Hello,
I still have a good bit of undergraduate work to complete, however I'm looking for and praying about seminaries, or more specifically, which one the Lord would have me to go to. I'm currently enrolled at Bob Jones University for college, and I plan on going to their seminary as well, however I was thinking about maybe doing some additional work at Westminster after being at BJU's seminary for a while, God willing.

So, I was curious what people have read or heard about WTS. Are they conservative in theology? That is, do they believe in the inerrancy of scripture, the second coming of Christ, etc? If they're perhaps have a different viewpoint on certain facets of prophecy and other issues, I can live with that. However I'm not wanting to go there if they deny the inerrancy of scripture among other "fundamentals of the faith". Thankyou for your time

in Christ,
Jonathan Ferguson
1 Peter 3:18

Originally posted by Dikaioo

Hello,
I still have a good bit of undergraduate work to complete, however I'm looking for and praying about seminaries, or more specifically, which one the Lord would have me to go to. I'm currently enrolled at Bob Jones University for college, and I plan on going to their seminary as well, however I was thinking about maybe doing some additional work at Westminster after being at BJU's seminary for a while, God willing.

So, I was curious what people have read or heard about WTS. Are they conservative in theology? That is, do they believe in the inerrancy of scripture, the second coming of Christ, etc? If they're perhaps have a different viewpoint on certain facets of prophecy and other issues, I can live with that. However I'm not wanting to go there if they deny the inerrancy of scripture among other "fundamentals of the faith". Thankyou for your time

in Christ,
Jonathan Ferguson
1 Peter 3:18

from: http://www.wts.edu/general/corevalues.html

Our Core Values

In the pursuit of our mission, we hold to the following core values:

• The triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is worthy of the worship of all people in all places of his dominion, and this fact must be the fundamental motive for every human activity.
• Scripture, as the “very Word of God written,” is absolutely authoritative and without error.
• Reformed orthodoxy, as informed by the system of doctrine contained in the Westminster Standards, represents faithfully and accurately what Scripture teaches.
• Biblical theology (in the tradition of Geerhardus Vos) and presuppositional apologetics (in the tradition of Cornelius Van Til) are among the crucial methods to be used in interpreting and applying the teaching of Scripture and in developing a biblical worldview.
• A learned ministry set in the lifestyle of humble and “holy affection” for Jesus Christ is essential in today’s church and world and must be modeled by the board, administration, faculty, and students.
• A fundamental mandate of the church, discipling the nations for the glory of Christ, requires culturally sensitive, theologically competent ministers who have both the ability and the passion to apply “the eternal word” of Scripture to “the changing world” in which God has placed us.
• Because there is “one body and one Spirit,” all who would “build up the whole body of Christ” must “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Westminster is committed to Scripture and to the systematic exposition of biblical truth known as the Reformed faith. Copies of the Westminster Confession of Faith are available from the Admissions Office. In addition to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms, the Seminary treasures the rich and harmonious diversity of creeds and confessions within the historic Reformed tradition. In particular, it recognizes that the system of doctrine contained in Scripture is also confessed in the Three Forms of Unity (the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort). Westminster desires to be used in training ministers of the gospel and others for service in those churches committed to the Three Forms of Unity as subordinate standards.

or from: http://www.wscal.edu/pstudents/pstudents.html

http://www.wscal.edu/images/pstudent...inal_title.gif
Westminster Seminary California's foundation throughout its history has been the absolute authority of the infallible and inerrant Scriptures.

The WSC Board of Trustees and Faculty pledge their commitment to those full historic statements which have been the doctrinal bond of fellowship for churches of Reformed persuasion for more than three centuries: The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms, the Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession, and the Canons of Dort. Copies of the Westminster Confession are available from the admissions coordinator or here on our site.

The Board and Faculty have published a statement about their beliefs on certain current issues in the church today. You can see their testimony to our time here.

While WSC is a confessional institution committed to Reformed theology, the seminary serves an evangelical and Reformed student body from many denominations.

I realize they say that on their site (I've been there a few times), but wasn't sure if maybe some teachers taught otherwise. I'm very interested in maybe doing some work there, but we'll see how the Lord leads :) Thankyou for your time.

Originally posted by Dikaioo

I realize they say that on their site (I've been there a few times), but wasn't sure if maybe some teachers taught otherwise. I'm very interested in maybe doing some work there, but we'll see how the Lord leads :) Thankyou for your time.

the profs at Westminster subscribe to the body of doctrine as taught in the Westminster Confession. In general they are also ordinated teaching elders in one of the conservative Reformed denominations. There is no subscription requirement for students.

Originally posted by Dikaioo

I realize they say that on their site (I've been there a few times), but wasn't sure if maybe some teachers taught otherwise. I'm very interested in maybe doing some work there, but we'll see how the Lord leads :) Thankyou for your time.

Hey there, Dikaioo, I'm also a future seminarian for this coming fall. Westminster was one of the places I applied to, though after looking at it, I don't think it's the place for me. A history professor of mine told me that Westminster was founded by a bunch of professors from Princeton Theological Seminary who were, in effect, kicked out of Princeton and decided to found their own rival seminary. He tells me they've been pretty bitter about it ever since. But I dunno, don't take my word for it. Visit it! I live in the Philadelphia area, but I'll likely be attending a seminary like Wesley in Washington D.C. or a similar one.

Originally posted by Amazing Rando

Hey there, Dikaioo, I'm also a future seminarian for this coming fall. Westminster was one of the places I applied to, though after looking at it, I don't think it's the place for me. A history professor of mine told me that Westminster was founded by a bunch of professors from Princeton Theological Seminary who were, in effect, kicked out of Princeton and decided to found their own rival seminary. He tells me they've been pretty bitter about it ever since. But I dunno, don't take my word for it. Visit it! I live in the Philadelphia area, but I'll likely be attending a seminary like Wesley in Washington D.C. or a similar one.

see http://www.freebooks.com/docs/html/gncf/appendix_a.htm

that caused him to quit the Princeton Theological Seminary and found a seminary of his own was his complete inability, as a theologian, to square the disingenuous evasions of Modernism with the fundamentals of Christian doctrine. He saw clearly that the only effects that could follow diluting and polluting Christianity in the Modernist manner would be its complete abandonment and ruin. Either it was true or it was not true. If, as he believed, it was true, then there could be no compromise with persons who sought to whittle away its essential postulates, however respectable their motives. Thus he fell out with the reformers who have been trying, in late years, to convert the Presbyterian Church into a kind of literary and social club, devoted vaguely to good works. Most of the other Protestant churches have gone the same way, but Dr. Machen's attention, as a Presbyterian, was naturally concentrated upon his own connection. His one and only purpose was to hold it [the Church] resolutely to what he conceived to be the true faith. When that enterprise met with opposition he fought vigorously, and though he lost in the end and was forced out of Princeton it must be manifest that he marched off to Philadelphia with all the honors of war.

via: http://members.aol.com/Patriarchy/de...amentalism.htm


or from: http://wts.edu/general/history2.html

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.