Queen's Theological College was a diverse community of teachers and learners for academic, professional and personal development. Dedicated to critical understanding of the Christian faith and to the preparation of men and women for leadership, it offered several masters and undergraduate degrees, certificate and diploma programs, and a variety of continuing education events. Although the College was established in 1912, its roots ran all the way back to the beginning of the University itself. When the Presbyterian Church founded Queen's in 1841, the main goal of the Church was to train ministers for the growing colony of Upper Canada, and more than half of the first class of 13 students in 1842, were engaged in theological study. Theology grew to a full-fledged faculty later in the 19th century, but as Queen's grew, the relative place of theology diminished. In 1912, Queen's separated from the Church altogether in order to become eligible for provincial funding as a nondenominational institution, and to complete this transformation the federal government incorporated the Faculty of Theology as a body separate from the University. The new Queen's Theological College was provided with its own Principal and a Board of Management, appointed by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. In 1925, the College followed those in the Presbyterian Church who joined The United Church of Canada, so it was then the General Council of The United Church which approved appointments to the Board of Management, all members who had to belong to the Church.
The College remained closely affiliated with the University despite its formally separate status. Although in 1912 the College was given the authority to confer on students its own academic degrees, it never took advantage of that authority; it was the University Senate which officially conferred all the College's degrees, on the recommendation of the Faculty Board of the College. The Principal of the College was a member of Senate, where its students and faculty were also represented, and later the College followed Senate procedures with respect to introducing new degree programs. In other areas, however, the College functioned autonomously from the University notably in admissions, appointments, and budgeting (since the late 1970s, the College received full operating support from the Province for its theological programs). It also held its own separate Spring Convocation. Although it remained a United Church institution, the College was ecumenical and pluralistic in composition and outlook. Before 1990, the Principal of the College was also the Head of the Department of Religious Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Science, but at that point the two positions were made distinct. In 1996, the College established a Head of Theological Studies who was responsible for theological degree, certificate, and diploma programs.
Degrees offered by the Theological College include: Bachelor of Theology (BTh), Bachelor of Theology in Native Ministry (BTh), Master of Divinity (MDiv), Master of Theology (ThM),and Master of Theological Studies (MTS). There is also a Certificate in Theological Studies; and Diplomas in Restorative Justice, Rural Ministry, and Stewardship.
In March 2010, upon the approval of the University Senate, Queen's Theological College became Queen's School of Religion. This 'rebranding' was to bring "together intellectual scholarship and faculty resources into one administrative unit, while retaining religious studies and theological studies as distinct academic programs."According to Principal Jean Stairs, this name change was effected to recognize the "increased enrollment in the area of religious studies, the success of the School's Masters of Arts in Religion and Modernity program, and the growing popularity of religious studies as an academic discipline."
Following the May 2011 meeting the School of Religion's Faculty Board was formally dissolved; while the Board of Management will existed until 1 May 2012, at which point, and following the formal re-integration of the School back into Queen's University, it too was dissolved.
For more on the history of the Theological College, see "The redeemed of the Lord say so", by George Rawlyk and Kevin Quinn.
Adapted from the relevant entry in the "Queen's Encyclopedia", and an article appearing in the Vol. 84, (No. 2), 2010 issue of the Queen's Alumni Review.
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