Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary | |
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Established | 1969 |
Type | Private |
Religious affiliation | Evangelical |
President | Dennis P. Hollinger |
Students | 2,134 |
Location | South Hamilton,
Massachusetts, USA 42°36′46″N 70°50′43″W / 42.612896°N 70.845294°WCoordinates: 42°36′46″N 70°50′43″W / 42.612896°N 70.845294°W |
Campus | Rural |
Former names | Gordon College of Theology and Mission, Gordon Divinity School, Conwell School of Theology |
Affiliations | BTI |
Website | www.gcts.edu |
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (GCTS) is an evangelical theological seminary based in South Hamilton, Massachusetts.
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Gordon-Conwell was founded in 1969, with theologian Harold Ockenga as its first president.[1] It has a doubly-Baptist theological heritage: it is the product of a merger between Gordon Divinity School, formerly of Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts, and the Conwell School of Theology, formerly of Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both Adoniram Judson Gordon and Russell Conwell were Baptist ministers; Gordon's divinity school was first established as Gordon Bible Institute in 1889,[2] while Conwell's theological school was originally chartered as Temple College in 1888.
Ockenga had wanted a strong evangelical voice in New England to contend with more liberal schools like Harvard and Boston University. With the financial backing of J. Howard Pew and the unifying influence of evangelist Billy Graham, Ockenga saw the two schools shed their theological and divinity schools and join them as Gordon-Conwell. Other former presidents include Robert Cooley (1981-1997), Walter Kaiser, Jr. (1997-2006), and James Emery White (2006-2007), and Haddon Robinson (2007-2008).[3]
The main 118-acre (0.48 km2) residential campus is in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. There are secondary campuses in Boston and in Charlotte, North Carolina, with an extension site in Jacksonville, Florida. The campus in Boston is known as the Center for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME), and it is a program offered exclusively through part-time night and weekend classes. The Charlotte program is only offered part-time on weekends and generally attracts an older student body. The newest extension site opened in 2006 and is located in Jacksonville, Florida.
The seminary has a Baptist heritage but has no specific Christian denominational affiliation. It is part of the Boston Theological Institute (BTI), a consortium of nine theological schools in the Greater Boston area.
There were 2,008 students enrolled at Gordon-Conwell in 2007.[4] The seminary offers over 19 degrees including the Master of Divinity (M.Div.), Master of Theology (Th.M.), Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.), and a wide range of specialized master's degrees.
Gordon-Conwell has been accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada since 1964[5] and by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges since 1985.[6] It is also certified by the United States Government for the training of veterans and the education of chaplains for military service.[7]
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