Лютеранская Семинария в Сент-Поле: История и Современность

Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, U. S.

Luther Seminary is the result of a series of mergers that consolidated what at one time were five separate institutions into one seminary.

Augsburg Theological Seminary, later renamed Augsburg University, was founded in 1869 at Marshall, Wisconsin, later moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and in 1897 became the seminary of the Lutheran Free Church. It remained a separate seminary until 1963, at which time the Lutheran Free Church merged with the American Lutheran Church and Augsburg Seminary was merged with Luther Theological Seminary. The merged institution took the Luther Theological Seminary name and the 1869 founding date of Augsburg Seminary.

In the 2022–2023 academic year, Luther Seminary served 411 total students, employing 24 faculty. The seminary was planning to again offer the Ph. D. program, with classing beginning in the fall semester of 2018. The seminary has since returned to financial stability, reporting a budget surplus of $594,000 after fiscal year 2022. As in most seminaries, M. Div. students complete three years of theological education, divided into a junior year (first), middler year (second) and senior year (final). A full year of internship, usually in a parish, is an integral part of pastoral training, and a degree requirement for ELCA M. Div. students. While individual situations may vary, internship typically begins after two thirds of coursework has been completed. Thus, most students complete internship between their middler and senior year. The internship requirement is unique to the ELCA among the other mainline denominations in the U. S.

Luther Seminary has affiliations with the acclaimed American theologian and author, Frederick Buechner. In addition to being a key part of the curriculum, the works of Buechner have regularly been distributed by the seminary among its students. In 2014, Luther Seminary also instituted the Frederick Buechner Prize for Excellence in Preaching.