United Church Seminary

Extract from Catalog for 1898-9

The United Church Seminary is the Divinity School of the United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America.
This school, in accordance with the Articles of Union (Forenings-artiklerne), was originally known as "Augsburg Seminary," and was located from 1890 to 1893 in the buildings at Minneapolis, Minn., which are now called " Augsburg Seminary." Pursuant to a resolution adopted at the annual meeting of the United Church, in 1893, it was removed to its present temporary quarters, corner Franklin and Twenty-sixth avenue south, Minneapolis, and it has from that time been known by its present name. This removal was made necessary in order that the United Church might obtain the full control of its Divinity School to which it was entitled according to both Constitution and Articles of Union. And this, in spite of earnest and repeated efforts, it could not obtain so long as the school remained in its original quarters.

As the servant of a Lutheran Church body, and as a confessor of the true. Biblical doctrines set forth in the Lutheran Confessions, this Seminary not only rests upon a Lutheran foundation, but conscientiously strives to build thereon.

The aim of this school is to train and educate worthy and Christian men in the various branches
of Theology, so as to fit them for the public Ministry of the Gospel in the Norwegian Lutheran Church of this land, or in the mission field of other lands.
The Theological Department provides the student with a three years' course, during which he receives a special theological training, the sole purpose of which is to make him an able and devoted laborer in the vineyard of the Lord.

The United Church Seminary, as a Divinity School for Norwegians in America, must duly take into consideration the demands which existing circumstances make in regard to language. For this reason it h as placed English and Norwegian on a somewhat equal footing.

As the aim of all instruction and training in both departments is to promote the cause of God's Kingdom by making the students able and faithful servants of the Lord in laboring for the salvation of men, the school most earnestly endeavors to have its work upheld and carried on by the Spirit of God through His Holy Word. Its efforts are not only directed towards training and educating the mind, but, above all, towards training and educating the heart, so that the student may be able to seek God and live in Him, and thus daily "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

The school strives to attain this aim, not only by instruction and discipline, but also by regular religious exercises, at which it is required that all the students be present. These exercises consist of morning worship at the Seminary Hall, a sermon delivered by one of the professors at the close of each week, and weekly prayer meetings conducted by the students.

The Lord has caused His blessing to rest upon the Seminary of the United Church and upon its work; and this blessing will continue to rest upon it as it faithfully fulfills its mission in preparing worthy men to labor in the fear and Spirit of God, for the conversion and upbuilding of souls.