By walking to the intersection of 120th to 122nd Streets between Claremont Avenue and Broadway, you will find yourself in front of your fifth stop: the Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. Be sure to explore the other institutions in the area, as per our blog post, as Union Theological Seminary and the other higher institutions of learning in the area have come to be famously known as the Academic Acropolis.
In the 20th century, Union was world-renowned as a center of liberal Christianity and neo-orthodoxy, in addition to being the birthplace of the Black Liberation Theology, Womanist Theology and Mujerista Theology movements. Union houses the largest theological library in the Western Hemisphere.
The brick and limestone English Gothic architecture, by Francis R. Allen (1844–1931) and Collins, completed in 1910, includes the tower, which adapts features of the crossing tower of Durham Cathedral. The Seminary is also adjacent to Teachers College, Barnard College, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and the Manhattan School of Music and has cross-registration and library access agreements with several of these schools.
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York is a seminary and a graduate school of theology established in 1836 by founders “deeply impressed by the claims of the world upon the church.” Union prepares women and men for committed lives of service to the church, academy, and society. A Union education develops practices of mind and body that foster intellectual and academic excellence, social justice, and compassionate wisdom. Grounded in the Christian tradition and responsive to the needs of God’s creation, Union’s graduates make a difference wherever they serve.