Hananiah, as we are told in the book of Nehemiah, was a faithful man and feared God above many. His name means “the Lord’s grace.” One commentator notes that Hananiah’s faithfulness stood the test of time, and he served the Lord many years.

Dr. Richard Holdeman, president of the seminary board, recalls Hananiah as a type of leader that has influenced his ministry. As we take in the seminary’s rich 200-year history, we can give thanks for the Hananiahs the Lord graciously has given that the seminary might be faithful in bearing fruit to His glory.

Not until 1940 was the head of the seminary referred to as “president.” Until then, one principal professor and a board of superintendents (representing each presbytery) governed the seminary. Significantly and importantly, always the professors were Reformed Presbyterian pastors; always the superintendents were Reformed Presbyterian pastors or elders.

Of the committee appointed in 1807 to determine whether to form a theological seminary—comprised of Rev. William Gibson, Rev. Alexander McLeod, and Rev. Samuel Wylie—it was Rev. Wylie who was elected as professor of theology with Rev. Gibson, Rev. McLeod, and Rev. John Black to serve as the first board of superintendents. Here it may be noted, as in other matters of the church, how significantly Dr. McLeod’s gifts contributed in laying a firm foundation and framework for the seminary in drawing up its constitution.

Rev. Wylie was the first Reformed Presbyterian minister ordained in this country in 1800. A thorough scholar who had earned a master of arts at Glasgow, he knew 14 languages and was a prolific writer as well as preacher and teacher of the Scriptures. He also is remembered for his generosity—not only in freely giving, but in his desire to teach without salary from the seminary. His appeal for the church to support the seminary expresses his vision for its purpose: “The Millennium is not to be introduced by ignorant enthusiasm. There must be an able ministry.” His tenure as the professor of theology continued as long as the seminary was located in Philadelphia, from 1810 to 1827.

Not until 1836 did the seminary resume instruction, with Rev. Dr. James Renwick Willson’s appointment as the professor. He studied theology under the venerable Dr. Alexander McLeod and then served pastorates in Albany and Coldenham, N.Y. Like his predecessor and his teacher, he was a gifted scholar, imparting to future ministers of the church both excellence in biblical knowledge and the skill to communicate it. Besides teaching and preaching, he was also a prolific writer. He published a sermon entitled “Against Negro Slavery” in 1803, and produced a most memorable, “-Prince Messiah’s Claim to Dominion over All Governments,” preached before the New York legislature in 1832. Dr.Willson took a prominent role in setting forth the reasons that slavery was abhorrent.

Academically, he emphasized the significance of learning the Hebrew Scriptures, even creating a Hebrew grammar. He labored exhaustively, estimating in the spring of 1847 that 22-1/2 hours each week were given to devotional exercises and classes with about 70 hours each week being spent in study by both him and the students. Later, in failing health, he continued to press in his duty, writing notes on 10 verses of the Hebrew Bible daily, lecturing or hearing recitations 15 hours per week, and spending 4 -5 hours each day in personal prayer.

Decades after his death, Dr. Willson was recalled by another minister as “the most powerful preacher the Covenanter Church in America ever produced, and in intellectual grasp, classical scholarship and pulpit eloquence, ranked among the first preachers of the country.” But perhaps most poignant is his faithfulness as remembered by his son: “His most marked trait was unwavering fidelity and integrity. He knew nothing of calculating expediency. Duty, right, faithfulness—these were his mottoes. He was incapable of artifice or intrigue.”

Three years after J.R. Willson’s death in 1853, James Chrystie, 70 years of age, was chosen as principal professor. Two years later J.R. Willson’s son, James McLeod Willson, succeeded him. J.M. Willson, who had been editor of The Covenanter, is remembered as a faithful and kind pastor. After only seven years as the seminary professor, the second Dr. Willson was taken in death.

In 1868, James Renwick Willson Sloane was appointed professor of the seminary. Dr. A.A. Hodge of Princeton University, who was a friend and pastoral colleague, described Sloane. “I judge him to have been, in the whole circle of his powers and aptitudes, one of the strongest men I have ever known….As a preacher, he was one of the foremost among all the churches. As a teacher practiced in the whole circle of the theological sciences, he had no superior, and few equals. As a church leader, he had no equal anywhere.”

When Dr. Sloane died in 1887, he was succeeded by John K. McClurkin, who resigned in 1891 to accept a pastorate in the United Presbyterian Church. Robert James George, who had twice declined the position after Sloane’s death, now accepted and continued to teach and guide the seminary until 1911. During this period, as the seminary moved toward being an established institution, the faculty was comprised of two and sometimes three professors. These notably included David B. Willson, the grandson of James Renwick Willson, who had served as a medical doctor in the Civil War and had also studied law. Willson and Rev. Richard Cameron Wylie carried the responsibility of the seminary’s headship for five years after Dr. George’s death.

In 1916, the well-known Dr. Robert James George McKnight was chosen to lead the academic affairs of the seminary. A brilliant scholar, who studied at Princeton Seminary, Johns Hopkins, Columbia University, the University of Leipzig and the University of Chicago, he was the first in the faculty’s history to hold an earned doctorate. In his 37 years of service to the seminary, he was a strong influence in preparing RPCNA ministers as well as in other church matters. It was during his stewardship that the leadership post took on the title of president, first as president of the faculty in 1931, and then as president of the seminary in 1940.

S. Bruce Willson, a great-grandnephew of James R. Willson, was formally named president of the seminary in May 1953. The son of missionaries and well-schooled, he, like his predecessors, had served in the pastorate. He also had served on the board of superintendents of the seminary, where it had been recognized that he had vision for what the seminary could become in the service of the church. Among the many advances realized during Dr. Willson’s tenure were a comprehensive revision of the curriculum with increased emphasis on pastoral theology as well as academic standards, the publishing of course schedules and seminary catalog, a field-work practicum for first-year ministerial students, a one-year curriculum for missionary candidates, revision to the seminary constitution to move the institution toward accreditation so that the seminary’s and church’s witness might be enhanced, renovation of the Seminary building to facilitate instruction and study, and expansion of the library and appointment of first professional librarian.

A milestone of S.B. Willson’s presidency was accreditation in 1971 to grant the master of divinity (M.Div.) degree. Among the favorable aspects of the seminary cited in the review were “excellent facilities, a spirit of rapport and friendliness, strength in the curriculum, the achievement record of graduates, sound financial management, the Seminary’s loyal support of the denomination since 1810, and the denomination’s strong support for the Seminary.”

In 1976, Bruce Cameron Stewart, professor of pastoral theology from 1973, was elected seminary president and served the Lord and His Church in that office until 1995. During Dr. Stewart’s leadership, the seminary continued to emphasize the Reformed Presbyterian distinctives both in instruction and practice, but also expanded its ministry to the broader church. Seminary enrollment increased as the doors were opened to those outside the RPCNA, with ministerial students coming from as many as 20 other denominations, and evening and extension courses made available. Also, expansion and upgrade of the seminary library continued. But perhaps Dr. Stewart’s successor recalled the richest portion of Dr. Stewart’s faithful service, remembering “his gracious spirit, his encouraging words, his diligent and efficient work ethic, his lending of a helpful hand to those in need, and his positive attitude.”

“In reliance upon the grace of our sovereign God,” Dr. Jerry F. O’Neill accepted the call of Synod in 1995 to become the president of RPTS, where he continues in that role. While the Lord has been pleased to prosper the seminary in significant ways, both in terms of increased student enrollment and expansion of ministries under Dr. O’Neill’s stewardship, He has also heard the most poignant plea of a true shepherd—to keep His people faithful to Him and to His Word.

Thinking of the mission to train undershepherds at RPTS, Dr. O’Neill describes the characteristics of a true shepherd as he had witnessed such qualities in the life of his own father, a farmer in Winchester, Kan. Dr. O’Neill recalled that the cattle, like sheep with their shepherd, knew his father, and knew his voice. They knew him and trusted him. Conversely, his father (unlike others) knew them, each individually and not simply one of the many. Beyond this knowing, Dr. O’Neill observed how his father tenderly fed and watched over and protected from exposure those placed in his care, even as God cares for His people. Also enduring were the images of his father not driving the cattle but rather leading them, and of their following him—simply because they had learned to trust his father.

In His covenantal love and faithfulness, the Lord has given Hananiahs, true shepherds, to instruct and lead RPTS students in His Word and in His ways. What blessing has flowed to generations because of the Lord’s gracious gift of these diligent and faithful pastors. They have truly been examples of the great Shepherd. May the Lord continue to do so until that day when the chief Shepherd appears.

—Beverly Simpson

Beverly Simpson is a part-time student in the master of theological studies program at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary (RPTS) in Pittsburgh, Pa.