Make Harvard Congregationalist Again

Many other schools, like the Ivies, were founded as religious institutions, but have since abandoned that heritage. “It may surprise some people to learn that our oldest and most prestigious universities were founded by Protestant churches for the express purpose of advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ,” writes Sam Kastensmidt. Harvard, for instance, was launched by Puritans in 1636 “to train and educate clergy for service in the new, English-speaking world.” Likewise, Congregationalists founded Yale and Dartmouth, while Baptists founded Brown, Presbyterians founded Princeton, and Anglicans founded Columbia. Columbia’s seal, as Kastensmidt notes, “is filled with religious significance. At the top of the seal is the personal name of God (Yahweh) blazing forth in Hebrew. On the bottom, there is a scripture citation (1 Peter 2:1-2).”