BOSTON — Two theological schools, including the nation’s oldest Christian graduate seminary, announced Tuesday that they’re uniting to form a university to educate people of all religions.
Andover Newton Theological School, founded outside Boston in 1807, and the Unitarian Universalist Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago said they’ll establish an “interreligious theological university” by next year.
The schools will keep their specific faith identities as separate institutions operating under the broad umbrella of the new university, said Andover Newton president Nick Carter. The difference is that students in each school will have opportunities to take classes together and interact with students from other schools that are expected to join the university.
That experience is crucial in working in a multi-faith world, where “interfaith border-crossing skills” are needed, Carter said.
“You can’t open the paper today and not find a story that is grounded in religious difference,” Carter said. “The real question that it begs is, ‘So where do you turn for hope? … Where are people learning how to be true to their own faith but have skills that enable them to positively and constructively engage others?’”
The new university doesn’t yet have a name and its governing structure is being devised. Meadville Lombard is selling its four-building campus in Chicago, so the new school will be based at the Andover Newton campus in Newton.
Meadville Lombard will keep a presence in Chicago for students who take classes from home but must travel to the city periodically as part of their coursework.
