Episcopal Theological School (ETS)

Predecessor to Episcopal Divinity School. The school was founded at Cambridge, Massachusetts, by a group of prominent Boston businessmen in 1867 to be a place of preparation for holy orders and an Episcopal presence at Harvard University. It provided a place of worship for Episcopal undergraduates. All Harvard undergraduates were required to attend Sunday worship in either the Harvard Chapel or their church of choice. The board of trustees was limited to lay persons. The faculty were required to assert belief in justification by faith upon assuming their teaching duties. It was the first Episcopal theological seminary to welcome modern biblical scholarship. It was also the first Episcopal seminary to introduce into the curriculum courses in sociology taught by a professor of sociology, the first Episcopal seminary to establish a chair in the history of religion and mission, and the first Episcopal seminary to appoint a woman to a full-time faculty position (Professor Adelaide Teague Case in 1941). ETS has been associated with controversy at various times. Creeds and Loyalty, a collection of seven faculty essays on the issue of creedal literalism, was published in 1924. Professor Joseph Fletcher's exposition of situation ethics in the 1960s was also controversial. In 1974 the school merged with the Philadelphia Divinity School (1857) to form Episcopal Divinity School (EDS), Cambridge. See Case, Adelaide Teague; see Situation Ethics; see Fletcher, Joseph Francis.