Princeton Theological Seminary President To Retire In 2023

PRINCETON, NJ — M. Craig Barnes, the current president of Princeton Theological Seminary, announced he'll retire in 2023. Barnes, who is the seventh president, will serve until a new president is named and assumes office, no later than June 2023.

The board of trustees elected a presidential search committee at its January meeting, which includes representatives from the faculty and student body. They will begin work soon.

“Princeton Theological Seminary was one of the world’s preeminent theological schools long before I arrived. It has been an incredible honor to help it navigate its way into a new day of service to a changing church and society,” Barnes said in a letter to the seminary community.

Board of trustees chair Michael Fisch said, “Over the last nine years, President Barnes has guided the Seminary through a period of significant change. In turn, this community is now ready to embrace the future with honesty, courage, and confidence in God’s abiding love.”

Barnes served as president since January 2013. In those nine years, nearly half of the current faculty has been hired, and there was a complete revision of the curriculum. During his tenure, the racial, gender, and denominational diversity of the student body and the faculty grew significantly.

During his tenure, the Seminary went on a "journey of confession and repentance" of the school’s historical connections to slavery. This resulted in the report on Princeton Seminary and Slavery, published in October 2018. Based on the report, a multi-year action plan was approved in 2019 by the board of trustees with more than 20 initiatives designed to bring change, ranging from increased student financial assistance to curriculum changes to ensuring every member of the community understands its history.

“When I began my service as your president, I stated often that I took this job because I love the seminary. As I approach the end of that service I know the seminary far better than when I began, and I love it even more," Barnes said. "That’s because I keep seeing signs of God’s faithful love for our covenant community. And that never retires.”

Barnes earned his Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Seminary in 1981 and his Ph.D in church history from the University of Chicago in 1992. Before becoming president of Princeton Seminary, Barnes was a chaired professor at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary while also serving as the pastor and head of staff of Shadyside Presbyterian Church.