Eden Theological Seminary

Eden Theological Seminary

Type	Seminary
Established	1850 (1850)
Accreditation	Association of Theological Schools (ATS) and Higher Learning Commission
Religious affiliation	United Church of Christ
President	Deborah Krause
Academic Dean	Christopher Grundy
Academic staff	8
Students	56
Location	Webster Groves , Missouri , United States
Website	www.eden.edu

Eden Theological Seminary is a Christian seminary based in Webster Groves, Missouri. It is one of the six official seminaries of the United Church of Christ.

History

The seminary was established in 1850 by German pastors in Marthasville, Missouri. At the time, the goal was to equip pastors to lead and minister to frontier churches. The pastors soon formed the German Evangelical Synod of North America. This, after subsequent mergers, became a part of the UCC.

The Eden Seminary campus at Wellston

In 1883, the Seminary moved to what would become Wellston, Missouri and built a campus there. The campus was purchased by Normandy High School in 1923. In 1924, the Seminary moved to its current campus in Webster Groves. The school was augmented in 1934 by a merger with the Central Theological Seminary, an institution of the Reformed Church in the United States in Dayton, Ohio, and the Oakwood Institute of Cincinnati, Ohio. This coincided with the merger of the two denominations into the Evangelical and Reformed Church. Conversations at Eden Theological Seminary, beginning in 1937, led to the 1957 merger of the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches to form the United Church of Christ.

Presidents

Term	Name	Notes
1902–1919	William Becker
1919–1941	Samuel D. Press	Namesake for Press Hall. Press was known as the "Teacher of the Niebuhrs" and oversaw the Seminary's move to Webster Groves. Prior to his presidency, he was a member of Eden's faculty from 1908 and was the first full-time professor to teach exclusively in English.
1941–1962	Frederich Schroeder
1962–1981	Robert Fauth
1981–1986	Malcolm Warford	After Eden, Warford served as president of Bangor Theological Seminary from 1987 to 1995.
1986–1993	Eugene S. Wehrli	Namesake for Wehrli Chapel. Was Professor of New Testament from 1960 to 1986.
1993–1996	Charles R. Kniker	Prior to Eden, Kniker was professor of education at Iowa State University for 24 years and at one point was assistant dean of the College of Education.
1997–2020	David Greenhaw
2020 – Present	Deborah Krause	First woman president of Eden Seminary and 1988 M.Div. graduate. Prior to her presidency, she was Professor of New Testament since 1992 and academic dean from 2005–2018.

Academics

Samuel D. Press Hall

Eden Theological Seminary offers five degree programs: Master of Divinity (M.Div.), Master of Community Leadership (M.C.L.), Master of Arts in Professional Studies (M.A.P.S), Master in Theological Studies (M.T.S.), and Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.). Eden's campus offers on-campus housing and dormitories to its student body. All classes and programming are offered in blended format with students participating fully on campus and online.

The Webster-Eden Library System

In 1968, Eden Theological Seminary built the Luhr Library to house its collections. The next year, it was approached by Webster University. The two schools agreed to put their collections together, and the Luhr building became the library building for both the Seminary and Webster University.

Luhr Building

In 2003, the book collections outgrew the capacities of the Luhr building and the books were moved to the newly-constructed Emerson Library at Webster University, where the library remains to this day. The Emerson Library is open to both Eden Seminary and Webster University students, and is a member of the MOBIUS library consortium. Eden Seminary maintains its historically-significant books and religious/theology reference collections in the Luhr Reading Room in the Samuel Press Hall. In 2010, the Luhr building was sold to Webster University, which uses it for its institutional technology department and the chess team.

Notable faculty and alumni

Pastors and denominational leaders

• Seth Senyo Agidi (MTS and D.Min.): Moderator of the General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana.
• John C. Dorhauer (M.Div. 1988): 9th General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ.
• Anthony Witherspoon (D.Min 2012): 109th bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and pastor of Washington Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church.

Theologians and scholars

• Walter Brueggemann (B.D. 1958): Professor at Eden Theological Seminary from 1961–1986, and then the William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary from 1986–2003. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Eden in 1997.
• Catherine Keller (M.Div. 1977): Professor of Constructive Theology at Drew University since 1986 and one of the leaders of Process theology.
• Reinhold Niebuhr (1913): Professor at Union Theological Seminary, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964, and author of Moral Man and Immoral Society and The Nature and Destiny of Man.
• H. Richard Niebuhr (1915): Professor at Eden Theological Seminary from 1919–1924 and 1927–1931, president of Elmhurst College from 1924–1927, and then professor of theology and ethics at Yale University from 1931–1962, and author of Christ and Culture.

Political and organizational leaders

• Jeanette Mott Oxford (M.Div. 1989): The first openly lesbian member of the Missouri House of Representatives from 2004-2012.
• Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson (M.Div.): President of the Children's Defense Fund.

External links

• Official website