Reformed Episcopal Seminary: Occupying the ‘Center’ of Anglican Formation
Reformed Episcopal Seminary (RES) in Philadelphia is nearing its 140th year. Founded in 1887, the seminary’s task has long been to train clergy for the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC). Today, under the leadership of Dr. Matt Harrington, President and Dean, RES is seeking to re-envision itself as a leading seminary choice both in the ACNA and the broader Anglican world. I recently had the opportunity to chat with Dr. Harrington and learn about the significant changes at the historic seminary, including a radical step RES has taken to address student debt.
From Niche to Center
“For a long time, we were a historically low-church Evangelical Anglican seminary,” said Harrington, “now we see ourselves as occupying the very center of the Anglican tradition. There are some seminaries that focus on an Anglo-Catholic expression, others on a more ‘charismatic’ way…we want people to know we are focusing on Reformed Anglicanism, but we welcome and currently include students from all ends of the spectrum.”
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These days, faculty and students at RES represent the whole range of Anglican liturgical practice. Some lean toward Anglo-Catholic preferences while others remain firmly low-church, with a lot of variety in between. The seminary’s goal is not to erase those differences, but to make space for them within the bounds of orthodox doctrine.
“We’re less concerned with the specifics of liturgical expression than we are about the fundamentals of doctrine,” said Harrington, “we’re about transmitting the orthodox Anglican faith, rather than enforcing conformity to a particular mode of expression.”
Adopting an approach broad enough to welcome multiple schools of expression within the orthodox Anglican tradition is just one way that RES commits itself to growing beyond its historic niche and re-establishing itself in a broader Anglican arena.
Liturgical Training for a Diverse Church
That commitment shows up most clearly in RES’s liturgical training. Prospective students regularly ask Harrington in admissions conversations: What if I want to serve in a parish that uses the ACNA’s 2019 Book of Common Prayer, or one that prefers the 1928, or even the 1662?
His answer is simple: RES prepares its students for all of them.
“When you walk out of here,” he tells prospective seminarians, “I expect that you will know how to celebrate the feast facing the table, how to celebrate from behind the table (versus populum), and how to celebrate from the north end. And you’ll be comfortable using the 2005 REC Prayer Book, the 1928, the Canadian 1662, and the 2019 ACNA book.”
The idea is that graduates of RES will be ready to pastor almost any Anglican parish in North America, no matter where they land on the liturgical spectrum.
“I don’t think seminaries do anyone a favor by pretending there’s only one way to do things,” Harrington said. “The whole point of seminary is to open students’ eyes to the richness and variety of the Anglican tradition, not in terms of its orthodoxy but in these non-essential areas.”
Students on the Canterbury Trail
That openness makes RES a home not only for those already firmly committed to Anglicanism but also for seekers exploring or gravitating towards the tradition from somewhere else. While many seminarians at RES are cradle-Anglicans, they accept quite a few students from other Christian traditions.
“There are many students who come to us already set in their Anglican identity,” Harrington noted. “But there are others who arrive unsure. I’ve had prospective students say, ‘I’m not sure if I’m Anglican or not.’ And I tell them, ‘You’ll be sure in the next couple of weeks.’”
This is not new for the Reformed Episcopal Church. From its beginnings, REC founder Bishop George David Cummins embraced what Harrington calls an “aggressive ecumenism,” reaching out to evangelical Protestants from other denominations and inviting them into prayerful cooperation and fellowship. “So, the REC is an early example of the ‘Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail’ narrative,” said Harrington. Today, RES continues that pattern as even more Gen-Zers feel a draw to the historic and liturgical faith at home in traditional Anglicanism.
Anglican certificate programs are especially popular among students who have already studied at other seminaries but are now discerning a call into the Anglican tradition. For many, RES provides the bridge between their evangelical roots and their Anglican future in ministry.
Outgrowing the “Niche”
Still, the perception lingers that RES is small or narrowly focused. Harrington is working hard to challenge that.
“There are three ATS-accredited Anglican seminaries in the ACNA—Nashotah House, Trinity, and RES. We are right there among them. We’re not a niche project. We’re occupying the middle ground of the Anglican tradition, and we’re welcoming students from across the spectrum.”
The student body today continues to include REC members but also seminarians from a variety of ACNA dioceses and continuing Anglican jurisdictions.
Rather than allow RES to remain the best-kept secret in the ACNA, Harrington is encouraging people who’ve discovered this growing seminary to “tell a friend.” “First tell your bishop,” he advised, “then tell your friends.”
The Bishop Cummins Grant: Freedom from Debt
Perhaps the most striking feature of RES’s renewed approach to seminary education is its commitment to keeping students out of crippling cycles of debt through an exciting new grant.
“No matter what setting you’re looking to minister in,” said Harrington, “the ministry is not generally a profession that pays particularly well.” The leadership at RES surveyed and discussed the situation at length and agreed, “the church will not grow if it doesn’t have clergy,” and the biggest obstacle for many starting out is figuring out how to pay for seminary.
The seminary’s response was the creation of the Bishop Cummins Grant, named after the founding bishop of the REC. The grant offers full tuition coverage to full-time residential students, ensuring that they can graduate without seminary debt. I repeat, zero debt.
The reasoning is simple: the church needs clergy to grow, but the clergy can’t serve properly when they’re financially shackled.
The Bishop Cummins Grant was designed to help: Harrington says, “We don’t want clergymen to not be able to take the parish for which they feel called by the Spirit, because of financial considerations. On the other side, we don’t want parishes to suffer and wither because they’re not able to find anybody to take the job for the amount they’re willing to pay. This is all about finding ways to ease people into ministry and at least take down one of the barriers to entry. Hopefully, that will help grow the church.”
I know this might sound too good to be true, but Harrington says the program rules are purposely straightforward: “If you are interested in the Anglican ministry, you are accepted, and you come full-time…you will be given a grant.”
Formation in Community
While RES sees its value and recognizes the rising demand for online courses, Harrington insists that the best formation happens in community. “Anglican clergy are best prepared when they live in an Anglican community,” he said. “That means praying together, sharing meals, and learning what it means to live the sacramental life with others.”
The seminary encourages students to live on or near campus, says Harrington,
RES has identified housing nearby for students to use. Housing in Philadelphia is relatively inexpensive. We often have local parishioners offering rooms and mother-in-law suites at reasonable rates for married students.
Today, about one-third of the student body is residential, and 70 percent of M.Div. students study on campus. “We’re in the process of creating the atmosphere of a small Oxford college,” said Harrington. “Our students who have the flexibility usually prefer to come and learn in person.”
With the Bishop Cummins Grant on offer and an ethos focused on a robust liturgical and intellectually engaged life on campus, residential learning is a big draw at RES. Still, Harrington recognizes that people are coming to seminary from all stages of life, and all of RES’s course offerings are available online as well.
A Campus with Rich Resources
Another point in favor of residential learning at RES is the campus itself. RES recently moved to a new campus in a Philadelphia suburb, taking over a former school building attached to a local parish. The facilities have expanded dramatically, resulting in more classrooms than before, student lounges, conference rooms, and more.
The Kuehner Library, with over 50,000 volumes, remains one of RES’s longstanding treasures. Its holdings stretch back nearly 200 years and include 17th-century editions of the Book of Common Prayer. As part of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Theological Library Association, RES students also enjoy borrowing privileges at Westminster Seminary, United Lutheran, and several other nearby schools within reach.
The seminary’s location has other perks too: it sits just 500 yards from Westminster Seminary, with easy access to train stations that can take students to downtown Philadelphia (to enjoy a Phillies game, perhaps?) in about 20 minutes. Harrington also jokes that RES may be the only Anglican seminary he knows with its own gym, so it’s not just heavy theological tomes you can be lifting at RES.
A Vision for the Future of Theological Education
From my discussion with Harrington, I was able to form an image of RES as an institution with plenty of history (the second oldest ACNA seminary after Nashotah House) but one that is uncharacteristically nimble for its age, adapting and growing to meet the needs of the next crop of Anglican ordinands without sacrificing its core commitments. A place with a deep past and a strong vision for the future.
With an ethos of building up a robust liturgical community on the ground, attractive local offerings, and perhaps most appealing of all, a viable solution for avoiding unnecessary student debt, Reformed Episcopal Seminary is a strong choice for anyone seeking to study the full breadth of Anglican theological formation. RES is seeking to serve Christ’s body first and foremost. If you’re in the area, stop in! You’ll find a dedicated community of staff and students cultivating the next crop of faithful Anglican ministers.
Image courtesy of Reformed Episcopal Seminary. Digitally edited by Jacob Davis.
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