What are the Largest Anglican Seminaries?

Last week I examined data from the Association of Theological Schools to determine the largest seminaries in the 2023-24 academic year. Readers have asked that I further examine seminaries within the Anglican tradition.

Anglican Church in North America Recognized Seminaries

Three Anglican seminaries prepare students for ministry in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA): Trinity Anglican Seminary (formerly Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry), Nashotah House, and Reformed Episcopal Seminary. The tables below show them ranked by Headcount (HC) and Full-Time Equivalent Enrollment (FTE).

Four evangelical seminaries offer Anglican studies tracks approved by the ACNA: Asbury Theological Seminary, Beeson Divinity School, Regent College, and Gordon-Conwell. United Methodist-affiliated Duke Divinity School has an Anglican Episcopal House of Studies educating students for ministry in both the Episcopal Church and the ACNA.

Several additional evangelical seminaries offer Anglican studies, among them Reformed Theological Seminary. The ACNA evaluates these in order to determine which will be approved as recognized programs.

As noted in my prior coverage, Asbury is – by far – the largest of these institutions when ranked by enrollment. Gordon-Conwell is also among the ten largest seminaries in North America. While the Association of Theological Schools doesn’t track data about student denominational affiliation, I’ve written each of the above schools to inquire about participation in an Anglican track, pathway, or house of studies. Beeson reports 12 participants in 2023-2024, Regent College reports four, and Duke Divinity reports 60 (up to 74 in 2024-25).

More broadly, in 2023-2024, Anglican was the fifth most represented denomination at Asbury with 64 total students self-reporting as “Anglican” (note that this is basically comparing apples-to-oranges with the three schools above, since this isn’t enrollment in a formal track). Gordon-Conwell officials tell me that the number of students who identify as Anglican at GCTS is 90+ for all degrees/campuses/programs (students don’t enroll in the Anglican Formation Program per se, but come under its umbrella as they choose depending upon what campus/degree they may be a part of). GCTS Dean of Anglican Formation David A. Currie notes that for the past few years Anglican has consistently been the fifth largest denominational grouping at GCTS, behind non-denominational, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Pentecostal.

*Yale Divinity School is a graduate professional school of Yale University with roots in the Congregational tradition. Since 1971 it has functioned as the degree-granting institution for Berkeley, which reports 45 students pursuing certificates or diplomas in Anglican studies.

A Changing Landscape

Eight seminaries, including Nashotah House, are recognized to prepare seminarians for ministry within the Episcopal Church. This follows a season of contraction in which several institutions merged. Four continue to offer residential programs: Virginia Theological Seminary (the largest of the eight), Seminary of the Southwest, The University of the South School of Theology (commonly known as Sewanee) and Nashotah.

Hybrid programs are offered by Church Divinity School of the Pacific, General Theological Seminary and Bexley Seabury. GTS exists as a separate institution under shared governance with VTS. Berkeley Divinity School is accredited by ATS but does not itself grant degrees and operates as an Anglican studies house within Yale Divinity School. I’ve listed both Yale and Berkeley above with an asterisk.

A ninth institution, Episcopal Divinity School, effectively functions as a continuing education program. It relied upon a 2017 affiliation with Union Theological Seminary to grant degrees. The conclusion of that agreement dissolved the relationship between the two institutions. EDS, which formed in 1974 with the merger of Philadelphia Divinity School and Episcopal Theological School, is no longer accredited or degree-granting.

Higher education within the Episcopal Church has significantly shifted in recent years, due partly to the decline of Mainline Protestantism, and partly to an overall contraction in American institutions of higher education. Once the flagship seminary of the Episcopal Church, General has functionally, but not legally, receded into a division of the larger VTS. Church Divinity School of the Pacific was acquired in 2019 by the ultra-wealthy endowed parish of Trinity Wall Street and has, as noted above, concluded its residential program.

VTS, the largest independent institution forming students for ministry within the Episcopal Church, has effectively become the denomination’s flagship seminary. The historically Low Church institution has shifted into the Broad Church space mostly vacated by General. 

Bexley Seabury is the product of numerous mergers: Seabury Divinity School and Western Theological Seminary merged in 1933 into Seabury-Western, then federated with the liberal High Church school of Bexley Hall in 2013. All properties of the predecessor institutions have been sold and the school meets on the campus of the ecumenical Chicago Theological Seminary.