School of Prophets

In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School's beginnings--with thirteen men and thirteen dollars--this significant work unfolds the organizational history of a great theological seminary, as well as the dramatic story of the notable women and men who contributed to the school's rich legacy. Hence, while this is a bicentennial history of an institution, it is fundamentally the history of the people who have epitomized, shaped, and advanced its expanding heritage. Thus, the narrative includes chapters about institutional growth and development, as well as chapters that serve as cameo biographies of key people who exemplified the spirit of that same period: William Newton ClarkWalter RauschenbuschHoward ThurmanJoanna P. MooreMartin Luther King Jr.In the final analysis, founding president Augustus Strong was correct to call this a story of "bricks, brains, and books," but in the larger sense it is an account of the galvanizing prophetic Christian vision evolved from its American Baptist roots to the ecumenical enterprise known as Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School.