Westminster Theological Seminary (WTS) is a Reformed Christian educational institution with campuses located in Pennsylvania and California.The seminary was formed in 1929, largely
under the leadership and funding of J. Gresham Machen, with the
vision of continuing the theological tradition of Princeton Seminary, from which the WTS founders felt Princeton was
departing.The seminary currently offers the following accredited degrees:
- Master of Divinity
- Master
of Arts in Religion
- Master of Arts
- Master of
Theology
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Doctor of
Ministry
Westminster Seminary has a worldwide reputation, drawing roughly a third of its student body from Korea, with numerous other countries of Asia and Africa well represented.Historically, the seminary has prized its stringent academic standards, requiring that students who do not arrive with ability
in Greek and Hebrew, spend a year on each language. Students are required
to master a wide range of topics in not only theology and biblical studies, but also
history, philosophy, and sociology. Many of the professors themselves have advanced degrees from Harvard University, Yale University, and Princeton
University and bring the most recent learning of the academies to the classroom.Pastoral training is the primary focus of the seminary. This is evident not only from the practical requirements for the
Master of Divinity students, but again from the example of the faculty themselves. All teaching officers are required to
subscribe to the Westminster Confession
of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, the core doctrine of all
Presbyterian churches. Further,
the seminary maintains a policy of requiring that a high proportion of the faculty be men
ordained in Presbyterian churches.The faculty of WTS has included well-known theologians of the past and present such as J. Gresham Machen, Ned Stonehouse, Cornelius Van Til, John Murray, Richard Gaffin, Sinclair Ferguson, and Oswald T. Allis.