I didn’t want to go to seminary, being gripped by an aversion to perpetual poverty.
I decided the visceral and unregulated world of Mars Hill Church would provide a more effective training ground for my future church planting efforts. Feel free to chuckle and shake your head, I’ll wait.
Fast forwarding a bit, I met Justin Holcomb, a man set apart by his disinterest in skinny jeans or verbal aggression (he would later become the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida). He recommended I go to seminary.
In Dallas? There is a school called Redeemer that is doing something pretty unique. That’s where I’d go.
The rest, as they say, is a history that would only make sense after plenty of therapy.
A Quick History
Redeemer Theological Seminary began as an extension site of Westminster Theological Seminary in 1993. By 1999 the site had officially become the Dallas campus of Westminster, graduating its first M.Div student in 2003.
In 2008 WTS – Dallas was launched by its parent school and became an independent institution, Redeemer Theological Seminary. Its inaugural convocation took place in February 2009 at Park Cities Presbyterian Church with an address delivered by Tim Keller. May 2011 saw the first class of Redeemer graduates.
In October 2016 Redeemer’s Board of Trustees reached an agreement with Reformed Theological Seminary to cease operations at the end of 2016 and transfer assets and students to RTS and become RTS – Dallas.
Like Nothing Else
What made Redeemer unique is much harder to synthesize. The introduction to their core values said this:
Redeemer Seminary is a learning community dedicated to supporting the church in preparing disciples of Jesus Christ for ordained and non-ordained gospel ministry, through study of his Word, formation into his likeness, and training in his church’s mission to the world, all to the glory of God.
In simple terms: at Redeemer, you were expected to wrestle with God until you learned more about him and became more like him – even if that often expressed itself as a fight with yourself or someone else.
Here are a few quotes from Redeemer alumni:
- It’s where I had my first beer. It’s where I found Jesus.
- We went 2 hours over at our last Biblical Canon class as people asked question after question, trying to make sense of all the issues. As the professor walked out, someone yelled, “But how do we fix all these questions?” Dr. **** came back in with a smile and said, “You don’t. Being a Christian is a bitch.”
The following pages are an incomplete compendium of resources and reading lists pulled together by Redeemer students. Please email me if you have a resource, syllabus, or quote about Redeemer that you’d like to add.