In fairness, when I say that theological seminaries are university faculties in exile I'm not speaking prescriptively but historically or descriptively. This is what happened.

Prior to the modern period theological seminaries (there used to be seminaries of various kinds hence the need to distinguish one type of sem from another) didn't exist as we know them. Theological training happened in Academies (e.g. Geneva) that were or became universities. This trend developed over centuries as cathedral schools became universities with specialized departments or faculties (namely Arts and Theology and perhaps Law).

As a consequence of the Enlightenment(s) theology faculties were gradually turned into religion departments and most of those were ultimately closed as "science" became narrowly defined in Modernist, materialist terms and even the generic study of religion as a social phenomenon became irrelevant.

When we explain our vocation at WSC we speak about training our students in the art of theology but we also train (70%) them to fulfill a specific ecclesiastical vocation. In this we are a bit like law and medical schools. There is a broader aspect to learning but there is also a vocational and more focused aspect to their studies. We're not what used to be called a "vo-tech" school (e.g. those places that train people to fix computers). In a vo-tech becoming a broadly learned person is not very important but knowing the latest computer code is.

We're not a university but we do bear some historical relation to a university. We're not a vo-tech school but we do train students to fulfill an ecclesiastical vocation. We also prepare a small number of students to fulfill other vocations (e.g. academic or other).

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R. Scott Clark, D.Phil
Professor of Church History and Historical Theology

"For Christ, His Gospel, and His Church"
Associate Pastor
Oceanside URC
The Heidelblog