wfn.org | Multifaith seminary to create new model for theological education

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Multifaith seminary to create new model for theological education

> Written by Staff and Wire Reports
> June 24, 2010

Andover Newton Theological School of Newton Centre, Mass., and Meadville 
Lombard Theological School of Chicago have agreed in principle to form a new 
interreligious university-style theological institution that seeks to become an 
innovative center for educating religious leaders for service in a pluralistic 
world.

The as-yet unnamed institution will be established during the next year by the 
two institutions. Other seminaries will be sought as partners in a design that 
allows participating schools to keep their historic names and sustain distinct 
faith traditions while gaining significant financial and administrative 
advantage through a single corporate infrastructure.

In separate meetings late last week the Trustees of the two schools agreed in 
principle to undertake a program of actions to bring the new
"theological university" into existence by June 15, 2011.

"Across the country seminaries are searching to capture the opportunities of this 
new era in the life of the church, respond to the growing complexities of a multi-faith 
society, and yet meet the ever-present challenges of financial sustainability. This 
vision has the potential to offer innovative answers to these questions, and do so not 
only in the curriculum but in the design of the corporation as well," said the Rev. 
Nick Carter, president of Andover Newton and incoming president of the new institution.

"It's a good fit," added Carter. "As institutions, we are socially and politically 
aligned on many issues."

The Rev. Lee C. Barker, president of Meadville Lombard, who will become a senior 
executive in the new entity, said, "This new interreligious
'theological university' is designed to serve seminarians of all religions, and 
seeks to strengthen their faiths and identities ? not water them down. It is in 
valuing each other's distinctions that we find the ground for the greatest learning. 
We hope other like-minded seminaries will join us because they share our mission to 
train leaders who are prepared to serve in a religiously diverse world and want to 
do so in a model that can offer a financially sound footing."

The two founding schools, one Christian and the other Unitarian Universalist, 
will retain their historic names under the corporate umbrella of the new entity.

Andover Newton, America's oldest graduate seminary and the nation's first 
graduate institution of any kind, traces its establishment to 1807. It is 
affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the American Baptist Churches 
USA. Meadville Lombard, also among the nation's oldest seminaries, was founded 
in 1844 and identifies with the Unitarian Universalist Association of 
Congregations.

The new institution will be based on the Andover Newton campus although the Meadville 
Lombard academic operations will remain largely based in Chicago, primarily engaging in 
"TouchPoint," its distance-learning program.

Meadville Lombard is in the process of selling its four-building campus in the 
Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. The sale will liquidate the school's real 
estate assets and terminate needs for ongoing maintenance, freeing up assets 
for better use in the educational mission of the new school.

Interreligious collaboration isn't a new concept for Andover Newton. Hebrew 
College Rabbinical School purchased eight acres of land from the seminary 10 
years ago to establish its campus. In 2008, the two institutions founded the 
Center for Interreligious and Communal Leadership (CIRCLE). Its mission is to 
help cultivate relationships among the students, staff and faculty of the two 
schools through formal and informal programming.

Previously, it was reported that Andover Newton Theological School had been in 
discussions with Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School concerning a possible 
merger. Carter confirmed that these talks ended with a mutual agreement that 
the partnership would not proceed.