History
Dr. Frank Laubach of the
American Board Mission in Mindanao was the man responsible for what
is now SUDS. In 1918, Laubach proposed to the Presbyterian Mission a
joint congregationalist-Presbyterian training school for Visayan-Speaking
Candidates for the ministry, to be attached to Silliman Institute (Silliman
University's former name) in Dumaguete City.
In June 1921, the Silliman
Bible School was opened. The succeeding years witnessed the gradual
integration of the Bible School and the Institute which became Silliman
University in 1938. In 1935, the school was renamed College of Theology
program and the three- year Deaconess Diploma course. in 1962, when
the college moved to its present campus location, a four-year graduate
Bachelor of Divinity Program and a four-year Double Major Programs were
introduced.
When the first Bachelor
of Divinity class graduated in 1965, it was felt that the name College
of Theology was no longer appropriate for the institution. Thus, in
keeping with the trend in similar school where in the world, the College
of Theology was renamed the Divinity School of Silliman University in
1966. It was on that same year that the Divinity School became a participating
institution in the newly established Southeast Graduate School of Theology
authorizing to start the Masters Degree and the doctorate degree in
Theology. The school's Master of Divinity Program is universally accepted
as the standard theological training program for the Protestant Ministry.
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