History and Government of Westminster Theological Seminary

History and Government

Theological education in the United States was originally available only to students who were tutored and mentored by able ministers. In the eighteenth century, a number of pastors were widely known for their willingness to take students under their oversight and guide their reading. Often a single minister mentored many students at a time.

When formal theological seminaries were organized, one of the first was the Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church at Princeton, New Jersey, where instruction began in 1812. Founded by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, the seminary held to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms as its doctrinal standards.

Princeton excelled under the leadership of distinguished teachers who devoted themselves vigorously and effectively to the development, propagation, and maintenance of the Reformed faith. Among those best known as teachers of the great scriptural system of theology set forth by Princeton's first professor Archibald Alexander were Charles Hodge, J. A. Alexander, B. B. Warfield, and J. Gresham Machen. But eventually a movement surfaced to end Princeton's adherence to scriptural theology, and in 1929 Princeton Theological Seminary was reorganized under modernist influences.

Among the Princeton faculty who loved the Reformed faith were Robert Dick Wilson, J. Gresham Machen, Oswald T. Allis, and Cornelius Van Til. Almost immediately after Princeton's reorganization, these four men founded Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, and, with others who were invited to join the teaching staff, continued the exposition and defense of the Reformed faith. Visit our founders gallery for portraits and bios of some of our founding faculty.

Over the years, Westminster has prospered as we have maintained the infallible Scriptures as our foundation.

Westminster is committed to Scripture and to the systematic exposition of biblical truth known as the Reformed faith. Our constitution prescribes the following pledge for every voting member of the faculty:

"I do solemnly declare, in the presence of God, and of the Trustees and Faculty of this Seminary, that (1) I believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice; and (2) I do solemnly and ex animo adopt, receive, and subscribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms in the form in which they were adopted by this Seminary in the year of our Lord 1936, as the confession of my faith, or as a summary and just exhibition of that system of doctrine and religious belief, which is contained in Holy Scripture, and therein revealed by God to man for his salvation; and I do solemnly, ex animo, profess to receive the fundamental principles of the Presbyterian form of church government, as agreeable to the inspired oracles. And I do solemnly promise and engage not to inculcate, teach, or insinuate anything which shall appear to me to contradict or contravene, either directly or impliedly, any element in that system of doctrine, nor to oppose any of the fundamental principles of that form of church government, while I continue a member of the Faculty in this Seminary. I do further solemnly declare that, being convinced of my sin and misery and of my inability to rescue myself from my lost condition, not only have I assented to the truth of the promises of the Gospel, but also I have received and rest upon Christ and His righteousness for pardon of my sin and for my acceptance as righteous in the sight of God and I do further promise that if at any time I find myself out of accord with any of the fundamentals of this system of doctrine, I will on my own initiative, make known to the Faculty of this institution and, where applicable, my judicatory, the change which has taken place in my views since the assumption of the vow."

The Seminary is governed by a self-perpetuating Board consisting of at least fifteen but not more than thirty trustees, of whom at least one-half but not more than three-fifths must be ministers of the gospel. Each member of the board is required by the charter to subscribe to a pledge of a character similar to that required of the Faculty, and is required to be a ruling or teaching elder in a church that shares the Seminary's commitments and Presbyterian and Reformed heritage. The President of the Seminary is charged with administrative responsibility and serves as moderator of the Administrative Cabinet. Academic policies are established by the Faculty, subject to review by the board; three members of the Faculty, chosen by the Faculty, sit with the board in an advisory capacity.

A list of administrative officers is available here.

Information about the Seminary's accreditation is available here.