Newton Theological Institution
Newton Theological Institution began instruction on November 28, 1825 [1] at Newton Centre, Massachusetts as a graduate seminary formally affiliated with the group now known as American Baptist Churches USA, the oldest Baptist denomination in America. As the institution developed, it adopted Andover Theological Seminary's curricular pattern and shared the same theological tradition of loyalty to the evangelical Gospel and zeal for its dissemination.
Prior to the founding of Newton and Andover, the model for the training of clergy was based on an undergraduate degree (actually the basis for the founding of most of the early colleges in the United States). The graduate model and the three-year curriculum with a resident student body and resident faculty pioneered at Andover and Newton has become the standard for almost all of the 140 Protestant theological schools in the country.
Founders of the Seminary were Joseph Grafton, Lucius Bolles, Daniel Sharp, Jonathan Going, Bela Jacobs, Ebenezer Nelson, Francis Wayland, Henry Jackson, Ensign Lincoln, Jonathan Bacheller, and Nathaniel R. Cobb.[2]
Reflecting that zeal, the modern missionary movement began in this country through a group of Andover students known as the Brethren. Both Andover and Newton quickly assumed leadership in the modern mission movement, drawing the two schools into close association of people and ideas.
After sharing the beautiful hilltop Newton Theological Institution campus starting in 1931, the two schools merged formally in 1965 to form the Andover Newton Theological School. Andover Newton students are allowed to take classes in the any of Harvard University's ten graduate schools due to the prior affiliation of Andover Theological Seminary and Harvard.