ABOUT US

The New Seminary, it’s Directors, Staff and Board welcome you to our community of light, expansion and Sacred Activism. The Seminary is a space where all students can explore their commitment to the Divine as each may know it, and deepen their personal, professional and spiritual integrity and ethics. We are committed to improving, expanding, and deepening the training that each student receives in our two-year and Accelerated Programs, our Spiritual Counseling and Elective Offerings, our special events, as well as our participation in committees at the United Nations as an NGO.

History

The New Seminary is a 501C non-profit organization, incorporated under the guidelines of The Board of Regents of The University of New York on behalf of The New York State Department of Education. We are authorized to confer the title Minister upon our graduates.

Rabbi Joseph H. Gelberman, a passionate pioneer and teacher of the Interfaith approach, started The New Seminary in 1979. Other original founders were Rev. Jon Mundy, a former Methodist minister and college professor, Fr. Giles Spoonhour, a leader in church reform, and The Reverend Sri Swami Satchidananda (Sri Gurudev), (of blessed memory) a revered Yoga Master.

Since then, The New Seminary has maintained it’s reputation as being a leader in education, ordination and the development of Interfaith Ministers. Since Rabbi Gelberman’s retirement in September 1998, we have continued to put forth spiritually based education programs that honor all faiths, which is the tradition of our school.

Today, under the leadership of Rabbi Roger Ross, Executive Director, and Rev. Deborah Steen Ross, Co-Director, The New Seminary provides our students with an experienced faculty and guidance which holds the vision for the continued growth of Interfaith. Through continued training programs and outreach efforts into the community, The New Seminary ordains Ministers who bring the Interfaith perspective into the community to help better relationships among people of diverse backgrounds and beliefs. Over the past thirty years, 2500 Interfaith ministers have been ordained. Our graduates live and work throughout the United States, as well as in Canada,  Australia and parts of Europe.

Mission, Vision & Direction

The New Seminary is committed to the integrity of the individual and the individual’s own spiritual search. We honor all paths leading toward a deepening of one’s relationship with the Eternal Spirit, Divine, God, Goddess, Higher Power, and other paths that lead to a positive rewarding spiritual life. The New Seminary has a long history of preparing graduates to perform a wide range of ministerial functions, including developing and designing worship services, performing various kinds of ceremonies and rites of passage, and offering basic spiritual counseling to those in need.

The New Seminary provides an interactive learning environment for its students, including interpersonal sharing, facilitated growth experiences, and structured self-reflection and development in adult-oriented classroom settings. With a faculty comprised of leaders from many spiritual paths as well as psychological and healing professions, our training program emphasizes both experiential and intellectual learning and understanding. Our students come from a variety of ethnic, religious, spiritual, and occupational backgrounds.

Values/Principles

We believe in creating a safe space for personal inquiry, experiential learning, and diversity.  Upholding the principles of building community, we support an atmosphere of growth in which each can learn and expand in awareness, compassion, sensitivity, skill, and leadership.  We practice “The Golden Rule,” a principle found in all of the world’s religions.

The TNS environment values inquiry, student sharing, and allowing fresh ideas to flourish. For it is in the breadth of ideas, beliefs and reflection that we find depth of meaning and spiritual experience to help us understand ourselves and the mysteries of universe. It is in deep personal spiritual practice that we come to understand ourselves better and to let go of what holds us back and keeps us from moving forward in our lives and ministries.

We believe in community founded on the principles of love, respect, honor and integrity. We work together, as a group and one-to-one. Through classroom work, study, experience, and continuing education, we encourage students to grow in awe, awareness, support and understanding of the variety of  spiritual and religious practice that lead to The Divine.

The New Seminary exists so that we may create a sacred environment for individuals to deepen their spiritual life, open their hearts to the richness of spiritual diversity, and continue a life-long journey of education, expansion, service, and growth. Each person in our community has their own path and work to do,  and we are always looking for opportunities to demonstrate our Interfaith values throughout the world by contributing in ways that serve, heal, and make a positive difference in the lives of our loved ones, friends, neighborhoods, clients, communities, and the global family at large.

Activities

The major strength of the New Seminary is the principle upon which it was founded, which is “Never instead of, always in addition to.” Our community and values continue to expand at an exponential rate as  Interfaith understanding grows around the world, spreading the message of  total acceptance and respect of all faiths, regardless of an individual’s path. Graduates of The New Seminary maintain their own personal belief systems and as Interfaith Ministers, practice acceptance, compassion, kindness, understanding and sensitivity to work with individuals and communities of all faiths.