Unification Theological Seminary
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The Unification Theological Seminary, located in Barrytown, New York and with an Extension Center in midtown Manhattan, serves the Unification Church through graduate education in theology and related subjects, as well as by sponsoring ecumenical conferences. UTS was founded as an ecumenical seminary in that the faculty members have belonged to a broad range of religious denominations. Rather than concentrating solely on Unification theology, students learn philosophy, psychology, world religions, and homiletics, as well as the histories, theologies, and scriptures of Judaism, Christianity, and other world religions.
The Unification Theological Seminary is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, the main such body for institutions of higher learning in the region, and offers a three-year Master of Divinity program and a two-year Master of Religious Education program. Its first classes were offered in September 1975. The seminary has had three presidents: David S.C. Kim (1975-94), Dr. Theodore Shimmyo (1994-2000) and Dr. Tyler Hendricks (2000 to date).
Harvey Cox, Richard Rubenstein, Herbert Richardson, Richard Quebedeaux, M. Darroll Bryant, Ninian Smart, Frederick Sontag, and other well-known theologians and philosophers have taught courses there or have spoken at its seminars and inter-religious forums.
The Unification Theological Seminary is not to be confused with Union Theological Seminary (an independent college of theology in New York City), despite their sharing the same acronym, UTS.
