The Master's Seminary


The Master's Seminary is the graduate seminary division of The Master's University and Seminary and is located on the campus of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California. It is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission.

History

The Master's Seminary was founded in the fall of 1986 under the leadership of John F. MacArthur. In the early 1990s, the seminary experienced substantial growth. 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. The seminary is organized around five degree programs: Master of Divinity, Master of Theology, Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Ministry in Expository Preaching, and a Spanish-language Master of Biblical Ministry. The last four programs were added after a process of substantive change and subsequent WSCUC approval.
The Master's University 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. The college remained and became Los Angeles Baptist College. After 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, while TMS has been located on the church campus from its beginning.

Accreditation

As of July 18, 2018, The Master's University and Seminary was placed under probation by its accrediting institution, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission. The Commission Action Letter identified four main issues needing to be addressed, under the following headings: Board Independence, Personnel and Management Practices, Operational Integrity, and Leadership. The institution remained on probation after a subsequent visit from a WSCUC special visit team in fall 2018. In March 2019, president MacArthur issued a statement explaining that, in his view, WSCUC's primary concern was to see that “the TMUS Board is operating independently by maintaining an orderly transition to inaugurate a new President.” That statement also expressed the institution's intention to "complete all compliance issues fully." In June 2019, Dr. MacArthur retired from serving as the president, and transitioned into the role of chancellor emeritus, in keeping with an announcement made in October 2018.

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 a thorough doctrinal statement, which covers the major aspects of their beliefs in a systematic fashion. The belief system is incorporated in the instructional tenets of their programs, emphasizing intense study of the Biblical languages in preparation for expository preaching. In 2017, the seminary faculty worked with John F. MacArthur and Richard L. Mayhue to produce a volume of systematic theology entitled, Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth.

The Master's Seminary Library

The seminary library began in 1986 with 7,000 volumes. The collection has 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 ], Early American Imprints, Ad Fontes LIbrary of Classic Protestant Texts, and others. The Master's Seminary library was one of the founding libraries of the Southern California Theological Library Association.

''The Master's Seminary Journal''

Begun in 1990, The Master's Seminary Journal 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. The Master's Seminary Journal 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 Religion Database and it is also included in the full-text ATLASerials.

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. Notable lectures include: