A Historical Tour of Princeton Theological Seminary
By Michael J. Paulus, Jr.
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4. The Evolution of the Seminary in the Twentieth Century
Springdale
By the beginning of the twentieth century, America and its institutions had matured. At its sesquicentennial in
1896, the College of New Jersey changed its name to Princeton University, signaling its intention to develop beyond
a liberal arts college into a research university. The Seminary had grown into a school with 12 professors and about
150 regular and advanced students. To create a more efficient administration of the Seminary,
Francis L. Patton, who had just
retired from the presidency of Princeton University, was called as the Seminary’s first president. As a suitable
home for its president, the Seminary purchased Springdale, which had been built around 1850. Patton, in an argument
with Harvard president Charles Eliot in the 1880s over the nature of theological education, had argued that theological
seminaries were not merely concerned with theological education and research but with ministerial education for the
church. Whatever changes would occur in American academic culture, the Seminary’s first loyalty would be to the church.
Benjamin B. Warfield
Charles Hodge’s most gifted student and successor, Benjamin B. Warfield, died in 1921. Warfield’s death marked the
end of what has been called Old Princeton and the Princeton Theology, which was characterized by a biblical Calvinism,
Reformed piety, and evidentialist apologetics. In 1929, after much internal turmoil, the governing structure of
Seminary was reorganized and a group of dissatisfied professors and students, led by J. Gresham Machen, left to
establish Westminster Theological Seminary.
During this tumultuous period at the Seminary, which reflected broader changes occurring in the Presbyterian Church
and American culture, the Seminary campus remained largely unchanged. One notable exception was the construction of
Payne Hall, which was built in 1922 with
funds from the Payne family. The first student group organized at the Seminary was the Society of Inquiry on Missions,
which was formed to cultivated student interest in missions. Payne Hall, representing the Seminary's support of global
missions, provided housing for missionaries on furlough.
In 1936, Scotsman John A. Mackay
became the Seminary’s third president. Under his leadership the Seminary began grow and charge in many significant ways.
Tennent Hall
The General Assembly of 1941 recommended that graduate schools of Christian Education be established for women at
seminaries. The following year the Tennent College of Christian Education, which had opened in Philadelphia in 1907
to train women for lay leadership roles in the church, conveyed its assets to the Seminary in exchange for the
Seminary’s pledge to carry on the work of the school at the graduate level. To accommodate this expansion of its
curriculum, the Seminary acquired in 1943 the campus of the Hun Preparatory School, now called the Tennent Campus,
which included buildings for classrooms, dormitory rooms, and a gymnasium. Although a few women had matriculated at
the Seminary earlier in the twentieth century, in 1944 women began to regularly attend the Seminary. (1944 was also
the year in which the Seminary awarded its first doctorate degree, as part of a program that was begun in 1940.)
Mackay’s next major project was the development of a Campus Center.
The Mackay Campus Center opened in 1952 to replace Seminary eating clubs, which had supplanted the Seminary's
apparently inadequate refectory. Mackay’s intention was to create a stronger sense of community at the Seminary
by providing a common space where an increasingly diverse student body could meet and dine together.
Speer Reliefs
The two Lenox Libraries were razed to make room for the
Robert E. Speer Library,
which opened in 1957. Mackay named the building after his close friend Robert E. Speer, former Seminary
trustee and General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church’s Board of Foreign Missions. When it opened,
Speer Library was a model research facility. It provided ample space for library resources and services
and contained a number of seminar rooms. Over the main entrance of Speer Library are two columns of seals
symbolizing important Christian truths. The first image, at the top of the left column, is the creative
hand of God, signifying the divine initiative; the last image, at the bottom of the right column, is John
Calvin’s dedicated heart, signifying the human response to God.
James I. McCord
In 1959, James I. McCord became the Seminary’s fourth president. McCord was committed to the advancement of
theological education and research. One outcome of this commitment was the establishment of the Center of
Continuing Education, which now operates out of two buildings,
Adams House and
Erdman Hall. The first continuing
education seminars were held in Adams House (named after Dean Arthur M. Adams), which was purchased by the
Seminary in 1962. Erdman Hall, the former site of the home of Professor Charles Erdman, was built as a dormitory
in 1981 and then renovated in 2000 to provide state-of-the art facilities for continuing education programs.
McCord also established the Center of Theological Inquiry, in 1978, to support advanced research in theology. The
CTI was modeled on the Institute for Advanced Study, which was founded in Princeton in 1930 as the first residential
research institute for scholars in United States.
Luce Hall was built for the CTI
in 1984.
CRW Apartments
As early as the 1950s, the Seminary had been seeking better accommodations for married students. In
1965, McCord purchased an apartment development on what is now the Seminary’s West Windsor Campus. In
1979, the Seminary received a $16 million bequest and the mortgage on the property was paid off. The
apartments are now named after the philanthropist’s mother, Charlotte Rachel Wilson, and the philanthropist’s
name was given to the adjacent Charlotte Newcombe Social and Study Center, which opened in 1982. Also
located at the West Windsor Campus are the Seminary Pool (which opened in 1991), the Witherspoon Apartments
(which opened in 1998), and the Durpee Center for Children (a child care center, which opened in 1995 at the
CN Center).
Thomas Gillespie
In 1983, Thomas Gillespie became the fifth president of the Seminary. Under his leadership, the Seminary continued to grow.
Templeton Hall was completed in
1989 and contains administrative offices, preaching labs, and state-of-the-art media facilities. It is named
after Sir John Templeton, who established the Templeton Fund and the Templeton Prize in Religion. Templeton
became a trustee of the Seminary in 1951, and under his guidance the Seminary’s endowment grew substantially.
Scheide Hall and Miller Chapel
The
Henry Luce III Library,
named after former Seminary trustee and chairman of the Luce Foundation, opened in 1994 to further support
research at the Seminary. Luce Library houses Special Collections, which is the repository for the archives
of the Seminary and for manuscripts, rare books, and special research collections. Luce Library also provides
space for seminars, meetings, and individual and group study.
During his tenure, president Gillespie raised over $30 million for the renovation of older campus buildings.
In 2000 Miller Chapel was renovated for the fourth time. Scheide Hall, a new building which opened in the same
year, is named after a generous trustee emeritus of the Seminary, William H. Scheide. Scheide Hall houses the
offices of the chapel staff and provides rehearsal space for the Seminary choirs.