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886 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Theological Education
rationalistic movements, while Oxford has preserved its peaceful way, little aroused until the Tractarian movement began. Besides the universities, the Anglican church has more than twenty theological seminaries. The national churches of European Protestantism have made no provision for the theological education of Non-conformists, so that separate schools have sprung up of necessity. Baptists, Methodists, and Congregationalists have their own institutions in Germany and Scandinavia, and also in Great Britain.
In America the need of theological education made itself felt acutely as soon as the first generation of university men passed on. Harvard (1636) was founded " for Christ and the 4. America. Church," and half its graduates during its first century entered the ministry. In the eighteenth century several colleges were founded along the Atlantic seaboard, and the prevailing motive was the preparation of an educated ministry. Chairs of divinity were established at Harvard in 1638 and at Yale in 1741, but the most practical training that students for the ministry received was the experience and individual instruction gained in the homes of the leading ministers of the colonies. The first theological school established was that of the Dutch Reformed Church at New Brunswick, N. J. (1784). The early years of the nineteenth century produced seminaries of nearly all denominations, and before 1860 these num= bered more than fifty. The growth of the West and the necessity of teaching the freedmen in the South have increased the number rapidly in the last halfcentury. See THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. The schools that form a department of a university are most popular to-day, and the present tendency is toward the affiliation of separate schools with a neighboring university when practicable. The regular course of instruction is offered to those who are qualified, preferably to college graduates, and occupies three years. The fundamentals of theological instruction are the literature of the Bible and its interpretation, systematic theology, homiletics, and church history; but the present emphasis on a practical Christianity has resulted in the addition of courses in ethics, sociology, missions, and religious pedagogy. The tendency of the age toward specialization has made it necessary to introduce seminary and post-graduate courses; and America may be expected continually to increase her contributions to scientific theological literature. H. K. RowE.
III. Roman Catholic Teaching Orders: The great orders and congregations which had their origin in the old world and were founded with the express purpose of engaging in the work of education are now conducting schools, academies, colleges, and theological seminaries in the United States. The rise and aim of many of these communities are described elsewhere in the pages of this Encyclopedia (see ROMAN CATHOLIC PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS and special articles on the separate orders). In addition to those which receive separate treatment may be mentioned several congregations of women, having numerous establishments in several states. The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph was founded in 1650 at Le Puy, France, for the Christian educa-
tion of children. During the upheaval of the French Revolution the congregation was suppressed, several of the sisters being guillotined during the reign of terror. The order was restored in 1807 under Napoleon, and so rapid was the increase in its numbers that it soon extended its activities, not only into other countries of Europe, but even into Africa and Asia. The first foundation in America was made in 1836 at Carondelet, a town near St. Louis, Mo., by a colony of nuns from the mother house at Lyons, France. The community is now engaged in all forms of educational work in every part of the country. The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur were founded in 1803 at Amiens, France. Their first establishment in America, made at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1840, readily became the center of an extensive system of schools and academies throughout the west. The sisters conduct schools also in the eastern states, including Trinity College in Brookland, D. C. A branch of the Notre Dame sisters was introduced in Coesfeld, Germany, in 1851, but the members were forced by the Prussian Government to form themselves into a separate community, independent of any foreign authority. When the Kulturkampf (see ULTRAMONTANISM) broke out, the sisters were expelled. They emigrated to the United States in 1874 on the invitation of the bishop of Cleveland. The community now conducts schools and academies in several dioceses. It is a fact worthy of mention that the accession to this country of many religious communities has been due to the estrangement between Church and State in the old countries. New institutes have been introduced thus and those already established have had their ranks recruited by members exiled from their native lands.
The School Sisters of Notre Dame are a branch of the Congregation of Notre Dame, founded in France by St. Peter Fourier in 1597. They were introduced into the United States in 1847. The Presentation Nuns and various congregations bearing the title of Sisters of Providence conduct numerous schools in different parts of the country. Other congregations mentioned under WOMEN, CONGREGATIONS OF, have found a home in the United States, such as the Daughters of Jesus. A full list of the communities engaged in teaching is given with statistics in The Official Catholic Directory and Clergy List (Milwaukee and New York, 1911, pp. 794835).
In regard to the United States it is to be noted that conditions have rendered it imperative for congregations which were not originally intended for the purpose to engage in the labor of education. The Sisters of Charity, although originally founded by St. Vincent de Paul (q.v.) to minister to the needs of the sick and the poor, are principally engaged in this country in conducting parochial schools. As the communities that were modeled upon the older foundations of Europe found it incumbent to adapt their work to different conditions, so in like manner have somo new congregations spontaneously arisen here and there to meet the demands of the time and place. The teaching institute of the Sisters of Loretto at the Foot of the Cross had its rise in an effort made in 1812 by Miss