Bethany Theological Seminary was founded in 1905 and is the graduate school and academy for theological education for the Church of the Brethren. The Seminary was located in the Chicago area until 1994, when it relocated to Richmond, Indiana and affiliated with Earlham School of Religion, a Christian graduate theological school in the Quaker tradition. Bethany is accredited by The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada and The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.

As a graduate school, Bethany offers degree programs which serve a variety of vocational and academic objectives. The curriculum supporting these programs is designed to develop competencies in academic reflection and ministry formation necessary for effective work in ministry, teaching and other service vocations. While the heart of Bethany’s program resides in the educational classroom in Richmond, Indiana, we have sought to extend the accessibility of Bethany’s graduate degrees through Connections, a program that combines short-term intensive courses at the Bethany Center, online courses, and off-site courses hosted by the Susquehanna Valley Ministry Center in Pennsylvania.

Three specialized programs supplement our ministry and research degree programs. Peace and Cross-Cultural studies insist that we take seriously alternatives to violence in our own communities and in communities very different and distant from ours. The Institute for Ministry with Youth and Young Adults features the distinctive skills involved in ministry to and with the emerging generations. The Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership provides a certificate program empowering leadership in bi-vocational ministry as well as courses designed to strengthen the ministries of those currently in leadership.

Bethany is one of eight institutions of higher education related to the Church of the Brethren, an Anabaptist/Pietist denomination. Along with the Quakers and Mennonites, the Church of the Brethren is an historic peace church, conscientiously opposed to all war, and intentional about working with peacemaking and reconciliation concerns.

Bethany values and draws from the life of other Christian communions. Bethany students come from a variety
of confessional backgrounds, participate in an ecumenical
environment of faith and learning, and discover how to
value their own heritage as a part of the common heritage of all Christians.

The Bethany mission statement challenges us to provide a style of education that brings us into close relationships with congregations, the world-wide church, the peoples of the world, and God’s creation. We are looking for students with a spiritual hardiness and an intellectual daring who are willing to learn from the contexts outlined in the Bethany mission statement. Persons who have experience in volunteer programs often find Bethany a positive environment. A rigorous, comprehensive and well-rounded undergraduate program provides another good resource for a positive Bethany experience. Prospective students are encouraged to take coursework in such areas as language and literature, history, the arts, philosophy, religion, sociology, and psychology. Whatever the focus of the undergraduate program, it is essential that prospective students acquire competency in the use of English as a spoken and written language.

Education at Bethany provides a focal point for faith and ministry
in a diverse and conflicted society. Bethany encourages
students to develop theological understandings attentive to the
biblical story in its entirety, and centered in the witness of the
New Testament. Among the marks of such an education are building true community, seeking and making peace, advocating
God’s justice, reconciling hostile parties, serving human need,
and living a simple and focused life. Students and faculty engage
each other in a mutual style of learning that encourages growth
and models community.

We live today in the paradox of a world more connected than ever through modern technology, but more divided than ever by parochial interests and cultural conflicts. Ministry in such a world requires awareness of plurality from the local to global arena and ability to build bridges of understanding across chasms of diversity. Education at Bethany prepares persons for
a ministry that connects people and cultures. Study tours to
other countries, the presence of international students, cross-cultural ministry experiences, courses on conflict and mediation, and environmental ethics, all contribute to building
relationships with the whole of God’s world. It is important that theological education equips not only clergy, but the whole people of God. Bethany works at training leaders to train others.

Bethany Theological Seminary is more than an institution which
offers courses and grants degrees. It is also a community of faith and learning whose members create a common life, build significant relationships, contribute to mutual growth, celebrate joys, share concerns, worship and pray together, and hold one another accountable to shared goals and values. From its early days, Bethany has been an open community, welcoming women and men of diverse backgrounds to prepare for ministry in Christ’s name. That commitment to be inclusive is reflected not only in a nondiscriminatory admissions policy, but in the quest to build cultural and theological diversity into the learning process.

Bethany students and faculty have opportunities for drawing
on the resources of a wide circle of theological schools.
Along with the Earlham School of Religion, Bethany has open
cross registration with United Theological Seminary in Dayton,
the Graduate Department of Religious Studies at the
University of Dayton, Payne Theological Seminary in
Wilberforce, Ohio, and Christian Theological Seminary in
Indianapolis. In addition Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati
and Anderson University School of Theology in Indiana offer
additional educational resources for Bethany students.