| History
Beginnings
Newbury Biblical Institute, 1840-1847
Methodist General Biblical Institute,
1847-1867
Boston, Beacon Hill, 1867-1949
Boston, Commonwealth Avenue, 1949-
Boston, Beacon Hill, 1867-1949
William Fairfield Warren
 The
hiring of William Fairfield Warren in 1866 changed the path
of school dramatically. With his study and teaching in Germany,
he had a wider view of education, and raised the teaching
to a higher academic standard. At the end of the twenty-year
lease in Concord, the school was moved to Boston as the Boston
Theological Seminary, situated first on Pinckney Street on
Beacon Hill, and later at the new Wesleyan Building on Bromfield
Street.
Boston University
Warren became President of the new Boston University,
which began classes in 1869, and the seminary officially became
the first professional graduate school in 1871. For nearly
half a century, Warren was President of the University and
sometimes Dean of the school.
Lee Claflin, Jacob Sleeper and Isaac Rich became the original
incorporators of Boston University in 1869.. By act of the
Massachusetts Legislature, signed by Governor William Claflin
(Lee Claflin's son), the seminary was formally merged with
the University in 1871 and became Boston University School
of Theology, the first professional school of the University.
Dr. Warren hired James Latimer, a repected educator from New
Hampshire, to be Dean of the School of Theology in 1873.
72 Mount Vernon Street
Soon outgrowing the space on Bromfield Street, the school
acquired a double townhouse at 72 Mt. Vernon Street on Beacon
Hill.
Dean Latimer died suddenly in 1885 just before the move,
and President Warren became Dean again. Though the plain Methodists
were criticized for having a school in a "palace",
72 remained the home of the school for over sixty years.
As befitting a university, a respected and published faculty
was assembled, including prominent scholars such as Borden
Parker Bowne (philosophy, founder of Personalism, 1880-1910),
Henry Clay Sheldon (church history, 1875-1895, and systematic
theology 1895-1922), Luther Townsend (practical theology,
1871-1894), Marcus Buell (New Testament,1884-1905) and Hinckley
Mitchell (Old Testament, 1885-1905). Warren himself frequently
taught a theology course, sometimes in German.
Over the years, the school became known for Personalism,
and strong programs in missions and evangelism, and in the
fields of Practical Theology. The education division even
became a separate School of Religious
Education.
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