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Brief History of Faith Faith Theological Seminary traces its origin to Princeton Theological Seminary and the days of the great Modernist-Fundamentalist controversy that centered in that institution. Since this stronghold of the historic Christian faith was under the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., it was vulnerable to the changing ecclesiastical majorities in General Assemblies. The Presbyterian Church as a whole stood firm as the bastion of orthodoxy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The conflict ensued between those who accepted the liberal systems of thought and those who stayed true to time-honored Biblical truth. By political manipulation the board of control was altered by the election of two Auburn Affirmationists, and the whole direction of Princeton was changed. The conservative majority of the faculty thus suffered defeat, and many left.

The spirit of Princeton survived however in 1929, as J. Gresham Machen, Oswald T. Allis, Robert Dick Wilson, and Cornelius Van Til of the Princeton faculty found quarters for a new seminary in two townhouses in Philadelphia, housing students in the Drake Hotel.

In 1936 the disruption in the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., over the organization of The Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions brought about a new Presbyterian Church of America. Dr. Machen became the primary leader in the battle for preserving the historic Christian faith. Upon the death of Dr. J. Gresham Machen, on January 1, 1937, the great cause for which he stood fell into serious trouble. In the summer of 1937, men of God led by Dr. Carl McIntire, a student of Dr. Machen founded Faith Theological Seminary to be an institution honoring to the Lord in its doctrine and position – a witness to the faith once delivered to the saints, ever exalting the infallible Word of God as the only rule of faith and practice. The Seminary conducted its classes at the Sunday School Building of Faith Bible Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware from 1937 to 1941. The Seminary gradually grew in size, resources, and constituency and through the generous gift of a friend, occupied a nearby mansion, Huston Hall, where it enjoyed the blessing of God to a marked degree. Once again the Seminary outgrew its quarters in Wilmington; in 1952 it purchased the Widener Estate property in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, in a lovely residential section less than a mile north of the city limits of Philadelphia. This was the home of the Seminary from 1952 to 1997. From 1997 to May 2004 Faith Theological Seminary operated from 1001 W. 70th Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Beginning Fall 2004, the Seminary has operated from Baltimore, Maryland with authorization from the Maryland Higher Education Commission as a non-profit, religious, degree-granting institution (as set forth in sub-section 11-202.1 of the Education Article).

'''Mission Statement ''' The mission of Faith Theological Seminary is to prepare men and women for the dissemination of the Gospel of Jesus Christ locally and globally. By teaching the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God efficiently and training in practical ministry, the Seminary seeks to produce graduates who do the work of missionaries, pastors, and theological teachers through preaching, teaching, and applying the Word of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.

'''Doctrinal Statement ''' Believing the system of doctrine contained in the Scriptures we maintain the following Doctrinal Statement. We believe in the divine inspiration and authority of the Scriptures. By this is meant a miraculous guidance of the Holy Spirit in their original writing, extending to all parts of the Scriptures equally, applying even to the choice of words, so the result is the very Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice. Moreover, it is our conviction that God has exercised such singular care and providence through the ages in preserving the written Word, that the Scriptures as we now have them are essentially as originally given and contain all things necessary for salvation. We believe in one God, revealed as existing in three equal persons – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are One God, the same in substance and equal in power and glory. We believe in the Holy Spirit as a divine Person, a personality distinct from the Father and the Son.

We believe that God created out of nothing, by the power of his word, the existing space-time universe in six (24-hour) days. We believe that, as through Adam and Eve’s temptation and deception by the created, angelic being named Satan (the adversary, devil, destroyer), sin entered into the world, and death through sin, so death passed upon all men, for that all sinned.

We believe in the death of Jesus Christ as a true substitute, and that His death was a sufficient expiation for the guilt of all men. We believe that those who receive Christ by faith have been given new life from God. We believe that men are justified by faith alone and are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We believe in the visible, personal and pre-millennial return of our Lord Jesus Christ for His Church, and then with His redeemed to establish a worldwide Kingdom of righteousness and peace. We believe in the everlasting conscious blessedness of the saved and the conscious punishment of the lost.

We believe it to be the supreme responsibility of the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ to make His Gospel known to all men.