I was reminded of Bateson’s comments about “confronting change” as I read Ellis Nelson’s words. Out of his long career as a theological educator he has become very aware of how much the story of the Protestant seminary in America is, at least in part, a “history of improvisation.” In his own work he has enjoyed experimenting. And Ellis Nelson has certainly honed the “habit of reflection,” as his friends know so well.
Here is how one of his friends understands his reflections in The Outlook. By way of sketching in the background, I will retrace a single strand of history over the last two centuries — the ways in which seminaries have cooperated (or occasionally not cooperated) with each other.
In 19th century America, most Protestant theological schools were usually “stand-alone” institutions. Each one had its own faculty, its own distinctive “public” and sometimes its own region to serve. Inter-seminary cooperation was minimal. What about mergers? you might ask. Often those marriages represented the absorption of one institution by another; the new school then became once again a “stand-alone” seminary with perhaps a larger public to serve.
The pace of seminary cooperation picked up in the 20th century after World War II. A wave of experimentation with “centers,” urban and regional “clusters,” made it possible for neighboring schools to share students, courses and programs in new ways. So, for example, Johnson C. Smith Seminary moved to Atlanta and became an integral part of the Interdenominational Theological Center, a closely knit coalition of historically black seminaries. Meanwhile, across the continent San Francisco Seminary joined the Graduate Theological Union in the Bay Area. Other Presbyterian schools also cooperated with nearby neighbors in developing regionally based coalitions.
From the “stand-alone” school to occasional experiments in inter-seminary cooperation among neighboring institutions — that is roughly the story thus far. Now comes the crucial question. Is it possible to go the next step and encourage the same kind of cooperation among a national network of theological schools that one finds in the best large-city or regional seminary coalitions?
No one (to the best of my knowledge) has come up with a convincing answer to that question. But Ellis Nelson’s proposal represents a first step for the Presbyterian schools. His suggestions are modest in scope and quite doable in the coming years. If these beginnings prove promising, their success could encourage expanding collaboration among our 10 theological institutions.
Of course my vision of a possible future depends upon some fairly big “ifs.” For now, however, Ellis Nelson has offered us a good point of departure, an “improvisation” worthy of serious “reflection” in the days ahead.
Posted Sept. 23, 2002 
Robert Wood Lynn, vice president of the Lilly Endowment from 1976 to 1989, is now exploring the history of giving in America.
Lead article — A Future for Our Seminaries by C. Ellis Nelson
Response by Sara Little — Some Room for Further Exploration
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