A few months ago while planning for
an upcoming green certification program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at
Philadelphia, one member of the committee suggested it would be helpful to
study how our campus identity has changed over the years and how it is
currently perceived. In following
up on that request with professors and in the seminary library, I was astounded
at the amount of information available.
Beside a nearly countless array of original sources, a number of
histories had been published since the seminary’s founding, the most
significant being Theodore Tappert’s History of the Lutheran Theological
Seminary at Philadelphia, 1864 – 1964. While many of these sources provided
valuable information about the names of professors and staff, the acquisition
and destruction of various buildings and the character of the student body,
they all stopped short of answering my committee member’s question. I had to dig past such information to
tell the story of how our campus community viewed its land, understood its
urban setting and its relation to the surrounding neighborhood. In doing so I hoped to discover how
LTSP constructed a campus narrative over its nearly one hundred and fifty year
history, the current state of that narrative and how that narrative has
impacted the faith of our community.
It quickly became
apparent that exploring the evolution of LTSP’s campus narrative would not
simply be a historical enterprise, but would necessarily incorporate elements
of psychology, sociology and theology as well. With that fact in mind, my research took a variety of forms. In order to develop a background for my
study of original sources, I first read a number of books on Christian
theologies of land, place and the city.
I carefully tilled the Tappert book and other similar works for
background historical information.
Using Tappert’s bibliography as a starting point, I next examined minutes
from Ministerium of Pennsylvania meetings, LTSP Board of Trustee meetings,
transcripts of historical addresses and the like. I am greatly indebted to the seminary archives staff members
who helped me locate a number of early seminary publications and photographic
slides (and often the near-ancient equipment to view those slides). The staff of the Germantown Historical
Society also proved helpful in providing old property maps and an outside
perspective of the seminary through clippings of newspaper articles. Finally, I sought to allow the diverse
voices of the LTSP community to carry into my work through interviewing a
number of staff, faculty, students, alumni and other key individuals.
After engaging in
such research I propose that through many changes a “narrative of place” has
indeed been constructed by the women and men who have lived, studied, worked
and worshiped at here. I have come
to understand that this story has a complex plot which is centered around a
single question: how can LTSP best serve the church, Christ’s body on earth,
out of this place? The seminary
has generally answered this question somewhere between viewing campus
predominately through a monastic tradition of separation and a more missional
model of engagement with the outside world.[1] With notable exceptions, our campus has
been on a pilgrimage across that spectrum, slowly shifting away from some of
the weaknesses of the monastic model while striving to retain the sacred
character of its space and community.
[1] As the
current Seminary President Rev. Dr. Philip Krey aptly reminded me, at it’s the
best the monastic model can indeed be missional, as such institutions engage in
a wide variety of ministries on behalf of their surrounding neighborhood and
the church. “Missional” in this
paper however designates a disposition toward interacting with and recognizing
the sacred in the wider world whenever possible.
