Columbia Theological Seminary Bulletin, 28, number 1, February 1935

Bulletin of

COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

DECATUR. GEORGIA

Vol. XXVIII

February, 193 5

No. 1

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COLUMBIA SEMINARY DAY
FEBRUARY 17, 1935

A

NECESSARY MEANS

TO

A GREAT END

Theological Education and the Life of
the Church

THE supreme task of organized Christianity is the
winning of men to Christ. The Master's words, Go
ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost; teaching them to observe aU things whatsoever
I have commanded you," have rightly been called he
Great Commission. They constitute a program for the
ages, given to the Church by Him who was us founder
and its Lord, and, therefore, perpetually binding upon
t The Church can be worthy of its name only as i
gives itself whole-heartedly to the accomplishment of
this task.

It is also true, although it has perhaps not been gen-
erally recognized, that the Church has no other means
so essential to the accomplishment of its mission as is
that of training the men who are to be ministers of the
Gospel The proclamation of the truth both at home
Sid abroad must of necessity depend largely on the
leadership of men who, having heard the Masters call,
have lso been adequately trained for their great enter-
prise. From the evident need for this training arises the
absolute necessity for the theological seminary. .In .*
connection it is well for us to remember that the prin-
cipal effort of the Lord Himself, during the days of His
ministry, does not seem to have been devoted to reach-
ing the multitudes, unsparingly though He did give
SLself to the task of teaching and healing and preach-
ing. The thing which does seem to have concerned Him
m ost was the training of the twelve men who were to
carry on His work after He had gone-the conducting
of the first Christian theological seminary, if you please.
He took these men, ignorant, uncouth, and unprom-
ising as they were, and of them He moulded a force
which reached untold multitudes and ^ngd I the h-
tory of the world. In this fact is the Magna Charta of
the theological seminary.

In the life of the Church today it is more than ever
essential that leaders shall be trained for service. By
faith these men must walk with Jesus sti and learn of
Him during that period of training, else all their menta
development is vain. At the same time they must be
given the best of intellectual discipline and the finest
tools of scholarship in order that they may meet the
challenge of the world in which they live. This particu-
lar type of education simply cannot be given by the state,
however much the civil authorities may do for our young
men and women in every other branch of learning. The
Christian Church must equip and maintain adequate the-
ological seminaries for itself today, or it will face inevi-
table decay and possible disaster on the morrow.

w

Columbia Theological Seminary and the Life
of the Southern Presbyterian Church

HEN Columbia Seminary was founded on De-
cember 15, 1828, it was because of a widespread
demand that a qualified and native ministry should be
prepared to meet the needs of its section. Its founders
in the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia declared
from the very beginning of the institution their convic-
tion that they were called of God to "light up another
sun which shall throw further West the light of the
Gospel." The reality of that call has been attested by
the abundant fruitage of their efforts.

At the time Columbia Seminary was founded it was
the theological institution of one Synod which had 128
churches, 73 ministers, 11 licentiates, and 8,560 mem-
bers. One hundred years later it had become the semi-
nary of five Synods having among them a total of 1,171
churches, 134,770 members, and 632 ordained ministers.
For a large part of that growth in Presbyterianism in
the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, and
South Carolina, it was directly responsible through the
ministers whom it trained. At the same time, however,
it was contributing generously of its graduates to the
work in other sections of our own land and in the For-
eign Mission Field.

In fields of intellectual, ecclesiastical, and spiritual
leadership, this institution has made through the years
a contribution of amazing significance, and there is no
sphere of our Church's life in which its influence has
not been felt. When the first General Assembly of the
Southern Presbyterian Church was organized in 1861,
thirteen of the fifty-two commissioners were alumni of
Columbia Seminary. It was a son of this institution, Dr.
B. M. Palmer, who became the first Moderator of this
body and who took so active a part in shaping its early
history. It was one of its greatest professors, Dr. James
Henley Thornwell, who was responsible for the Assem-
bly's first public utterance "The Address to the
Churches of Christ Throughout the World" and who
later played the leading part in preparing our Book of
Church Order. To another son of the seminary, Dr.
J. Leighton Wilson, our Church owes an imperishable
debt of gratitude for inspiring and developing the early
foreign mission work of our Assembly; and to another
professor, Dr. Charles Colcock Jones, a similar debt for
his work in the promotion of home missions, especially
among the negroes. Indeed, one can scarcely call to
mind many of the great names connected with the life
of Columbia Seminary without also remembering most
of the great moments and movements in the history of
our Church. Such are the names of Goulding and Le-
land and Howe; of Adger and Girardeau and Wilson; of
Woodrow and Reed and White; of Stillman and DuBose,
and of many another who cannot be mentioned for lack
of space.

Columbia Seminary has educated for the Gospel Min-
istry a total of 1,098 men and has given special courses
to more than two hundred others. Of those who are
graduates of this institution, some 425 are alive today
and the most of this number are actively at work in the

pastorates of our Church. Of the J 3 sons of the insti-
tution who have gone as missionaries to the foreign field,
13 are in active service today, and other graduates in
recent years have been prevented from entering upon
this service only by the inability of our Committee to
send out new workers. Year by year the seminary is
sending out new groups of young ministers who are
bearing a noble part in the work of our Assembly and
making a contribution to all the great enterprises of the
Kingdom.

The Challenge of A Present and Future
Opportunity

GREAT as has been the service rendered by Colum-
bia Seminary in the past, there is reason to think
that it will be used even more abundantly m years to
come. The near future will unquestionably witness de-
velopments in the Southeastern States which will de-
mand a great forward step on the part of all Christian
Forces, and if our Church is to take its rightful part in
that movement, it must have in this section a suitable
base for the training of its young ministers. To that
end Columbia is steadily seeking to improve its service
to its students that it may send out men today who are
thoroughly equipped for their task, and that it may be
prepared when the time comes to care for that enlarged
student body which is not desirable at present. In the
meanwhile, it is steadily broadening the sphere of its
activities by offering additional training opportunities
for laymen and ministers alike, and is making a greatly
needed contribution to the life of its Synods m this re-
spect. Something of the extent of these activities can
be realized from the fact that 156 church leaders of
Atlanta are now enrolled in its mid-winter extension
school, that 16 ministers, representing five states, have
just attended its Rural Ministers Conference for a two
weeks period, and that more than fifty other ministers
are expected to attend the Pastors' Institute which will
be held at the Seminary in May.

The Reason for Columbia Seminary Day

During recent years Columbia Seminary has been seri-
ously handicapped by inadequate endowment and by
reduced support from the churches. In order that this
situation may be remedied and that the work of the
institution may not be imperiled, Sunday, February the
17th, has been set by the constituent Synods as Colum-
bia Seminary Day and friends of the school have been
asked to remember it especially at that time. Every pos-
sible economy in operation has been effected, yet only a
generous offering on that date will enable the Seminary
to close its fiscal year with no deficit and to face the
future unafraid. Contributions may be made through
the local churches, or, where this is preferred, mailed
direct to Columbia Seminary, Decatur, Ga. This mes-
sage is placed in your hand to request your interest in
and if possible your financial assistance for a great
work. Whatever you may give will help, not only in
the support of the Seminary, but also in the furtherance
of the entire work of our Church.