General Theological Seminary and Virginia Theological Seminary Announce Affiliation Arrangements Focused on Cooperation

In the midst of change and transitions here at General, our faculty have remained singularly focused on our collective mission of forming seminarians for lives of impact and service. Their commitment to their craft, study, and quality of instruction is an inspiration to me and a gift to our school. Both at General and around the country, our faculty continue to make their mark as scholars and thought-leaders, offering Spirit-led moral clarity and redemptive insights for a complex world.

To matriculate into a school is to be claimed by that school as a child.

The word "matriculation" comes from the Latin “matrix” or “womb.” It is commonplace to refer to a school as our “alma mater,” which literally means “our nourishing mother.” When we matriculate, or when we call a school our “alma matter,” we signal our adoption into a new family.

In March, General submitted a resolution to General Convention which would grant our Board of Trustees the unilateral ability to amend our constitution. This past Sunday, Resolution A139 was approved by both houses. This is a small legislative change that makes a huge difference to the future of the Seminary.

This past week has been a glorious whirlwind of activity on Chelsea Square! Congratulations to all of our graduates and their families, and on behalf of our faculty staff, receive our gratitude for trusting General to be a part of your spiritual formation. We are excited to hear how God will use this time for the good of the church and our communities. 

GTS condemns the voices that promote white supremacy, the laws that maintain white supremacy, and the ideologies that anchor white supremacy. May our transformation be rooted in the liberation of the oppressed, rooted in the conviction that salvation is shared by all and for all.

“‘To be a theologian of the cross is to ‘call a thing what it actually is…’”

“When I describe General Seminary as ‘Benedictine,’ I draw from the deep tradition of Anglican theological education and make the aspirational statement about the kind of institution God is calling us to be. To call General Seminary ‘Benedictine’ is to claim both a set of gifts which are endemic to our DNA and make a hopeful statement about the nature of a community that we can more truly become. Our way forward is by committing to the disciplines that have produced individual and collective transformation.”

“To matriculate into a school is to be claimed by that school as a child.  The word matriculation comes from the Latin “matrix” or “womb”. It is commonplace to refer to a school as our “alma mater”, which literally means our “our nourishing mother”. Tonight, you formally join this community of learning, to which you, and all of us, have been called by Almighty God.  When we matriculate, or when we call a school our “alma mater”, we signal our adoption into a new family.”