OBC/OTS gives way to Tyndale
The name of a reformer and martyr represents scholarship and radical Christianity.
By ChristianWeek staff
NORTH YORK, ON–After more than two years of sorting through lists of names, discussing some and rejecting others, Ontario Bible College/Ontario Theological Seminary has finally chosen a new name: As of June 1, the 104-year-old school will be known as Tyndale College and Seminary.
The name honors William Tyndale, a 16th century martyr credited with bringing about the English Reformation through providing Scriptures for the common people.
"All kinds of names were recommended," says president Brian Stiller. The search committee, headed by chancellor and former president William McRae, considered about 50 or 60 names in total. A "short list" of about half that number was put before faculty and staff. Tyndale, suggested by television producer Karen Pascal, "was really rising to the surface," Stiller says.
When he began to study the person of Tyndale, he found "a marvelous model to a young person today. He was a scholar, he was a visionary, he was an evangelist of the gospel." Tyndale’s desire was to bring the Scriptures to the common person. By 1525, some 6,000 copies of his New Testament were printed in the English language.
OBC/OTS was founded in 1894 as Toronto Bible Training School, and was later renamed Toronto Bible College. In 1968 the school joined with London College of Bible and Missions to become Ontario Bible College. In 1976 the seminary was started as a training centre for ministers and church leadership. With a combined enrollment of more than 1,000, OBC/OTS is the largest college and seminary in Canada.
But the institution came close to disappearing in the summer of 1995 when the prospect of bankruptcy loomed. Staff and faculty cutbacks, a change in administration and a retooling of programs and vision are turning the schools around.
With that fresh start came the need to put on a fresh face. "Ontario Bible College/Ontario Theological Seminary" was just too long and awkward, and the shorter "OBC/OTS" was seen as meaningless and lacking passion to people outside the school.
The board was looking, Stiller ways, "for a name that continues to express the college and seminary’s deep commitment to the Bible, to world-class evangelical scholarship and to preparing men and women for spiritual leadership in the church and marketplace."
English Bible banned
William Tyndale was seen as a radical Christian and a great reformer. The English Bible had been banned since 1408. But Tyndale, a contemporary of Martin Luther, translated the New Testament from the Hebrew and Greek, earning the title "Father of the English Bible." About 90 percent of his translation was used in the later King James Version.
In the process of carrying out his mission, Tyndale suffered shipwreck, loss of manuscripts, and was pursued by secret agents and betrayed by friends. In 1536 he was arrested, imprisoned, strangled and burned at the stake. His name, says Stiller, "will inspire and encourage us as we strive to be as faithful."
The new name "is getting a wonderful response" from staff, faculty and students so far, says Stiller. Students graduating this year will still graduate from OBC/OTS, and the name change will coincide with the fiscal year June 1.
