Berkeley Divinity School

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (September 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Berkeley Divinity School, founded in 1854, is a seminary of the Episcopal Church, based in New Haven, Connecticut.

History[]

The seminary was founded in 1854 by John Williams, then coadjutor bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut, as a mediating alternative between the Anglo-Catholic–leaning General Theological Seminary in New York and the evangelical-leaning Virginia Theological Seminary.^[1] The name of the seminary alludes to the vision of philosopher and bishop George Berkeley who a century earlier had planned a seminary in the western hemisphere; this use of his name for an educational institution precedes its association with California by some decades.^[2]

Williams was also president of Trinity College in Hartford. After a brief period where he oversaw seminary instruction as part of the college, the school began independent life in Middletown, Connecticut, in 1854. The Middletown campus included the first St Luke's Chapel, a memorial to Thomas Dent Mutter given by his widow Mary Wright Alsop. Williams continued as dean while succeeding as diocesan bishop (and presiding bishop from 1887) until his death in 1899.

Berkeley moved to New Haven in 1928, during the deanship of noted liturgical scholar William Palmer Ladd,^[3] to take advantage of the resources of Yale University.^[4] Berkeley students benefitted from an affiliation that allowed students to take some Yale courses and use other facilities.

In 1971, as the Episcopal Church sought to reduce the number of seminaries, Michael Allen was appointed dean to seek a solution to financial challenges.^[5] A new agreement between Yale and Berkeley resulted in a closer affiliation, rather than amalgamation with another Episcopalian institution; since then all students of Berkeley Divinity School have been also students of Yale Divinity School and take a Yale degree. Approximately one third of Yale Divinity School's students undertaking the master's degree in divinity are members of Berkeley. Thus, Berkeley operates as a denominational seminary within an ecumenical divinity school. Students graduating from Berkeley Divinity School at Yale earn a Diploma in Anglican Studies from Berkeley as well as their Yale degree, certifying that they have received education specific to preparation for holy orders or other ministries in the Episcopal Church.

Berkeley's offices and programs are centered with those of Yale Divinity School on the Sterling Divinity Quadrangle, although Berkeley also maintains a separate center for worship and some programs at the nearby Berkeley Center on Saint Ronan Street. Its former New Haven campus is now the site of Yale's Pauli Murray College, named for an Episcopal priest and activist.^[6]

Deans[]

• John Williams (1854–1899)
• (1899–1908)
• Samuel Hart (1908–1917)
• William Palmer Ladd (1917–1941)
• (1942–1947)
• (1947–57)
• (1957–1969)
• (1970–1976)
• (1977–1982)
• (1982–1991)
• (1991–1998)
• (1998–2001)
• (2003–2014)
• Andrew McGowan (2014–present)^[7]

Notable alumni[]

• Charles Minnigerode Beckwith, fourth Bishop of Alabama
• Barbara Brown Taylor, Episcopal priest, preacher and theologian
• Robert W. Castle (1929–2012), Episcopal priest, activist and actor (Philadelphia, Beloved, Rachel Getting Married).^[8]
• Michael Curry, (born 1953), presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church
• Charles Fulton (born 1938), priest, revivalist
• Alfred Harding (1852–1923), second bishop of Washington
• Frederick Joseph Kinsman (1868-1944), third bishop of Delaware, subsequently converted to Roman Catholicism
• George E. Lounsbury (1838-1904), governor of Connecticut
• Victoria Matthews (born 1954), bishop of Edmonton and of Christchurch
• Leonel Mitchell (1930-2012), liturgist
• William Woodruff Niles (1832-1914), third bishop of New Hampshire
• Sidney Catlin Partridge (1857-1930), bishop of Kyoto, second bishop of West Missouri
• Harry Boone Porter (1923–1999), journalist, liturgist and environmentalist
• Robert Prichard, church historian
• Walter Righter (1923–2011), seventh bishop of Iowa
• Calvin Schofield Jr. (born 1933), bishop of Southeast Florida
• Massey H. Shepherd, liturgist, architect of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church
• Kirk Stevan Smith, fifth bishop of Arizona
• Elisha Smith Thomas, second bishop of Kansas
• Lemuel H. Wells (1841–1936), first bishop of Spokane
• Henry S. Whitehead (1882–1932), priest, author of horror fiction and fantasy
• Robert Shaw Sturgis Whitman (1915–2010), priest, author

References[]

External links[]

• Official website

Coordinates: 41°19′24″N 72°55′24″W / 41.3232°N 72.9233°W / 41.3232; -72.9233