The Boston College School of Theology and Ministry in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States, is the Jesuit, Catholic, graduate theological school of Boston College and an ecclesiastical faculty of theology that trains men and women, both lay and religious, for scholarship and service, especially within the Roman Catholic Church.
History
Boston College School of Theology and Ministry was founded in the merger of Weston Jesuit School of Theology and the Boston College Institute for Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry on June 1, 2008.
Weston College opened in 1922 as a faculty of philosophy for the New England Province of the Society of Jesus in Weston, Massachusetts. The faculty of theology was added in 1927 to prepare men for ordination. The school was incorporated by an act of the Massachusetts legislature in 1929, and in 1932 was empowered by a papal charter to grant pontifical degrees.
In the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, in 1967, Weston College joined with Boston College and five other theological institutions to form the Boston Theological Institute (BTI). For the first time, Weston College matriculated students in its theology programs who were not members of the Jesuit order.
In 1968, Weston College moved its campus and residences to Cambridge, Massachusetts, adjacent to the Episcopal Divinity School. Weston College also became one of the first three Catholic schools accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in 1968.
In 1971, Boston College opened a summer Institute of Religious Education and Service. During its early years, the Institute primarily served priests and vowed religious women and men from throughout the New England region. Its first degree program was an M.Ed. in Religious Education, offered in conjunction with the Boston College Lynch School of Education.
In 1974, Weston College ceased to be a constituent college of Boston College and changed its named to Weston School of Theology. That same year, the Institute added an academic year component to its summer offerings.
The Institute awarded its first degree in 1975.
In 1977, the Institute introduced an interdisciplinary doctorate in Religion and Education. It introduced its Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry the next year, and, in 1979, changed its name to the Institute of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry (IREPM).
Through the 1980s and 1990s, the IREPM introduced a variety of concentrations within its M.A. in Pastoral Ministry and collaborated with other professional graduate schools at Boston College to provide interdisciplinary dual degrees.
In December 2004, Boston College announced plans to create a School of Theology and Ministry by merging the Institute for Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry and the Weston Jesuit School of Theology. The reaffiliation of Weston Jesuit School of Theology with Boston College took place in 2008, and the school was moved to the Boston College campus in Brighton, Massachusetts, purchased in 2006. These buildings formerly housed the chancery of the Archdiocese of Boston and portions of St. John's Seminary.
Today, Boston College School of Theology and Ministry offers an array of ministerial and theological courses and degrees. Boston College was considered the fifth best school in the world for the study of Theology, Divinity and Religion in 2017 by the QS World University Rankings. Both a graduate divinity school and an ecclesiastical faculty of theology regulated by the Apostolic Constitution Sapientia Christiana (1979), the school offers both master and doctoral degrees, civil and ecclesiastical degrees, and a wide variety of continuing education offerings, including online programs through C21 Online.
Theology and Ministry Library
The Theology and Ministry Library is located on the Brighton Campus. It is open to all Boston College students, faculty and staff, and is a part of the Boston College Library System. Integrating the former collections of Weston Jesuit School of Theology and St. John's Seminary, it contains more than 2.44 million volumes. The library also participates in the Boston Theological Institute library program, which allows STM students to borrow materials from any of the other BTI libraries.
New Testament Abstracts
The School of Theology and Ministry publishes New Testament Abstracts, a scholarly journal in publication since 1956 that abstracts at least 2,150 articles selected from over 500 periodicals in different languages, as well as over 850 current books annually. New Testament Abstracts is published three times per year and is edited by professor Christopher R. Matthews.
Administration
The dean of the school is the Rev. Thomas D. Stegman, S.J. Previously, the Rev. Mark S. Massa, S.J. served as dean from 2010 to 2016. Massa is due to assume leadership of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life in 2017.
Prior to Fr. Massa, the Rev. Richard J. Clifford, S.J., served as dean. Fr. Clifford oversaw the merger in 2008 and served in that capacity until 2010. Clifford is currently a professor of Old Testament at the STM.
Faculty
There are 27 full-time faculty members at the School of Theology and Ministry, in addition to 33 members of the Boston College Department of Theology with which students are able to work and take classes. The faculty at the STM can be divided according to their research in the following fields:
Student demographics
In 2010, student enrollment at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry was 402 students during the academic year and 380 students in the summer institute. While the majority of students at the STM are Catholic, it is also home to a number of Anglican/Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran, Evangelical, Orthodox, Presbyterian, Unitarian Universalist, Nondenominational, Buddhist, and Hindu students. The student body includes representatives from 27 nations and 6 continents, and students range in age from 21 to 74 years old. Laypersonscomprise 65% of the students at the STM while 35% represent a religious order or are diocesan priests. Lay students in all programs study alongside Jesuit scholastics.
Notable alumni
- Robert Araujo, S.J., John Courtney Murray Professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law
- J. Donald Freeze, S.J., Academic Vice President of Georgetown University from 1979 to 1991
- Michael Holman, S.J., Provincial of the British Province of the Society of Jesus
- Joseph Koterski, S.J., Associate Professor of Philosophy, Fordham University; Editor-in-Chief, International Philosophical Quarterly (1994-current); renowned expert in Aristotelian studies; President, Fellowship of Catholic Scholars (2008รข€" ).
- Richard Joseph Malone, Bishop of Portland from 2004-2012 and then Bishop of Buffalo
- James Martin (Jesuit), S.J., Jesuit priest, writer and Culture Editor for the Jesuit magazine America
- Leo J. O'Donovan, S.J., the 47th President of Georgetown University
- David O'Leary, Senior Lecturer in Religion and Medical Ethics and Chair of the Social, Behavioral and Educational Institutional Review Board at Tufts University
- Katarina Schuth, Endowed Professor for the Social Scientific Study of Religion at the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity at the University of St. Thomas
- Jeffrey Paul von Arx, S.J., president of Fairfield University
- Kevin Wildes, S.J., president of Loyola University New Orleans
- T.J. Martinez, S.J., founding president of Cristo Rey Jesuit College Preparatory of Houston
See also
- Boston College
- Pontifical university
- Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University
References
External links
- Official website