History

The Establishment of the Oldest Baptist Seminary in America

In 1817, the Hamilton Theological and Literary Institute was founded in rural Hamilton, New York, with a concern to provide an educated clergy for the churches of early 19th-century America.  The institute would become Colgate Theological Seminary when 13 men with $13 simultaneously founded Colgate University.  Its first graduate, Jonathan Wade, began a tradition of outstanding ministerial leadership when he conducted pioneering missionary work in Burma.

Throughout its history, Colgate Theological Seminary was noted for its uncompromising commitment to academic freedom.  William Newton Clarke (1840-1912), one of its faculty members, wrote an Outline of Christian Theology (1898) that became, in the words of a leading historian, "virtually the Dogmatik of evangelical liberalism."

An Urban Seminary Begins in Rochester

An offshoot of Colgate Theological Seminary was planted in Rochester in 1850 by a group of Baptists who wished to remove both Colgate University and its theological seminary to an urban setting. The initial removal controversy failed in a legal dispute; however, a number of faculty and students came from Colgate to Rochester to help begin a new university and seminary.  Consequently, the Rochester Theological Seminary was founded concurrently with the University of Rochester.

The seminary soon distinguished itself for its combination of academic rigor and social witness, traits admirably combined in its most famous faculty member, Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918), the founder of the social gospel movement in the late 19th century.  For 40 years, Augustus Hopkins Strong (1836-1921) served as president of Rochester Theological Seminary while producing theology that incorporated the new doctrine of evolution and the emerging practices of biblical criticism into his theological work. Like her sister school in Hamilton, Rochester Theological Seminary was ecumenical in its mission, enrolling seminarians from many denominations.

Two Seminaries Unite

In 1928, the Colgate and Rochester seminaries merged to become Colgate Rochester Divinity School, and as part of that merger, the present campus was built on one of the highest hills in the southeastern corner of Rochester, New York, thanks to funding from John D. Rockefeller, Jr.  The joining of these two schools represented a distinctive blending of roots and heritages.  In time, it would serve as a precedent for other mergers by demonstrating that two distinctive institutions could strengthen their lives by becoming one.

Women's School Merges with Colgate Rochester Divinity School

In 1961, the Baptist Missionary Training School joined the campus on the hill, adding another important branch to the school's lineage.

The 19th century was a period of great ferment and social change. While the social gospel movement concentrated on the widening gap between the rich and poor, the Baptist Missionary Training School, founded in Chicago in 1881, was created to address another issue—the role of women in the church. Its founder, Mrs. Rumah Crouse, possessed a vision both local and global. She created a community for women who were "responding to God's call as revealed in Jesus Christ" even when the church failed to recognize their call. Typical of its graduates was Joanna P. Moore, a graduate of its first class in 1881, who moved to the rural South where she worked with African Americans for more than 40 years, instituting "fireside schools" to teach literacy skills to women and children. To prepare its graduates for such forms of service, the training school innovatively combined classroom work with field education to equip its students to minister wherever the need was greatest.  Long before it became a popular term, the Baptist Missionary Training School developed an action-reflection curriculum oriented around praxis.

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Alma Mater moves to Rochester

In 1970, Crozer Theological Seminary affiliated with Colgate Rochester Divinity School to form Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, bringing Crozer's commitment to social justice and theological education oriented to the work of ministry to the community on the hill.

Crozer Theological Seminary was the product of the generosity of Baptist industrialist John P. Crozer.  In his devotion to stewardship, Crozer puzzled over how to use "the great and increasing stores of wealth which God had bestowed on [him]." In 1867, during the tumultuous years following the Civil War, he donated the building and land in Upland, Pennsylvania, which would become Crozer Theological Seminary. His investment in the seminary paid great dividends. In 1951, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. graduated from Crozer. A few years later, he would put to use the social ethics he had been taught at Crozer and lead the emergent Civil Rights Movement that would change the character of American society.

Two Covenant Partners Bring Ecumenical Richness to CRCDS

Bexley Hall Seminary

Saint Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry

Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School Today

Through a series of unusual and even improbable unions and covenant partnerships, Colgate Rochester Crozer has emerged. The heritage of these schools now enriches a vital community of learning and worship.