Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia

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The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) is a seminary associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), located in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania, USA). It was founded in 1864 but traces its roots further back to the first Lutheran establishment in Philadelphia founded by Henry Melchior Muhlenberg in 1748..^[1] The seminary offers degree courses for a Master of Divinity (M.Div.), a Master of Arts in Religion (M.A.R.), a Master of Sacred Theology (S.T.M.) and a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.). It has an enrollment of 420, with a full-time equivalent enrollment of 239. It has 20 full-time and 11 part-time faculty members. The President of LTSP is The Rev. Dr. Philip D. W. Krey. ^[2]

1 History
2 Degrees
3 Campus
4 References
5 See Also
6 External links

[edit] History

The background of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia dates back to the founding of the Pennsylvania Ministerium, in 1748 by Henry Melchior Muhlenberg as the first organized Lutheran church body in North America.^[3] LTSP was founded in 1864. The Graduate School was established in 1913. In 1938 the school became accredited by the American Association of Theological Schools (ATS). The Urban Theological Institute (UTI) was established in the 1980s as an accredited Saturdays and evening program for African-American church leaders. Many church leaders have been graduates of or faculty members of LTSP, including H. George Anderson, immediate past ELCA Bishop and the Rev. Frank Griswald, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. The presidents of four Lutheran seminaries have been faculty members at LTSP. ^[4]

[edit] Degrees

LTSP offers as first professional degrees the M. Div (Master of Divinity), the M.A.R. (Master of Arts in Religion), the S.T.M. (Master of Sacred Theology), and the second professional degree D.Min. (Doctor of Ministry): ^[5] The seminary is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada ^[2] and by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools . In 2006, LTSP awarded 46 degrees to Lutherans and 20 to non Lutherans. ^[6].

[edit] Campus

The school has a 14 acre campus in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia. The oldest building on campus is the Refectory, built in 1792, now used as the dining hall. The Krauth Memorial Library, with 198,000 volumes, includes the Northeast Regional Archives for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It includes material dating back to the 18th century work of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. The Schaeffer-Ashmead Chapel is the campus worship center. There is also a bronze statue of Muhlenberg dedicated in 1917 to commemorate the 175th anniversary of his arrival in America. There are also structures for student housing, classrooms, and administration. ^[7]