Near East School of Theology

Near East School of Theology

Building.
Type	Theological seminary
Established	1932 (1932)
Religious affiliation	Interdenominational Protestant
Academic staff	9
Students	40
Location	Beirut, Lebanon

The Near East School of Theology (NEST), located in Beirut, Lebanon, is an interdenominational Protestant theological seminary serving the Evangelical churches of the Middle East and North African churches, and is once again able to accommodate international students who have a special interest in Biblical and Islamic studies in a Middle Eastern context or those especially interested in the Ancient churches.

The Near East School of Theology, formed in 1932 by the merger of the School for Religious Workers in Beirut and the School of Religion in Athens, is built upon a history of evangelical theological education in the Near East which goes back to 1835. In that year, Rev. William Thompson, later the author of The Land and the Book, founded in Beirut the first Protestant Seminary in the area. In 1843 the Seminary moved to Abey, in the mountain not far south of Beirut, under the leadership of Dr. Cornelius Van Dyck, translator of the Bible into Arabic. It offered classes in both theology and general education.

Out of the Abey Seminary grew, in 1866, the Syrian Protestant College, now the American University of Beirut . With the founding of the College, it was decided that the seminary pursue only theological studies, while the College be responsible for general studies. The Seminary had several locations in the subsequent years and, in 1905, moved back to Beirut .

In 1912, under Principal F. E. Hoskins, Colton Hall – a gift of Mr. Milton Colton of Jenkintown, Pennsylvania – was constructed on a piece of land near the center of the city and became the home of the N.E.S.T. until 1971.

In the meantime, as early as 1839, theological education was being offered in the area which is now Turkey, under the leadership of the Rev. Cyrus Hamlin, of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in Bebek and later in Marzifoon, Marash and Harput. However, because of the events which befell the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire during World War I, these seminaries were closed and consolidated in the establishment of the School of Religion in Istanbul, with the Rev. Fred Goodsell as President. After the catastrophe of Izmir in 1922, the Armenian and Greek students of the School, together with Professor Loutfi Levonian, moved to Athens . In 1925, the Istanbul branch of the School was closed and the institutions were combined in the School of Religion in Athens .