Episcopal Press and News
Seabury-Western earns reaccreditation
Episcopal News Service. July 19, 2010 [071910-01]
ENS staff
Seabury Western Theological Seminary announced July 19 that it has been reaccredited by the Association of Theological Schools.
In the summer of 2009, the Evanston, Illinois-based school, one of 11 Episcopal Church-affiliated seminaries, sold its property to nearby Northwestern University, using the resulting $13 million to pay off its debt and balance its budget. It had ended its master of divinity degree the year before. Seabury also began a joint doctor of ministry degree in congregational development with another of the 11 schools, Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California.
Such decisions, the school has said, are examples of what it calls its new mission: to "embod[y] generous Christianity, grounded in the Baptismal Covenant and the Episcopal tradition, as we educate lay and ordained women and men for ministry, build faith communities, and enrich people in their faith."
"In 2009, Seabury Western Theological Seminary sold its property, put its financial house in order, and dedicated itself to educating lay and ordained people," Interim President and Dean Robert G. Bottoms, who was the school's board chair at the time of the changes, said in a Seabury press release. "We knew that we were responding innovatively to the changing landscape of theological education. What we didn't know was how other leaders in theological education would respond."
Bottoms said reaccredidation is "an endorsement not just of what we're doing but how we're doing it."
"ATS has noted with favor the engagement and leadership of Seabury's board and our 'patterns of openness, frequent and frank communication, and compassionate listening,'" he said. "It's inevitable that theological education is changing. At Seabury, we'd like to think that we're offering a model for how to handle that change well."
The press release from Seabury said that ATS praised the school's "institutional openness to bold possibilities for re-conceptualization of mission."
Seabury also offers a doctor of ministry degree in preaching in collaboration with six other seminaries in the Association of Chicago Theological Schools.
Ellen Wondra, Seabury's academic dean, said in the release that the school is "particularly proud that the ATS evaluation committee praised the blend of ministry practice and theological reflection in our congregational development D.Min. [doctor of ministry]"
"As the evaluation committee wrote, the program generates 'our most innovative thinking on behalf of the church.' We are also pleased that ATS recognized our 'commitment to the issues of intercultural awareness, anti-colonialism and anti-racism,' which we believe is essential to the future of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion," Wondra said.
In addition to its accredited doctor of ministry programs, Seabury offers diplomas and certificates in congregational development, Anglican Studies courses at the master of divinity level, and an increasing number of lifelong learning programs.