United Lutheran Seminary

General information

Welcome to The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. For those who do not yet know us, we often resort to locating ourselves as "the school across from the Wawa (one of the neatest and most popular 24 hour delis and small grocery stores in the region, by the way) - the one on Germantown Avenue at Allens Lane."

Say that in and around the city of Philadelphia and you will see heads bob in recognition. Sometimes we have wondered whether or not we should just make it our tagline. The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia: We're the place across from the Wawa! But for those of you who don't live in the area, it begs the questions, "What is a Wawa? And do I really want to go to school across from one?"

Of course, we will not use this as a tag line, but in interesting ways, it is a helpful description for us. Why? We are a seminary of the church committed to training leaders to do public theology. Translation? We are the church committed to living out the gospel in the world. Though our campus is surrounded by lovely historic stone walls, we move beyond them theologically, metaphorically and quite literally. We move into the community of Mt. Airy, into the city of Philadelphia, into the world. We feed hungry people. We work for change in our local community. Side by side with sisters and brothers of 28 different denominations, we advocate for the least, the lost, and the broken, wherever we find them, believing that this is the common work to which God has called us as the body of Christ. And we teach our students to do the same. At the hands of a diverse, world-class faculty and through a curriculum that is masterful in its balance of academic learning and experience in ministry, our students are prepared to be the church in the world - teaching, preaching, leading, ministering, caring, serving, praying. They are prepared to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ in word and deed to a world hungering to hear. They are prepared to be "Of the Spirit + In the world." Which, by the way, is what we settled on for a tag line. The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia: Of the Spirit + In the World.

Won't you come join us? We're just across the street from the Wawa.

The Rev. Dr. Philip D. W. Krey