Seminary Life ~ New York City: A Theological and Cultural Resource
New York City: A Theological and Cultural Resource
During their time at General Seminary, many students take the 1,250-foot ride to the top of the Empire State Building. Just eleven blocks north of the Seminary, the observation deck of the legendary skyscraper affords a unique view of Chelsea Square. As you survey the amazing panorama, the Seminary’s tiny tower, nearly lost in the sprawling urban landscape, is a powerful reminder of all that is larger-than-life about our distinctive location.
Having taken up its home on Chelsea Square soon after the City’s roads had reached 21st Street, General seems to have been destined to pursue theological education with an urban vocation. Theological education at this, the most urban of Episcopal seminaries, embodies a particular set of academic and cultural possibilities born out of its cosmopolitan environment. Deliberately, General seeks to cultivate the unique opportunities for learning offered by our location.
In 2000 General became the first seminary in New York City to join Lower Manhattan Together, an affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF). This partnership gives students the opportunity to address social concerns such as public housing, schools, and employment issues in an urban setting. General was the first theological school ever to host an IAF training workshop. It taught our students about claiming power and working in the public realm to effect social change. Over 2,000 congregations and associations comprise IAF, and they represent vast ethnic, ecumenical and interfaith diversity across the USA.
The attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, were a major event for the Seminary as well as for the City and the world. General students, faculty and staff were active for months in assisting in the various forms of outreach and healing that occurred through St. Paul's Chapel and other agencies. This on-the-ground engagement made a lasting mark on the Seminary community and influences its reconciliation work through the Desmond Tutu Education Center.
Here on our own campus General students, with the help of residents and neighborhood volunteers, operate a homeless shelter in conjunction with the City’s Partnership for the Homeless and a nearby drop-in center. The shelter houses six elderly homeless persons on weeknights during the school year. The shelter and IAF represent the deep commitment many seminarians have to making a difference in our community and using the Seminary’s urban setting for their training.
Just as wide-ranging are the academic opportunities New York City offers. In addition to the city’s 94 universities and colleges, the metropolitan area is home to nine major seminaries. New York Theological Seminary and Union Seminary are among those where General students take courses. St. Vladimir’s Seminary of the Orthodox Church is also nearby. General has a cross-registration relationship with Columbia University that makes that institution’s vast educational resources available to our students.
Spouses and partners of students who wish to continue their education will find New York University, the Fashion Institute of Technology, the New School, Fordham University, the School for Visual Arts and other fine institutions a very convenient distance from the General campus.
The City’s libraries are also an important academic resource. General students have full privileges at the Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary. In addition to the dozens of other nearby institutions with specialized collections, the New York Public Library, representing the largest public collection of bound volumes in the USA (10.7 million), is within walking distance of Chelsea Square.
Almost as numerous as the academic opportunities are the many religious institutions within close proximity to General. New York City is home to the headquarters of the Episcopal Church, the office of its Presiding Bishop, the office of the Anglican Observer at the United Nations, the Church Publishing Company, and the Church Pension Fund. The offices of other Christian bodies here include the National Council of Churches, the Graymoor Ecumenical Institute, the Vatican Mission, and the United Methodist Church. The largest Jewish population outside the Middle East is represented in many synagogues of national significance. The Islamic Center on the upper East Side and the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist temple on Riverside Drive are national centers for these communities of faith.
For many Seminary students the close proximity to dozens of Episcopal and other congregations where they may visit, worship, and undertake field education or research assignments during their time in Chelsea Square is a primary advantage in being at General. One congregation is an active theater during the week; another is arguably the country’s most prominent Anglo-Catholic parish. One has the only resident boys choir in the Episcopal Church; another runs a soup kitchen that feeds over a thousand people each day. A number of congregations are shaped by ethnic minorities, and some are Spanish-speaking. There are tiny chapels that are part of other institutions, as well as the world’s largest Gothic cathedral. There are corporate-sized Episcopal parishes with a thousand or more parishioners and there are small mission congregations. Nearly all are communitieswhere, since its founding, the Seminary’s students, faculty and alumni/æ have made significant and lasting contributions.
For relaxation and enrichment, the cultural opportunities presented by New York’s theater, art and concert offerings are world-renowned. From Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to tiny jazz clubs, the musical offerings here are second to no other American city and, most would agree, the same is true of theater and dance. A scholarship program gives General students an opportunity each term to attend a cultural performance as a part of their theological education.
Other opportunities are unique to New York and cost very little. The metropolitan area is home to over thirty major museums with specializations ranging from modern art to broadcasting. The largest collection of early and medieval Christian art in North America is found in the Metropolitan Museum and The Cloisters, and guided tours are available for our students, frequently conducted by General faculty members. The Big Apple’s nationally televised cultural celebrations and the parades at various holidays are a great (and inexpensive) part of the city experience. For a more costly pastime, shopping in New York is an amazing adventure. Limits of disposable income notwithstanding, few members of the General community leave New York without experiencing Macy’s, the world’s largest department store, or some of the other merchandising phenomena that attract people from around the world. As many General professors will attest, New York City is a bibliophile’s wonderland. The Strand Bookstore (again, only a short walk from the Seminary) boasts eight miles of shelves on its basement and main floors alone.
There are also a few residents of Chelsea Square who would insist that you have not lived as a New Yorker until you have experienced the Lexington Avenue express from Grand Central Terminal to Wall Street during rush hour. The City’s subway system handles over 3.4 million riders on an average workday, and the concentrated energy of rush hour is a unique New York experience. For those with a lower anxiety threshold, the General Seminary Close and the possibility of finding almost anything one needs in the neighborhood of Chelsea affords a rare degree of choice about how often to take the urban plunge.
The tremendous economic, ethnic and cultural diversity, along with unparalleled educational resources, are the reason Seminary graduates consistently point to General’s New York location as one of its greatest assets.
