Nashotah House Theological Seminary

Yesterday I was at Nashotah House Theological Seminary near Milwaukee helping with a faculty evaluation. Let me just say that this place is one of theological education's best kept secrets.

[here are some more pictures]

It is an Anglican/Episcopal seminary, quite the opposite in style from Wesley where I am, but our common heritage popped up time and time again. It also reminded me of my days at St. John's College at the University of Durham.

Here's why Nashotah is an incredible place to study for a large number of future ministers:

• It is a cross between a monastic community and a seminary.  All students begin the day together in the Anglo-Catholic chapel with morning prayer and Eucharist and they end the day with evensong together. They break bread together. All MDIV students must live on campus, whether married or single. Faculty do all these things with them all day and the seminary even owns the houses the faculty live in.
• It is a beautiful location in Wisconsin, full of hills, lakes, and trees.
• It is a safe zone for Anglicans and Episcopals of all kinds. It is Anglo-Catholic in emphasis, but students on both ends of the Episcopal spectrum are safe here. It remains affiliated with the mainstream Episcopal Church and most of its faculty are still in the Episcopal Church.  But Anglicans who have separated from the Episcopal Church will find it the most attractive option to get their education.
• It is a place for the increasing number of evangelicals who are looking for something more than just the cognitive--the student drawn to the sensibilities of the ancient-future movement. There is a clear path right now from Wheaton to Nashota for students who are looking for something affective to add to a heady start.
• They will stay relatively small in their on campus ministry as a matter of ethos in order to maintain the intimate feel.  They have several distance programs (MA, STM, DMIN), but the on campus MDIV is around 50 students. They'd be happy to grow to 100, but wouldn't want to go much more than that on campus.

I'm personally quite interested in creating a runaway for non-traditional Anglicans to start at Wesley Seminary where I am and then either go on to Nashotah after an MA, perhaps transfer in their third year, or go from here to do an STM there (which can be done through a distance program).

Great place!