Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School

Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School

Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School is a theological college affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. The present day school, which sits on the top of a hill in the neighborhood of Highland Park in Rochester, New York is a product of several mergers.

The school is progressive and ecumenical in theology, with Baptists, United Methodists, Presbyterians and members of other denominations on its faculty and in its student body. The school shares partnerships with Bexley Hall Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Columbus, OH and Chicago, IL, an Episcopal Church seminary, and St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry, a Roman Catholic theological school which shared its facilities from 1981 until 2003, and since has moved to a nearby site.

It is a small school with seven full-time faculty and 14 part-time faculty, and slightly more than 100 full-time students. Dr. Conrad Henry Moehlman (1879–1961) was emeritus professor. The current president is the Rev. Dr. Marvin A. McMickle, who was previously the pastor at Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio.

History

The Rochester Theological Seminary was formed in 1850 at the founding of the University of Rochester by a group from Colgate Theological Seminary in Hamilton, New York who wished to move to an urban setting. By 1928, the remainder of the Hamilton seminary removed to Rochester. In 1961, the school was joined by the Baptist Missionary Training School, a woman's school from Chicago.

Again in 1970 the school merged, this time with Crozer Theological Seminary, the Baptist school from Upland, Pennsylvania where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. studied.

Presidents of the Colgate Theological Seminary Name Title Tenure George W. Eaton President 1861–1871 William H. Maynard Dean 1891–1891 Hezekiah Harvey Dean 1891–1893 Sylvester Burnham Dean 1893–1910 William H. Allison Dean 1910–1915 John F. Vichert Dean 1915 –

Presidents of the Rochester Theological Seminary Name Tenure Ezekiel G. Robinson 1868–1872 Augustus H. Strong 1872–1912 Joseph W. A. Stewart (acting) 1912–1915 Clarence A. Barbour 1915–1928

Presidents of the Baptist Missionary Training School Name Title Tenure Mary Burdette Preceptress 1881–1888 Elizabeth Morris Preceptress 1888–1904 Elizabeth Church Preceptress 1904–1909 Ina Shaw Principal 1909 Mary Reynolds Principal 1909–1914 Warren P. Behan President 1914–1919 Clara D. Pinkham President 1919–1926 Alice W. S. Brimson President 1926–1937 Jessie Dell Crawford President 1937–1941 Robert H. Beaven President 1944–1953 Werner G. Keucher President 1953–1957 Pearl Rossner President 1958–1962

Presidents of the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School Name Tenure Clarence A. Barbour 1928–1929 Albert W. Beaven 1929–1943 Edwin M. Poteat 1944–1948 Wilbour E. Saunders 1949–1960 Gene E. Bartlett 1960–1970 Arthur R. McKay 1970–1973 Leon Pacala 1973–1980 Larry L. Greenfield 1980–1990 James H. Evans, Jr. 1990–2000 G. Thomas Halbrooks 2000–2006 Eugene C. Bay 2006–2010 Jack M. McKelvey 2010–2011 Marvin A. McMickle 2011–Present

Notable alumni

• James E. Cheek, former president of Howard University
• Edwin T. Dahlberg, pacifist and Colgate trustee
• Frederick German Detweiler (American sociologist)
• James Alexander Forbes, Jr. (1935 - ), Senior Minister Emeritus of the Riverside Church in New York City, the largest multicultural congregation in the nation.
• Martin Luther King, Jr., minister, activist, prominent leader in the African-American civil rights movement; attended Crozer Seminary located in Chester, Pennsylvania before its merger with Colgate Divinity School in 1970
• Lorraine K. Potter, Chief of Chaplains of the U.S. Air Force
• Walter Rauschenbusch, theologian, minister, key figure in the Social Gospel movement
• Leonard Sweet, author, preacher, scholar
• Howard Thurman, author, civil rights leader, Dean of Chapel for Howard University and Boston University
• Wyatt Tee Walker, Co-founder of Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) (1957), Executive Dir. SCLC (1960–1964); Senior Pastor, Canaan Baptist Church in Harlem (1967–2004)
• Frederick B. Williams, Canon and Rector of Church of the Intercession, Harlem (1972–2005); Founder of Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement

External links

• Official web site
• ATS accreditation