STH Faces the Twenties

Around 1920, Boston University School of Theology published a small pamphlet entitled, “The School on Beacon Hill.” The object of this brochure was to celebrate the role of the school in the Church, in the nation, and in the world. The brochure also hoped to excite potential donors into giving much needed funds. Throughout the text, one finds verses that locate the school within the Wesleyan tradition of intellectual rigor, evangelical emotion, and a passion for social justice. The verses are optimistic in their tone, confidently asserting that the School of Theology arms graduates to take on the “problems of the age.”

ITS IDEALS 

Unwavering Insistence
Upon Those Doctrines
Which Have Given
The Wesleyan Evangelical Movement
Its World-Wide Power;

Such A Mastery Of The Problems
Of This Age,
As Will Help The Graduate
To Be A Successful Preacher
Of The Gospel,
Under New Conditions;

A Close And Sympathetic Touch
With Life In All Its Phases,
And Scholarship
That Is Obedient
To The Passion For Service

ITS RECORD

First Training School For Ministers
In American Methodism;

Eighty-One Years of Service
As A School of Theology;

Fifty Years A Department
Of Boston University;

First To Establish A Chair
Of Comparative Religions;

First Theological School In America
To Send Out Gospel Teams;

Three Thousand Men Trained
For Special Service In The Church;

Thirteen Bishops, Ten Editors;
Thirty-Two Presidents,
Deans, And Principals,
Of Universities, Colleges And Schools;
Seventy-eight Professors
In Theological Schools And Colleges;
Two Thousand Pastors
In Every Conference In Methodism;

Scores Of Missionaries
In Every Foreign Field.

ITS LOCATION

In The Heart “Of The Athens Of America”
Full Of Historical Shrines And Schools;

Yet In A Residential Quarter,
On A Famous Old Street
As Quiet As A Country Town;

Two Minutes From The Historic Boston Common,
And The Public Gardens;
Under The Shadow Of The State House,
Faneuil Hall and Bunker Hill;

Five Minutes From The Retail Section,
Ten Minuets To The Markets,
And The Wholesale Establishments;

Fifteen Minutes To The Water Front,
With The Shipping Of The World
In The Harbor;

In Close Contact
With The Foreign Born
From Many Lands.

At the beginning of the 1920s, Boston University was clearly a school for students from the northeastern United States, but it clearly had its eye on the vast realm of foreign missions. In 1921, 198 STH graduates worked in Massachusetts, 145 in Ohio, and 91 in New York. While graduates were heavily concentrated in North and Midwest, there were also significant numbers in California. The year of the brochure’s publication, there were 90 graduates who worked throughout the world in Europe, the Indian Subcontinent, Southern Africa, South East Asia, East Asia, and the Hawaiian Islands.

ITS DISTINCTION 

Reverent In Scholarship,
Facing Every Problem Frankly;
With Open Mind And A Warm Heart
Always Looking For More Light;

Limited In Equiptment—
For Many Years
Library, Reading Rooms,
Chapel, Recitation Rooms,
Offices, Dean’s Apartment,
Dormitories, And Gymnasium
Under One Roof;

Yet the Reputation
Of Its Spirit And Teaching
Has Drawn An Ever Increasing
Body Of Students
From Our Own And Every Other Land.

ITS GROWTH 

First An Ideal
In The Minds And Hearts
Of A Small Group Of Far-Seeing Men;

Then Three Decades Of Pioneering
Against Neglect, Indifference And Misunderstanding;

The, William Fairfield Warren, Its First Dean,
Teacher, Administrator, Scholar,
Man Of Vision And Faith,
Laid The Foundation
Of Boston University,
And This School Became Its First Department.

In The Half Century Since,
The Growth In Number
Of Student
Has Been Continuous,
The Enrollment Doubling
In The Last Decade

To Try To Meet This Growth
The Faculty Has Been Enlarged,
A Beautiful Goth Chapel Has Been Built,
Louisburg Square Dormatory Purchased.

And Yet It Has Been Impossible
To Provide Adequate Room and Teachers
For The Ever Increasing Enrolment.

ITS CHALLENGE

A Great Past,
A Record Of Unswerving Loyalty
To The Church,
And To High Ideals Of Learning;

A World Uncertain And Perplexed,
In Need Of Jesus Christ;

A Consecrated Multitude Of College Men,
Eager For Training
To Make The Christ Known
To That World;

The Sacrifices Of A Few Great Hearts
Who Made The School Of Today Possible.

All These Challenge The Church
To Provide Resources And Equipment
For This Increasing Number of Chosen Men
Who Offer Themselves
For Better And Larger Service.

ITS NEEDS

More Dormitory Accommodations
To House The Students;

More Class Rooms;
Larger Library Facilities;

A Pension Fund To Provide
For Retired Teachers And Employees;
A Larger And Better Paid Faculty.

As The Church Meets
These Needs Of The School,
So The School Can Meet
The Needs Of The Church.