Cincinnati Bible Institute started
on Oct. 1, 1923, and McGarvey Bible College in Louisville, Ky., opened a day
later.
In less than a year, the two
colleges merged, as reported in the March 22, 1924, issue of Christian
Standard. The institution’s new name became Cincinnati Bible Seminary.
“The new seminary,” the editor
wrote, “will embody all the virtues of each of the merging institutions, and,
as each was the complement of the other, it will become one of the most ideal
schools of learning that the cause of restoration of primitive Christianity has
ever produced.”
Many will agree those words were prophetic. And that is a major reason the announcement this week that Cincinnati Christian University (same institution, different name) will close in a few weeks after 95 years of operation is terribly sad for so many. (Click on these links to read our news story about the school’s impending closure, plus a personal column by editor Michael Mack, a CCU alum, about “responding wisely” to the announcement.)
Throughout the spring and into
the summer of 1924, there was a campaign to raise $100,000 for the seminary “to
conserve [the many] wonderful fruits of a year’s operation and to guarantee the
larger program of Cincinnati Bible Seminary.”
A few weeks before the opening
of the “combined” seminary, Christian Standard reported the following
major news story on its front page.
_ _ _
Cincinnati Bible Seminary
Purchases Campus and Dormitories
Sept. 6, 1924; p. 1
A great host of contributors
and friends will rejoice at the announcement that the Cincinnati Bible Seminary
has secured a permanent location and will open September 22 in its own
buildings.
Since the merger of the
Cincinnati Bible Institute, of Cincinnati, with the McGarvey Bible College, of
Louisville, Ky., a canvass for friends has been in progress for the newly
organized institution.
Over two thousand brethren
have responded to the appeal, and every day brings new evidence of increasing
and broadening interest in Cincinnati Bible Seminary. While the brethren have
very largely underwritten the salaries of the professors and made possible
loans and scholarships to students, they have not been correspondingly liberal
in providing funds for building and equipment.
Up until August 20 the
location of the seminary has been in doubt. The quarters leased last year by Cincinnati
Bible Institute at 425-429 West Eighth Street had proved unsatisfactory in
location and arrangement. Cincinnati has had an unusual shortage of available
institutional property, and, in spite of appeals to civic bodies and real-estate
concerns, no suitable location could be found. Then, through a providential
chain of circumstances, a residence property on Price Hill, the largest and
most populous suburb in the city, was offered the Seminary at a very reasonable
figure. The deal for this property has been closed, and Cincinnati Bible
Seminary will be permanently located at Grand, Chateau, Summit and Maryland Avenues,
Price Hill. There are two large residences on the grounds—one containing twenty
rooms and the other thirteen—which will be used for dormitory and classroom
purposes. An assembly-hall has been provided within a block or two of the
buildings. In addition to the acre of ground in the plot purchased by the
Clarke Fund, an option has been secured on an acre and one-half, where additional
new and adequate buildings can be constructed. The properties are within twenty
minutes of the business center of Cincinnati, and yet enjoy all the light, air
and beauty of the hilltop suburbs. It is interesting to note that a portion of
one of the properties secured was at one time willed to the U. C. M. S. [United
Christian Missionary Society] for an old people’s home, but failed to be
conveyed to that organization on account of a technicality in the State laws.
While the buildings will not be ideal, they will serve the immediate needs of
the Seminary. Plans will be laid later for the erection of a modern educational
plant.
Brethren who read this are
urged to send their contributions to increase the equity of the Clarke Fund in
the property. Without the handicap of a mortgage the Seminary would be able to
make rapid headway toward the realization of its plans for the future.
More than seventy actual
advance registrations from a score of States, Mexico and Canada were in the
hands of the registrar August 20. New names are being added daily, and the
opening day is a month away. Conservative estimates by observers of the past year’s
work point toward a registration list double that of 1923-24.
Thus one of the most promising
ventures in a loyal brotherhood goes to victory.
L. G. T.
_ _ _
Finally, here is an editorial published
just a few weeks after the first classes were held at Cincinnati Bible Seminary.
_ _ _
Cincinnati Bible Seminary
Oct. 11, 1924; p. 10
An Editorial
In our news columns this week
is a modest account of a meeting which will take rank among the great historic
events of the Restoration movement—the first convocation service of Cincinnati
Bible Seminary. The assembly was held in old Richmond Street Church, and was
presided over by Ralph L. Records, dean of the seminary, Ira M. Boswell, of Georgetown,
Ky., preaching the convocation sermon.
The college is delightfully situated
in spacious, shaded grounds on one of Cincinnati’s beautiful hilltops, here at
the national gateway between the North and the South, the East and the West.
From all parts of our common country young men and women have poured in for the
opening session, forming a student body of exceptionally high standard.
The mere naming of the Faculty
is sufficient to guarantee thoroughness and soundness of instruction. It is not
necessary for any one to bring out his surveying instruments in order to locate
Ralph L. Records, Henry F. Lutz, Rupert C. Foster, W. C. Sayrs, Robert E.
Elmore, Edwin W. Thornton, James DeForest Murch, Traverce Harrison, Edwin R.
Errett, Florence Waterman, Henrietta Heron, and Lee G. Tomlinson. The
institution stands for Christian scholarship, and is confessedly against
so-called “modernism,” which, in its essence and fruits, is neither Christian
nor scholarly. Parents who desire the Christian faith of their sons and
daughters preserved and enriched, and young people seeking to prepare themselves
for effective Christian service, will find their hopes fulfilled in Cincinnati
Bible Seminary.
The hour had struck for such a
school as this. We are nearing the centenary of that historic occasion when the
pioneers, pleading for the return to primitive Christianity, united their forces
in what has come to be known as the Restoration movement. The last quarter of a
century has witnessed the dead halt of this movement, the allurement of its
ministry and the corruption of its ideals and principles. As we approach the
new century, we need a new birth of loyalty and enthusiasm. This revival must
come through a newborn ministry, a ministry acquainted with the New Testament
plea, and committed with all their heart to its faithful propagation.
Cincinnati Bible Seminary has
come into the kingdom for such a time as this. Its sole aim is the creation of
a select race of preachers who will rise above the deadly denominational
average, and start again the Restoration plea upon its march of victory. The
school desires as its patrons those who share its faith, and who are committed
to its holy aims. We welcome it as a reinforcement to the very small company of
Bible colleges which are actually producing preachers of the gospel.
_ _ _
—Jim
Nieman, managing editor, Christian
Standard
“Cincinnati Bible Seminary has come into the kingdom for such a time as this. Its sole aim is the creation of a select race of preachers who will rise above the deadly denominational average, and start again the Restoration plea upon its march of victory. The school desires as its patrons those who share its faith, and who are committed to its holy aims. We welcome it as a reinforcement to the very small company of Bible colleges which are actually producing preachers of the gospel.” I love this last paragraph in the editorial from Oct. 11, 1924. My own father was a 1940 graduate and one of that “select race of preachers.” May God raise up more to preach His Word today!