The Master's Seminary
For The Master's College, see: The Master's College
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Motto |
Every Word Inspired Every Word Preached We Train Men Because Lives Depend on It |
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Type | Theological Seminary |
Established | 1986 |
President | John F. MacArthur |
Dean | Irvin A. Busenitz |
Academic staff | 17 |
Students | 385 |
Location | Sun Valley, CA, USA |
Campus | Urban (Los Angeles) |
Affiliations | Grace Community Church |
Website | www.tms.edu |
The Master's Seminary (TMS), the graduate seminary division of The Master’s College and Seminary (TMCS), is located on the campus of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California.
History
The Master's Seminary opened its doors in fall 1986 under the leadership of John F. MacArthur, known worldwide as a master Bible expositor, church leader, and author. The seminary launched its inaugural year with 95 students and four full-time faculty members. Since then, the faculty and administration has expanded to 17 full-time members. At the same time, the student population has increased from 95 to almost 400.
During this period of steady growth, the seminary has maintained a singular commitment to its core purpose of training men and trainers of men for a ministry in biblical exposition and pastoral work. Over 1300 graduates now minister on six continents, with approximately 85% ministering in a full-time capacity and one-eighth of those serving overseas. Since the beginning of the seminary in 1986, the library has grown from a church library of just 7,000 volumes, to a major biblical and theological studies collection of over 350,000 volumes. Additionally, access to a wide breadth of online databases allows for researching almost two million other full-text resources. In March 1998, the seminary completed construction of its own facility on the church campus. The 32,000 square foot building houses the seminary administrative and faculty offices, library, studio facilities, and smaller class and seminar rooms.
The Master's Seminary first received WASC accreditation in 1988 and in 2009 received an eight-year reaccreditation. The seminary is organized around four degree programs: Master of Divinity, Master of Theology (added in 1992), Doctor of Theology (added in 2000), and Doctor of Ministry in Expository Preaching (added in 2004). The last three programs were added after a process of substantive change and subsequent WASC approval.
The Master’s College (TMC) began as Los Angeles Baptist Theological Seminary in 1927. In 1959, the campus relocated to Newhall, CA. In the 1950s, an undergraduate program was developed. During the process of acquiring accreditation from WASC in the early 1970s, it was decided that the original seminary would separate and relocate (becoming Northwest Baptist Seminary in Tacoma, WA). The college remained and became Los Angeles Baptist College. After Dr. John MacArthur became president of the college in 1985, the name of the school was changed to The Master’s College. The central college campus remains in Newhall (now incorporated as the city of Santa Clarita), while TMS has been located on the church campus from its beginning.'"[1]
Doctrine
Theologically, The Master's Seminary is conservative and evangelical, affirming biblical inerrancy, a Reformed view of soteriology, and a Dispensational, premillennial position in eschatology. They have an extremely thorough doctrinal statement, which covers all aspects of their beliefs in a systematic fashion. All members of the Board of Directors, Seminary Administration, and Faculty must annually sign a statement affirming complete agreement with the doctrinal statement. The belief system is incorporated in the instructional tenents of their programs, emphasizing intense study of the Biblical languages in preparation for expository preaching.[2]
The Master's Seminary Library
The seminary library began in 1986 with 7,000 volumes. The collection been built into a major biblical and theological studies collection of over 350,000 volumes. The library collection is available online through the Voyager and Primo Systems of Ex Libris. The library provides access to a wide variety of research databases including ATLA, Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG), Early American Imprints, Ad Fontes LIbrary of Classic Protestant Texts, and others.
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The collection also has a room dedicated to the History of the English Bible and has examples of the Bibles in English from the era of 1523 to 1611. The collection includes a 1611 King James Bible the so-called "He Bible", several editions of the Geneva Bible, along with originals and facsimiles of The Wycliffe Bible (1382), the Tyndale Bible (1523), the Coverdale Bible (1535), Matthew's Bible (1537), the Great Bible (1539), and the Bishops' Bible (1568). Recently a 17th Century Torah Scroll was donated to the seminary and will be on display in the library in the near future.
![](../I/m/Bible_CollectionB.jpg)
The Master's Seminary Journal
Begun in 1990, The Master's Seminary Journal (ISSN 1066-3959) is a publication of the faculty of The Master's Seminary. It is published semi-annually and contains articles dealing with the Biblical text, theology, and issues related to pastoral ministry. It also contains reviews of current books and significant articles relating to these issues.[3]
The Master's Seminary Journal (MSJ) is indexed and abstracted in all of the leading research tools including: Elenchus Bibliographicus Biblicus of Biblica, Christian Periodical Index, Guide to Social Science & Religion in Periodical Literature, New Testament Abstracts, Old Testament Abstracts. It is also indexed in the ATLA (American Theological Library Association) Religion Database and it is also included in the full-text ATLASerials.
An annual lecture series by the seminary faculty, "The Richard L. Mayhue Lecture Series" (named in honor of the former dean) is presented in chapel services in the spring and then published with full research documentation in the fall issue of the journal. Those series have included:[4]
- 1998: Hell: Never, Forever, or Just for Awhile?
- 1999: The Biblical Covenants
- 2000: Major Ethical Issues Facing the Church
- 2001: The Openness of God Controversy
- 2002: The Pretribulational Rapture
- 2003: Cessationism
- 2004: Authority and Sufficiency of Scripture
- 2005: The New Perspective on Paul
- 2006: The Emerging Church Movement
- 2007: An Examination of New Covenant Theology
- 2008: The Truth About Homosexuality
- 2009: The Doctrine of Penal Substitution
- 2010: Biblical Sanctification
- 2011: Christ's Church
- 2012: The Kingdom of God
- 2013: Trinitarianism
- 2014: Strange Fire Redux
- 2015: Great Passages of the Bible
Distinguished Scholars Lecture Series
Since 1990 the seminary has hosted their Distinguished Scholars Lecture Series, a course taught by a visiting professor noted for expertise in a particular field of biblical or theological studies.
- 1990 S. Lewis Johnson Jr., "Use of the Old Testament in the New Testament"
- 1991 Homer A. Kent, "Exposition of Acts"
- 1992 Robert L. Saucy, "Dispensational Theology"
- 1993 Kenneth L. Barker, "Scope of OT Theology as Fulfilled in Christ's First and Second Advents"
- 1994 John A. Sproule, "Exposition of Hebrews"
- 1995 John D. Woodbridge, "History of Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism"
- 1996 Stanley D. Tousaint, "Exposition of Galatians"
- 1997 Walter C. Kaiser Jr., "Old Testament Ethics"
- 1998 George W. Knight III, "Studies in the Pastoral Epistles"
- 1999 John Feinberg, "Continuity and Discontinuity Between the Testaments
- 2000 Thomas R. Edgar, "Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Acts and First Corinthians"
- 2001 Eugene H. Merrill, "Theology of the Pentateuch"
- 2002 Harold Hoehner, "Exposition of Ephesians"
- 2003 Wayne Grudem, "Biblical Manhood and Womanhood"
- 2004 Steven J. Lawson, "Preaching from the Psalms"
- 2005 R. Kent Hughes, "Paul's Concept of Ministry in Second Corinthians"
- 2006 Ralph Alexander, "Exposition of Ezekiel"
- 2007 John D. Hannah, "Life of Jonathan Edwards"
- 2008 Douglas J. Moo, "Exposition of James"
- 2009 Daniel I. Block, "Worship in the Old Testament"
- 2010 Bruce A. Ware, "Universal Reign of the Triune God"
- 2011 Charlie Dyer, "Exposition of Jeremiah and Lamentations"
- 2012 John Feinberg, "Issues in Christian Ethics"
- 2013 Robert Yarborough, "Exposition of John Epistles"
- 2014 Duane Garrett, "Exposition of Job"
- 2015 Larry D. Pettegrew, "Contemporary Evangelicalism" (forthcoming)
Notable Faculty
Notable alumni
- Francis Chan, author and former pastor
Related Ministries
References
External links
- Official website
- The Master's Seminary on Facebook
- The Master's Seminary Library on Facebook
- The Doctrinal Statement of The Master's Seminary
- The Master's Seminary Journal
Coordinates: 34°13′14″N 118°25′17″W / 34.22056°N 118.42139°W