page_title: Westminster Theological Seminary
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Westminster Theological Seminary / History
caption_attribution_description: English: en:Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia campus, Glenside. The J. Gresham Machen Memorial Hall includes the administrative offices as well as dormitory and kitchen facilities for unmarried students.
context_page_description: Westminster Theological Seminary is a Presbyterian and Reformed Christian seminary in Glenside, Pennsylvania. According to Roger E. Olson, it has had an influence on evangelicalism far beyond its size. Beyond Westminster's impact in the theological realm, the pioneering work of Albert Groves and his students has produced the codification of the Westminster Leningrad Codex, which underlies all modern Bible Software.
context_section_description: Westminster Theological Seminary was formed in 1929, largely under the leadership and funding of J. Gresham Machen. Though independent, it has long had a close relationship with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, which Machen helped found in 1936. The Seminary was founded by members of the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary, following a controversy over the perceived liberal direction that Princeton was beginning to take. Westminster Theological Seminary considers itself to be the faithful continuation of Princeton's historic theological tradition. Many of the founders of Westminster, including J. Gresham Machen, John Murray, Oswald Allis, Robert Dick Wilson, and Cornelius Van Til, had been professors at Princeton prior to the controversy. The first president of the Seminary was Edmund Clowney, who served from 1966 until 1984.  He was followed by George C. Fuller and Samuel T. Logan. In 1982, the California branch of Westminster became an independent institution, Westminster Seminary California, and in 2009 the Dallas, Texas branch was established as Redeemer Theological Seminary (now Reformed Theological Seminary, Dallas, 2017). The current president is Peter Lillback, who also serves as a professor of Historical Theology.
  Westminster was accredited in 1986 by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada and received accreditation in 1954 by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.
caption: J. Gresham Machen Memorial Hall
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