Our History

Centuries of history inform our path toward a faith-filled, inclusive future.

Bexley Hall

(1824 - 1999)

The history of Bexley Seabury begins in 1824 when Bexley Hall was established by Bishop Philander Chase in conjunction with the establishment of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Bexley Hall was later identified separately, named in honor of Nicholas Vansittart, the 1st Baron Bexley, an early benefactor of Kenyon College.

The seminary disassociated with Kenyon in 1968 and moved to Rochester, N.Y., where it affiliated with Colgate Rochester Divinity School (now Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School). The 1839 seminary building in Gambier now houses administrative offices for Kenyon and is still known as Bexley Hall.

In 1999, after 30 years in New York state, Bexley Hall re-established an Ohio campus through a partnership with Trinity Lutheran Seminary of Columbus, in a suburb coincidentally named Bexley. In 2008, the Rochester campus was closed to focus efforts on the collaboration with Trinity Lutheran Seminary. The collaborative partnership between Bexley Hall and Trinity Lutheran Seminary predated the historic Called to Common Mission agreement between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Episcopal Church. For 17 years, each of the two seminaries contributed to a dynamic ecumenical partnership that produced hundreds of ordained and lay leaders prepared and credentialed to lead either or both Episcopal and Lutheran communities.

Bexley Hall was a founding member of the Theological Consortium of Greater Columbus (TCGC), along with Trinity Lutheran Seminary, the Methodist Theological School in Ohio (MTSO), and the Pontifical College Josephinum. Students were free to take courses at any of the TCGC member schools.

Seabury-Western Theological Seminary

(1858-2009)

In 1858, James Lloyd Breck founded Bishop Seabury Mission in Faribault, Minn. He envisioned his “School of the Prophets” as the center of evangelism for the forthcoming Diocese of Minnesota. The first Bishop of Minnesota, Henry Benjamin Whipple, quickly became a staunch advocate of the Dakota and Ojibwe people in his growing diocese and, in 1860, incorporated the Bishop Seabury Mission as three separate institutions, including the Seabury Divinity School for the training of clergy.

In 1883, under the leadership of Chicago’s Bishop William E. McLaren, the Western Theological Seminary was chartered and built in Chicago. Its first class was held in 1885. Western Seminary moved from Chicago to Evanston, Illinois in 1929 at the invitation of Northwestern University and the Garrett Biblical Institute.

Complementary concerns and common interests led the boards of Seabury and Western to combine resources. The merged Seabury-Western Theological Seminary opened its doors in Evanston on October 10, 1933. In 1994 the Seabury Institute was founded as a ministry of the seminary to create a partnership with parishes seeking to exercise innovative forms of leadership for mission.

In 2009, Seabury-Western made a stewardship decision: to sell its property to Northwestern University. The transaction, completed in July 2009, allowed the seminary to eliminate its debt, balance its budget, and position itself to realize a new mission as “Seabury Next,” located once again in Chicago.

Bexley Seabury Seminary

(2007-present)

Bexley Hall and Seabury-Western began the process of federation in 2007. Conversations exploring common ground were facilitated by a team from Auburn Seminary’s Center for the Study of Theological Education. In February 2011, the two seminaries ratified a joint operating agreement. At historic meetings in March 2012, the boards of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Chicago and Bexley Hall in Columbus each voted unanimously to federate and elect the Rev. Roger A. Ferlo, PhD, DD, as president.

Bexley Seabury, now with campuses in both Ohio and Illinois, was accredited as a single institution by the Association of Theological Schools in 2013. In July 2016, following the recommendation of its Board of Directors’ Beyond Walls Task Force, the seminary consolidated its operations and programs in Chicago on the campus of Chicago Theological Seminary.

In May 2018, the seminary called the Rev. Dr. Micah T.J. Jackson as its next president. Dr. Jackson had previously served as the Bishop John Hines associate professor of preaching and director of comprehensive wellness at Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, TX. He holds an MTS in Preaching from Seabury- Western Theological Seminary, an MDiv from Meadville Lombard Theological School, and a PhD in Homiletics/Liturgy from Graduate Theological Union.

Under Dr. Jackson’s leadership the seminary has continued to be a “seminary beyond walls,” expanding our call to be a “four order seminary” for bishops, priests, deacons, and laypeople. We seek to be an intentionally inclusive space that holds our legacy while envisioning a more forward-thinking future.