A Short History of Asbury Theological Seminary

INTRODUCTION

It has been suggested that the story of Asbury Theological Seminary be told within the compass of this little volume numbering less than one hundred pages. What an assignment! However the attempt is being made with the hope that the purpose of such an assignment may at least in some measure be fulfilled. The limitations upon such an attempt are numerous. We trust that they will be understood and appreciated by the reader.

The actual time of the founding of the Seminary was 1923, and the major emphasis will be put upon the events and developments that have taken place during the four decades from that year to the present. However, there is a meaningful continuity between the spirit and life of this theological institution and the historic Christian community even from apostolic times. Especially will this continuity be observed in the relationship that Asbury has maintained with Methodism.

Heretofore there have been no published works dealing exclusively with the history either of Asbury College or of the Seminary. Three unpublished works, however, have been produced, one on the history of the College and two on the history of the Seminary. Each of these was written as a master's thesis. In 1926 Earl Stanley McKee dealt with the early history of Asbury in a thesis entitled, The Early History of Asbury College, 1890-1910. This is available at the library of the University of Kentucky. Twenty-three years later, in 1949, Robert Owen Fraley wrote a master's thesis entitled, A Complete History of Asbury Theological Seminary. A copy of this may be found in the Asbury Seminary library. Only two years after the work of Mr. Fraley, Paul Frederick Abel produced a master's thesis, which he submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Columbia University. The title of this thesis is An Historical Study of The Origin and Development of Asbury Theological Seminary, and it is available both at the library of Columbia University and at the Asbury Seminary library. Permission from the latter two writers, Fraley and Abel, for the free use of materials included in their theses has been obtained by the committee on publication of The Fortieth Anniversary of Asbury Theological Seminary. Specific reference in the use of such materials will therefore usually be omitted. The author of this history wishes to acknowledge his debt not only to these, but also to any others whose writings have furnished significant information in this popular telling of the story of Asbury Theological Seminary. It will be understood by the reader that the limitation of space for this anniversary volume will make it impossible to include references or footnotes. The works referred to above will provide such references for the scholar who may desire to pursue a more thorough study.