Princeton, NJ, September 7, 2011–Princeton Theological Seminary will begin its 200th academic year with Academic Convocation on Sunday, September 18 at 7:00 p.m. in Miller Chapel. Dr. Kenda Creasy Dean, the Seminary’s professor of youth, church, and culture, will give the convocation address, “Seminary Finances.” Classes will begin on Monday, September 19, when the Sacrament of Holy Communion is celebrated. President Iain Torrance will officiate, and Dr. Darrell Guder, the Henry Winters Luce Professor of Missional and Ecumenical Theology, will preach a sermon titled “Infuriating Grace.”

This year’s 124 entering Master of Divinity degree students were chosen from a pool of 309 applicants. The Master of Divinity degree is the basic professional degree for ministry. Of the new 124 M.Div. students, 48 are Presbyterian, with many other denominations represented. The new M.Div. class includes 18 African American students, 14 Hispanic students, and 9 Asian/Pacific Islanders. The median age of the entering M.Div. class is 28; 68 of the students are male, and 56 are female.

Five new students have entered the Master of Arts program, twenty-two have entered the Master of Theology program, and eleven have entered the Doctor of Philosophy program. Four new students will pursue a dual M.Div./M.A. degree in either education or youth ministry.

The entering class includes twenty international students, from Canada, China, Germany, Guyana, the Philippines, South Korea, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

Princeton Seminary’s total student body is 540.

Princeton Theological Seminary was founded in 1812 as the first seminary established by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. It is the largest Presbyterian seminary in the country.