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Page 344

 

Theological Seminaries THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG

fessor of church history. The number of students the first year was twenty, and the first building of the seminary, including lecture-rooms, dormitories, and four residences for professors, was dedicated in July, 1869, in which year Dr. G. W. Northrup was made president of the institution. In 1873 a Scandinavian department was organized which later developed into the Swedish Theological Seminary and the Danish-Norwegian Theological Seminary, these two seminaries in 1910 having sixty-three students. Aften ten years of work in the city, during which the annual attendance of students had increased from twenty in 1867-68 to above eighty in 1876-77, the seminary was transferred from its location in Chicago to the suburb of Morgan Park, where it remained until 1892, prospering during these fifteen years in all departments of its work. Beginning with endowment funds of $50,000 in 1877, it had increased these to $250,000 in 1892, while the number of students so grew that in 18911892 it reached 190.

The University of Chicago opened its doors to students Oct. 1, 1892, and by an agreement between the boards of trustees of the university and of the seminary the latter became " The Divinity School of the University of Chicago," so that, on the opening of the university, it transferred its work to the buildings of that institution in the city. In connection with this transfer Dr. G. W. Northrup, who had conducted the affairs of the seminary with distinguished ability, resigned the presidency and was succeeded by Dr. Wm. Rainey Harper (q.v.), president of the university, whose incumbency continued until his death in 1906, when he was succeeded by Dr. Harry Pratt Judson, the new president of the university. On the union of the seminary with the university in 1892 and the retransfer of its work to Chicago as " The Divinity School of the University of Chicago," Dr. Eri B. Hulbert (q.v.), who had occupied the chair of church history for eleven years, was made dean of the school, and continued to fill this position until his death in 1907. By the terms of the union of the two institutions, under which the divinity school has prospered greatly, the seminary became the sole divinity school of the university, the president of the university became the president of the school, the board of the school turned over to the university the conferring of degrees, the department of Old Testament and Semitic studies was transferred to the university, the board of trustees of the school retained the supervision and direction of matters pertaining to instruction, and the university agreed to confirm the election of all professors and instructors in the school when and to the extent that the funds available for the school should admit. Ample dormitories have been built for the divinity school on the university grounds, and its work has been conducted in the buildings of the university, except that the Scandinavian departments have occupied one of the former buildings of the school at Morgan Park. The number of students has rapidly increased, and during the year 1909-10 was 423, this large attendance being in part accounted for by the four-quarter system which was instituted on the union of the school with the university. There are four quarters

in the school year-the summer, autumn, winter, and spring quarters - of approximately twelve weeks each. Students may take their vacation in any one of these quarters, or, by taking no vacations, except the annual one in September of a full month, may complete the three-years' course in two years. Students may, with the approval of the dean, take courses in other departments of the university, and so close is the union that the opportunities of a great university are thus open to the students of the divinity school. The libraries belonging to the divinity school are that of Prof. E. W. Hengstenberg (q.v.), late of the University of Berlin, that of Dr. George B. Ids, the Colwell library of the American Bible Union, and other collections of books of history, science, sociology, literature, and theology, to which a thousand or more volumes are added yearly, while the libraries of the university, containing 400,000 volumes, are also open to divinity students. The two men who have made the greatest financial contributions to the institution are E. Nelson Blake and John D. Rockefeller, who have made possible the securing of the present productive endowment funds of the school, which, including $100,000 held for it by the university, aggregate $350,000. The income of this fund being insufficient to carry on the work of the school, a large sum is appropriated annually by the university toward the current expenses.

The more prominent of the professors who have been connected with the school are the following: Drs. George W. Northrup, John B. Jackson, A. N. Arnold, Wm. Hague, Edward C. Mitchell (q.v.) , R. E. Pattison, Thomas J. Morgan, James R. Boise, Wm. R. Harper (q.v.), Ira M. Price (q.v.), Eri B. Hulbert (q.v.), Justin A. Smith, John A. Edgren, Nels P. Jensen, Galusha Anderson (q.v.), Franklin Johnson (q.v.), Adoniram Sage, Ernest D. Burton (q.v.), Charles R. Henderson, Shailer Mathews (q.v.), George B. Foster (q.v.), John W. Moncrief, Edgar J. Goodspeed, Henrik Gundersen, Carl G. Lagergren, Harry P. Judson, Andrew C. McLaughlin, Theodore G. Soares, Edward Judson, Alonzo K. Parker, Gerald B. Smith, Allan Hoben, Shirley J. Case, and Benjamin A. Greens. Dr. Shailer Mathews was appointed junior dean of the school. in 1899, and was made sole dean in 1908. The board of trustees consists of fifteen members, divided into three classes of five members each, and holding office three years, when successors are elected by the corporation of " The Baptist Theological Union, located at Chicago."

Among the principles for which the divinity school of the University of Chicago has stood are liberty of teaching, the historical method in the study of the Bible, and the practical application of Christianity to the immediate needs and problems of modern social life. In methods of work it has introduced the fourquarter system and the employment during the summer quarter of eminent professors from other institutions of this and other countries, thus affording to pastors and teachers of other institutions large opportunities for additional study and training. It has issued two periodicals, The Biblical World since 1893, and The American Journal of Theology since 1896.