Princeton Seminary: The Other Bubble

Though Seminary students often enroll in University courses, Princeton undergraduates rarely take courses through the Seminary. Students at both institutions noted a lack of social interaction between the two groups. Additionally, despite a long and intertwined history, University and Seminary students said that the two lack a strong relationship at the institutional level.

In 1810, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church decided that the College of New Jersey — later renamed Princeton University — had grown too secular.

In light of an increased national demand for ministers, the Assembly proposed the creation of a separate theological seminary that would be “a nursery of vital piety, as well as of sound theological learning,” according to the Seminary’s website.

The trustees of the College enthusiastically agreed to the creation of a postgraduate, professional theological school amid the realization that specialized training in theology required more attention than they could give.

In 1811, the trustees suggested to the General Assembly that Princeton serve as the location of the new seminary. The following year, the Princeton Theological Seminary was established.

Today, the Seminary is celebrating its 200th anniversary as an independent institution and enrolls over 500 students in six degree programs.

Since their mutual split, the University and Seminary have enjoyed a cooperative relationship. Students from each institution may enroll in courses at the other without paying extra tuition and may access each other’s libraries.

Furthermore, Seminary students graduate in the University Chapel, are permitted to use Dillon Gymnasium and frequently visit campus to attend high-profile lectures. However, in terms of student culture and interaction, the University and Seminary remain worlds apart.

Seminary students may take up to one course per semester at Princeton after fulfilling basic requirements during the first year of study. According to Seminary Registrar David Wall, around 25–35 Seminary students enroll in a University course each semester. Wall added that many of these are often language courses, graduate courses or specialized courses in the religion department.

On the other hand, University Spokesperson Martin Mbugua said in an email that only 23 Princeton students — nine of whom were graduate students — have taken courses at the Princeton Theological Seminary in the past five years.

According to Mbugua, eight University students took classes at the Seminary in the 2007-08 academic year, five in 2008-09, five in 2009-10, one in 2010-11 and four in 2011-12.

Jane Abbottsmith ’12, a religion major who won a Gates-Cambridge scholarship to study theology at Cambridge next year, said the small number of University students enrolled in Princeton courses is unfortunate.

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“The type of material you are investigating is different from the material you look at in University courses,” Abbotsmith said. “Your approach and the method is also different ... if there’s someone interested in studying religion and theology, I think that it is a resource that gets overlooked and passed by, but between the course listings, the professors and even the library resources, we are so lucky to have it so close — right next door.”

In the spring of her sophomore year, Abbottsmith took TH2100: Systematic Theology with Seminary professor Bruce McCormack. Last semester, she took ET3340cr: Christian Ethics in Modern Times with professor John Bowlin at PTS.

She described this class as similar to REL 261: Christian Ethics and Modern Society — taught by Univeristy religion professor Eric Gregory — except that, “rather than ask the big ethical questions like abortion or stem cell research, we were looking at more of the underlying theoretical questions, asking things like can Christians love pleasure and what it meant for actions to be intrinsically evil?”

“It is possible to assume a similar starting point because for the most part you are sharing beliefs with your classmates and your professors,” Abbottsmith said. “Some of the topics or questions were more pastoral in their focus ... it’s also different in that some of your classes start off with a prayer, which isn’t something that happens here. I think I learned a lot from my classmates, too, at the seminary, from their stories about where they were heading, what they wanted to be doing.”

Mike Vincent ’10, who graduated from Princeton with a degree in sociology and is currently a ministry fellow with Princeton Faith and Action, took classes at the Seminary on the New Testament in the spring of his sophomore year and on ministers and mental illness in the spring of his junior year after learning that PTS courses were open to undergraduates.

“I didn’t know that was an option before,” said Vincent, who added that he hopes to attend a seminary in the near future. “I did take a lot of religion courses at Princeton, but in so far as they talked about Christianity, they were usually neutral or biased against Christianity ... most were biased against the text being literal or legitimate or authentic, so I sought out a perspective that would not have been as biased.”

Vincent said he has been continually surprised at how little interaction there is between the University and the Seminary.

“The fact that you can take classes at the Seminary is, to my knowledge, not advertised at all to Princeton students,” Vincent said. “I’ve only heard about it through word of mouth, and other people who I know have heard about it have only heard about it through word of mouth. It hasn’t been advertised at all. So I feel that’s part of the problem. I think that the Seminary and University community could probably be a lot more together.”

Paul Rudatsikira, a third-year student in the Seminary’s M. Div program, also said he noticed the lack of a visible relationship between the two institutions and the lack of interaction between the students.

“They have a relationship, but the relationship is basically on paper,” Rudatsikira said. “You don’t see, per se, University students hanging out at the Seminary, nor do you see Seminary students interacting with University students.”

Rudatsikira himself may be an exception to that rule. Passionate about college evangelism, he regularly hosts dinner meetings with undergraduates as well as morning worship and prayer services seven days a week at Whitman College. He also produces short films about interpreting Biblical principles in modern times, with the help of David Kong ’15.

Although he enjoys his time working between both institutions, he sees their relationship as almost nonexistent.

“A lot of the University students whom I meet here, I am basically the only Seminary student that they know,” Rudatsikira said, adding that many Princeton students have told him that they did not even know there was a seminary in Princeton. “Although they are literally close to each other, they might as well be in different states ... the Seminary seems to be a bubble in itself.”

Correction: Due to a reporting error, a previous version of this story misstated a quote by Jane Abbottsmith ’12 discussing a class she took at the Princeton Theological Seminary. She said, “rather than ask the big ethical questions like abortion or stem cell research, we were looking at more of the underlying theoretical questions, asking things like can Christians love pleasure and what it meant for actions to be intrinsically evil?” The 'Prince' regrets the error.