In November 2015, the school announced that it would sell its campus and become part of
Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut,[2] a process it completed in July 2017.[3]
Andover Theological Seminary was founded in 1807 by orthodox
Calvinists who were members of Congregational churches (forebears of the United Church of Christ) who fled
Harvard College after it appointed Unitarian theologian
Henry Ware to the Hollis Professorship of Divinity in 1805. One of the founders of the school, and of the Massachusetts Missionary Society, was Rev.
Samuel Spring. Widely reported in the national press, the founding by the Calvinists was one of the significant events that contributed to the split in the New England
Congregationalist tradition, and to the eventual founding of the
American Unitarian Association in 1825.[4]
The new school built a suite of Federal-style buildings at
Phillips Academy in
Andover, Massachusetts,[5] which the school occupied for its first century. (Most of the original seminary campus survives today as part of the historic core of the Phillips Academy campus.[6])
Before Andover was founded, American Protestant clergymen attended undergraduate college, then learned their profession by studying under a minister. The new seminary was the first to formalize graduate study for
clergymen with a resident student body and resident faculty. The program was for three years of study in four subjects: the
Bible, church history, doctrinal theology and the practical arts of ministry.[7]
In 1908,
Harvard Divinity School and Andover attempted to reconcile (both institutions were strongly theologically liberal by this point), and for a period of 18 years shared Harvard's
Cambridge campus. The seminary moved its faculty and library to Cambridge, built a large academic-Gothic style facility there, and began to develop plans for a more formal merger with Harvard. However, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts disallowed the alliance. Although the court decision was later reversed, Andover eventually relocated to the Newton Centre campus of the Newton Theological Institution in 1931.
The original Andover Seminary library remained on the Harvard campus, where, merged with the library collections of the Harvard Divinity School, it is now known as
Andover-Harvard Theological Library.[8] Andover Newton retained ownership of the books.
Harvard later purchased the school's Cambridge real estate, which, known as Andover Hall,[9] now houses most of the Harvard Divinity School. Although the planned merger with Harvard was never completed, the two schools remained loosely affiliated. Andover Newton students and faculty had access to the Harvard College Library system and Andover Newton students were able to register for classes at any of the university's schools.
An important early benefactor and long-time treasurer of Newton Theological Institution was
Gardner Colby, Boston industrialist and resident of Newton Centre near the campus. Colby Hall (designed by architect
Alexander Rice Esty) and Colby Chapel on the Andover Newton campus were named in his honor. Colby also contributed to a number of other New England Baptist institutions, including Brown University and
Colby College in
Waterville, Maine,[13] which was also named in his honor.
From 1931 on, the facilities of the Newton Centre campus expanded many times, especially during a boom in enrollment during the 1950s and '60s. The last addition was Wilson Chapel, a modern interpretation of the traditional New England meetinghouse, constructed to mark the school's bicentennial in 2007.[14]
Andover Newton
Andover and Newton formally merged in 1965, creating Andover Newton Theological School. Another important 21st-century construction on "the Hill" in Newton Centre was the contemporary campus of
Hebrew College, designed by the architect
Moshe Safdie. The two schools collaborated on a number of interfaith programs and their students were able to cross-register for classes.[citation needed]
In 2010, Andover Newton and
Meadville Lombard Theological School, a Chicago-based seminary affiliated with the
Unitarian Universalist Association, announced plans to create a "new university-style institution" at the Newton Centre campus, with an interfaith model for theological education. Meadville was to sell its campus in Chicago and become the "Unitarian" division of the new institution, with Andover Newton becoming the "Christian" component.[15] The two institutions withdrew from the plan in April 2011, citing issues related to governance and finances.[16]
Andover Newton at Yale
In May 2016, ANTS president Martin Copenhaver announced that Andover Newton would begin a process of formal affiliation with
Yale Divinity School over a two-year period. In the 2016–17 academic year, a cohort of faculty relocated to
New Haven, Connecticut, teaching students and launching pilot initiatives focused on congregational ministry education, while Andover Newton continued to operate in Massachusetts. Copenhaver projected that a sale of the Newton campus would pay off debt and create an endowment for the institution at Yale.
On June 29, 2017, the sale of the Andover Newton campus was finalized, and on July 20, 2017, the boards of Andover Newton and Yale Divinity School signed an agreement to formalize their affiliation beginning in the 2017–18 academic year. Under the agreement,
Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School was established as a unit within Yale Divinity School, similar to Yale's arrangement with the Episcopal seminary
Berkeley Divinity School.[17][18][19][20][21]
Andover Newton students at YDS earn a diploma from Andover Newton in addition to their Yale degrees, and receive scholarship support from the Andover Newton Seminary Program. Andover Newton also funds some faculty positions at YDS.[22]
Academics and student life
Andover Newton was first accredited by the
New England Association of Schools and Colleges in 1978,[23] and granted
master's degrees as well as a
doctor of ministry. Andover Newton students were also allowed to take classes in any of
Harvard University's ten graduate schools due to the prior affiliation of Andover Theological Seminary and the
Harvard Divinity School, which combined their libraries in 1911 to form the Andover-Harvard Theological Library on the Harvard campus.[24] While there were 350 students enrolled in 2007,[25] who represented 35
Christian denominations, a decade later, it had dropped to 225, mostly part-time students, down from 450 full-time enrollees a generation earlier.[2] United Church of Christ students remained the largest segment of the student body, followed by Unitarian Universalists and Baptists.[26]
Academic awards
The ‘Spirit of the Hill’ award, announced at the annual Fall Convocation, is conferred upon one alumnus/a who has exhibited exemplary skills in ministry.[27] Additionally, the Seminary awards several prizes to its students in recognition of outstanding achievements. A prize for Excellence in Writing is awarded annually by the faculty, named after American theologian and writer,
Frederick Buechner.[28]
Notable persons
Andover Theological Seminary and Newton Theological Institution has held graduations for many notable graduates. Collectively, many of these graduates had big influence to America.
Prior to the American Civil War, when there were few fully developed graduate programs in the United States, the two schools trained some of the nation's most important scholars, linguists, social activists, educational innovators, and college presidents as well as many of its leading Protestant clergy.
Below are the graduates of the school:
Adoniram Judson, class of 1810, is one of the earliest notable alumni and among the first U.S. missionaries sent by the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He later became a
Baptist missionary to
Myanmar, then known as Burma.[29] He also founded the Boston Missionary Training Institute, later named
Gordon College in his honor. Gordon College was named after Adoniram Judson Gordon, who is not the same person as Adoniram Judson.
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet,[30] class of 1814, was the founder of education for the deaf in the United States, established the first American school for the deaf, and was the principal developer of what became American Sign Language.
Gaulladet University in Washington, D.C., was renamed in his honor in 1893.[31]
Hiram Bingham and
Asa Thurston, class of 1816, were the first missionaries to
Hawaii, where they devised an alphabet for written Hawaiian.[32]
Francis Wayland entered Andover Theological Seminary in 1816 but was too poor to complete his studies there. He later helped found Newton Theological Institution. Like two later Newton alumni, Wayland was president of
Brown University. He held the position for 28 years and is remembered as one of that school's most important early leaders.[33]
Caleb Mills, class of 1833, was the founding president and first faculty member of Wabash College is considered the father of the
Indiana public education system.[34]
Samuel Francis Smith, class of 1834, was the Baptist minister who wrote the words to America or My Country, 'Tis of Thee while still a student on the Andover campus (where his dormitory, still in use at
Phillips Academy, is now known as "America House").
George Trumbull Ladd, class of 1869, was an American philosopher, educator, and psychologist.
George Washington Williams, class of 1874, was an American Civil War soldier, Baptist minister, politician, lawyer, journalist, and writer on African-American history. His open letter to King Leopold of Belgium spurred a public outcry against the brutal Belgian colonization of the Congo.
^For details on the founding and subsequent Andover Newton history, see Bendroth, Margaret Lamberts, A School of the Church: Andover Newton across Two Centuries, Cambridge, UK: Eerdmans, 2009.
^Today's Ministry: Commemorative Bicentennial Issue, Newton Centre, MA, 2007, p. 3
^Burrows, Mark S. "Wilson Chapel: A New Meetinghouse for a School 'Set on a Hill'", Faith & Form: The Interfaith Journal on Religion, Art, and Architecture, Vol. XLI, No. 2, 2008.
^"Roster of Institutions: Massachusetts". Commission on Institutions of Higher Education (CIHE) of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Archived from
the original on August 28, 2013. Retrieved July 1, 2009.
^Punahou School, Ceremonies in memory of the pioneer missionary Rev. Hiram Bingham held at Oahu college Punahou, Honolulu, April 19, 1905. Honolulu: Hawaiian Gazette Co., 1905.
^Osborne, James Insley; Theodore Gregory Gronert (1932). Wabash College: The First Hundred Years, 1832–1932.
Crawfordsville, Indiana: R. E. Banta. p. 31.