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Link to the photo gallery
Starr King School for the Ministry educates people
for Unitarian Universalist ministry and progressive
religious leadership.
Theological education at Starr King inspires and empowers
religious leaders through:
- student-centered, participatory learning,
- excellence and depth in religious studies,
- understanding and stewardship of our Unitarian Universalist
heritage,
- service with congregations, communities and Unitarian,
Universalist organizations,
- active participation in the ecumenical and interfaith
Graduate Theological Union,
- engagement with the critical issues of our time
- deepened self-awareness,
- knowing we teach by who we are and what we do,
- loving God, others and self.
We accomplish this mission through:
- advising each student in shaping an individually
designed program of studies,
- teaching through classroom lectures, seminars and
guided reading,
- educating to counter oppressions and create just community,
- using extensive library resources,
- praying in common, within various worship services
that are planned and celebrated together,
- offering services for counseling referrals and spiritual
direction,
- supervising placements in ministry and community
settings, with accompanying theological reflection,
- supporting our faculty’s scholarly and professional
development as well as research and publications,
- offering tutorials and independent studies.
Starr King School opened its doors in 1904 as the Pacific
Unitarian School for the Ministry and was incorporated
in 1906 as "an institution for educating students
for the Christian ministry, and especially for that
of the Unitarian churches."
The school’s founders had identified the need for a
liberal theological school in the West, one suited,
said a prospectus, to the "training of ministers
for their work in the very field in which they are to
serve." They wanted ministers who focused on the
practical realities of church life and had a vision
for serving the common good.
The Pacific Unitarian School for the Ministry held
its first classes at the First Unitarian Church of Oakland
and moved to Berkeley two years later to be near seminaries
and the University of California, where students were
free to take classes. From the beginning, the school
welcomed students from other parts of the world and
other denominations, as well as women.
By 1908, the school had hired a second employee to
serve as Greek instructor, assistant to the dean and
librarian in charge of a 3,600-volume collection. Two
students graduated that year, and the school moved into
a large home on a lot donated by one of the founders.
Rev. Earl Morse Wilbur
The first president, Earl
Morse Wilbur, led the Pacific Unitarian School of
Religion for nearly 30 years, establishing a library
of rare books and educational principles that continue
to guide Starr King School more than a century later.
He wrote, "In all our teaching we strive to keep
in view the practical end; and while we aim always to
cultivate thorough scholarship, yet we mean to ask at
every point, What has all this to do with the actual
work of the ministry?"
Wilbur called for these principles: "First, complete
mental freedom in religion, rather than bondage to creeds
or confessions; second, the unrestricted use of reason
in religion rather than reliance upon external authority
or past tradition; third, generous tolerance of differing
religious views and usages rather than insistence upon
uniformity in doctrine, worship or polity."
New Name, New Location
William S. Morgan succeeded Wilbur in 1931. Ten years
later the school changed its name to Starr King School
for the Ministry in honor of Thomas
Starr King, a Unitarian and Universalist minister
who served the San Francisco Unitarian Society during
the Civil War. In 1942, the school moved to its present
location on Le Conte Avenue in Berkeley.
A series of short-term presidents led the school until
1949, when Josiah Bartlett, a young minister from Seattle,
was appointed president and dean of the school. Imaginative
and progressive, Bartlett focused the school’s educational
approach on fieldwork and established individually designed
study programs. Under Bartlett, students began participating
in the governance of the school. A new wing was built
with offices as well as a classroom, chapel and library.
In 1964, the school joined the new Graduate
Theological Union.
The Kimball Years
Dr. Robert Kimball, the school’s next president, launched
the school on a period of creative growth. He recruited
new faculty, established an endowment, secured accreditation
from the Association of Theological Schools, held innovative
summer schools, started the all-school meeting tradition
and increased participation in the GTU. He also expanded
the student body from 25 to 50 students.
During Kimball’s 14-year leadership, women increased
their presence at Starr King, transforming what had
become an all-male student body and faculty. In 1981,
the school established the Aurelia Henry Reinhardt Professorship
to ensure a feminist perspective on the faculty and
appointed Dr.
Clare Benedicks Fischer to fill the position.
Parker Becomes President
In 1983, the Rev. Gordon McKeeman, a Universalist minister,
took the school’s helm, signing on for a five-year commitment.
Professor Til Evans then served as acting president
until the Rev.
Dr. Rebecca Ann Parker, a parish minister from the
Pacific Northwest, arrived to lead the school in 1990.
(Click
for a full listing of the school leadership since 1904.)
Under Parker’s presidency, the school has grown to
87 students, five core faculty, 16 associate faculty,
two visiting ministers, a research professor and a visiting
scholar (2005-2006 academic year). Starr King has also
expanded its educational offerings and moved towards
a more racially and culturally diverse faculty, staff
and student body. It has increased its engagement with
Unitarian Universalist congregations; expanded the study
of Unitarian Universalist history; created new programs
in scholarship, continuing education for ministers and
lay theological education; broadened its donor base;
renovated its building and incorporated new educational
technologies. In addition, the school has made an explicit
commitment to Unitarian Universalist theological education
that is counter oppressive and committed to just and
sustainable community.
Over its more than 100-year history, Starr King has
held fast to its commitment to religion that is both
liberal and liberating. At the school’s heart is a passion
for transformative education and a belief in the possibilities
that lie within human beings.
Click
for a list of honorary degree recipients since 1929.
To purchase a copy of "With Vision and Courage: This History of Starr King School for the Ministry, the First Hundred Years 1904-2004 " by Arliss Ungar, click.
Click to view the complete Starr King catalog in PDF format. |
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