On September 5, 1826, what is now the oldest Lutheran seminary in the Americas held its first classes with eight students in the small borough of Gettysburg. In 1832, the seminary relocated to Seminary Ridge overlooking Gettysburg, becoming the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg.[4]
In July 1863, the seminary's premises and environs became the stage for the Battle of Gettysburg. Schmucker Hall. the original seminary building, is today a museum dedicated to the battle that took place there, the role of faith in freedom in nineteenth century America, and also Civil War medical practices. Schmucker Hall was the largest fixed field hospital at Gettysburg.[5]
Founded by the Ministerium of Pennsylvania in 1864 to preserve both Lutheran identity and the study of and instruction in the German language, the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia was first located in the Center City District. It relocated to Mount Airy in 1889, a historic site where the first shots of the American Revolution's Battle of Germantown had been fired a century before.[6]
Consolidation
The current school was founded on July 1, 2017, as a consolidation of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.[7] United Lutheran Seminary continues under the charter of Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg.[8][9][10]
The first president of the seminary, Theresa F. Latini, a Presbyterian, was announced on April 20, 2017.[11] Latini's previous experience working for OneByOne, an organization that performed "gay conversion", caused significant controversy[12] and she was fired on March 14, 2018.[13] Her departure then revealed a deep history of racism in the institution[14], including racist behavior by Jim Dunlop, the acting president.[15][16] On May 16, 2018, the seminary board announced the selection of Richard Green as interim president, beginning June 1.[17] After Green left the institution in late November 2019, Angela Zimmann, who was then the seminary's Vice President of Advancement, served as acting president until the arrival of President Erwin in August 2020.[18]
On June 9, 2020, the seminary board announced the election of R. Guy Erwin as president. Erwin was previously bishop of the Southwest California Synod of the ELCA. He is the first Native American bishop and the first openly gay bishop of that church body.[19]
Campuses
The Gettysburg campus is mostly in the Gettysburg borough limits,[20] though it has portions in Cumberland Township.[21]
A century after its early integration, Gettysburg was also the first among American Lutheran seminaries to grant tenure to a female professor, Bertha Paulssen. Graduating in 1965 was Elizabeth Platz, the first woman to be ordained (in 1970) by a U.S. Lutheran body.[25]
