Princeton Seminary Welcomes New Students as 196th Academic Year Begins

Princeton, NJ, September 12, 2007–Princeton Theological Seminary will begin its 196th academic year with a convocation on Tuesday, September 18 at 8:00 p.m. in Miller Chapel. Dr. John R. Bowlin, the Seminary’s new Rimmer and Ruth de Vries Associate Professor of Reformed Theology and Public Life, will give the convocation address, titled “Some Thoughts on Doing Theology in Public.” Classes will begin the morning of September 19, when the community celebrates the Sacrament of Holy Communion at 10:00 a.m., officiated by President Iain Torrance. Dr. William F. Storrar, director of the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, will preach a sermon titled “The Grateful Life.”

Each year the Seminary’s entering class includes a number of international students. This year’s entering class includes 22 international students representing Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, Hungary, Korea, Myanmar, Russia, Scotland, and Taiwan.

The Master of Divinity degree is the basic professional degree for ministry. This year’s class of 205 M.Div. students was chosen from a pool of 397 applicants. Of the 205, 103 are Presbyterian, with 34 other denominations represented, including Baptist, Brethren Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Methodist Church, the Orthodox Church in America, and the Roman Catholic Church. The new M.Div. class includes 15 African American students, 3 Hispanic students, and 16 Asian/Pacific Islander students. The median age of the entering M.Div. student is 24; 120 of the students are male, and 85 are female.

This year’s class includes students from a wide variety of backgrounds, including second- or third-career students like Derrick Chambers, a former NFL player for the Jacksonville Jaguars.  When Chambers injured his back playing football, he found himself reading Calvin’s Institutes and Augustine’s Confessions during rehabilitation. After earning a diploma in Medieval Theology at Oxford University in England, he came to Princeton Seminary to study philosophy and theology. He says he chose Princeton because “the community embodies both academics and the desire for faith…and is a place that cultivates dialogue.”

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, with more than 700 students in seven graduate degree programs.