a founding board member and noted evangelical leader, became the fourth dean and president.[1] Paul F. M. Zahl was elected Trinity's fifth dean in 2004. He resigned in May 2007, and Rodgers came out of retirement to serve as Interim Dean and President for one year. Trinity's Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, the Rev. Dr. Justyn Terry, was named the school's new dean, effective August 2008.

In 2007, Trinity dropped the word "Episcopal" from its name on most of its publications and printed materials. The school's legal name, however, remains unchanged. The school's full name, including the word "Episcopal," still appears on the seminary's degrees and its website. It remains to be seen whether this action is a sign of an increasing sympathy of TSM with the Anglican realignment movement. The question becomes even more problematic in light of the 2008 schism of the diocese in which the school is located, splitting the Diocese of Pittsburgh into one body aligned with the Southern Cone and another remaining in the Episcopal Church.

Trinity has "board members, faculty, staff, students and alumni on both sides" of the schism.^[2] Trinity remains, however, an independent institution, neither owned nor controlled by any diocese, parish or province, though it remains a member of the Episcopal Seminaries^[3]. In early 2009, Trinity began listing its website and publications as copyrighted in the new name, Trinity School for Ministry.

Trinity now serves 120 full- and part-time students on its campus in Ambridge and 200 more in online degree programs. Six graduates and two former professors have become bishops in the Episcopal Church or other Anglican bodies around the world.

[edit] Evangelical leadership

Founded by leaders of the evangelical wing of the Episcopal Church, TSM has become a central player in the renewal movement in the ECUSA. Although the seminary professes not to discriminate based on theological perspective, the over 900 graduates who currently serve as clergy and lay leaders are overwhelmingly evangelical or traditionalist.^{[citation needed]} The, alumni, faculty, and trustees of the school have been among those in the forefront in support of conservative theology within the ECUSA, advocating historic views on matters such as the virgin birth, deity of Jesus, and the literal resurrection of Jesus, as well as moral stances such as opposition to abortion and homosexuality. However, some graduates of this institution, despairing of any serious change of theological and moral direction within the denomination, have assumed leadership positions within the Anglican realignment movement and are no longer practicing clergy of the ECUSA.^{[citation needed]}

Although unquestionably evangelical, the seminary includes students, faculty, and staff from among evangelical, charismatic, and Anglo-Catholic wings of Anglicanism, as well as members of other Christian denominations. The only other ECUSA-affiliated seminary espousing firmly conservative doctrine and practices is Nashotah House in Wisconsin, a much older institution that has served for generations as the beachhead of Anglo-Catholicism in the U.S.

[edit] Academic information

TSM is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools ^[4] and is a charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability ^[5].

[edit] Degree Programs

• Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.)
• Master of Divinity (M.Div.)
• Master of Arts in Religion (M.A.R.)
• Master of Arts in Mission (M.A.M.)
• Master of Sacred Theology (S.T.M.)

[edit] Diploma & Certificate Programs

• Diploma in Anglican Studies - available on campus or online
• Diploma in Christian Ministry - available on campus or online
• Certificate in Christian Ministry

[edit] Notable alumni

• Mark J. Lawrence (1980), Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina^[6][7]
• Wilson Turumanya, John Rucyahana, Tito Zavala, Naftal Bikala and Sadok Makaya, Anglican bishops outside the United States^[8]
• Ann B. Davis, former actress

[edit] Notable faculty and former faculty

A listing of notable and former faculty can be found on the School's website.

• John Rodgers was one of the first bishops in the Anglican Mission in America.
• Paul Zahl is the recently retired Rector of All Saints Church, Chevy Chase, Maryland.
• Greg Brewer is now Rector of the Parish of Calvary/St. George's, New York, NY.
• Paul House is Associate Dean and Professor of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School of Samford University. [2]
• Terence Kelshaw served as Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande from 1989 until his retirement in 2005.[3]
• Mary Hays is Canon to the Ordinary of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh
• David Mills was editor of Touchstone Magazine from 2003 to 2008.
• Robert S. Munday is Dean and President of Nashotah House Theological Seminary.[4]
• Professor Stephen Noll is Vice Chancellor of Uganda Christian University.[5]
• Patrick Henry Reardon is Pastor of All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church [6] in Chicago and Senior Editor of Touchstone Magazine
• Marcus Robertson is the Rector of Christ Church, Savannah, GA.[7]
• Allen P. Ross is Professor of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School of Samford University. [8]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Trinity School for Ministry

Coordinates: 40°35′37″N 80°13′48″W / 40.593605°N 80.229968°W / 40.593605; -80.229968