Episcopal Church General Seminary on the Ropes
by Jeffrey Walton, Juicy Ecumenism:
Most faculty and programs at the Episcopal Church’s oldest seminary will be gone at the end of the current school year.
To readers of this blog, this may seem to be a “no news” update: mainline Protestant seminaries have been in consolidation for years. Even among those Christian seminaries with a healthy enrollment, nontraditional online programs comprise most of their growth.
The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church is not, as has been rumored, on the verge of shuttering and selling its valuable Manhattan campus, according to its shared President with Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), Dean Ian Markham. It is, however, at a crucial point: the school is undertaking a five year plan that will either result in sustainability or the end of the road. Only a handful of Episcopal Church dioceses send seminarians to be educated at General; even fewer overseas Anglican provinces do.
The sustainability plan follows years of deficit spending, deferred maintenance, and wishful thinking prior to General’s governance consolidation with VTS, which technically remain separate institutions.
As part of that plan, General is to conclude its residential program and will solely offer a hybrid Masters in Divinity (MDiv) program, according to a February 9 announcement made by the seminary. VTS, the largest independent seminary training students for ministry within the Episcopal Church, stepped in late last year as part of a joint affiliation agreement that functionally subsumes General into VTS’ leadership structures in all but name.