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About Westminster
Our History
Building on a rich legacy of faithfulness.
The story of Westminster began with a bold act of vision. This continues to be our spirit today.
The actions and convictions of our founding faculty laid the bedrock on which Westminster has been built. Even today, their legacy continues to be evident in who we are—from the structure of our curriculum to the distinctives that define us.
Over 90 years ago, our founders faced a choice: to stay in place or to boldly go.
The founding of Westminster began in 1929 when J. Gresham Machen—who had spent 23 years as an esteemed scholar at Princeton Theological Seminary—resigned from his Princeton post. Princeton was the preeminent Reformed seminary of the day, but liberalism had been gaining a foothold there.
Machen—and others who soon joined him—felt convicted to oppose theological compromise. Instead, these men chose obedience to the truth of the Bible and centrality of Christ. This came with a cost. Together they sacrificed jobs, status, legacy, and financial security. Machen was even stripped of ministry credentials by his church.
With humble faith in the surpassing power of Christ, Westminster was founded.
Amidst the upheaval of change and uncertainty of the future, these men persevered in faith. Just a month before the Great Crash of 1929, the founders opened the door to Westminster Theological Seminary. It held its first class on the first floor of someone’s home in Philadelphia. The school had few resources, no land, and no name recognition. It had every worldly reason to fail.
“But to Christ, despite all, we hold.” These words were the culmination of Machen’s first convocation address. He extolled the glories of Christ and the truth of Scripture as the cause of their new school. He reminded them that their pursuit meant going against growing trends in culture and even in seminary education.
The legacy of faithfulness of the founding faculty continues to embolden us.
Machen’s faculty and their successors have equipped generations of incisive scholars and bold preachers throughout the 20th century. The scholarship and teaching of Westminster has heavily shaped Christian leaders in America and abroad.
Today, our expert faculty train students with the insight, conviction, and ingenuity they inherited from our founders. Westminster's distinct, robust teaching method empowers students with exegetically grounded systematic theology, biblical counseling, presuppositional apologetics, redemptive-historical hermeneutics, Christ-centered preaching, and extensive historical theology.
Global impact
By God’s grace, our humble beginnings have resulted in great impact.
4,000+
ALUMNI SERVE CHURCHES IN OVER 50 COUNTRIES
300+
ALUMNI TEACH AS PROFESSORS AROUND THE WORLD
60+
ALUMNI HAVE FOUNDED AND LED SCHOOLS AND SEMINARIES
500+
BOOKS HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED BY WESTMINSTER FACULTY
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