“G” is for Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. A trans-denominational Reformed seminary organized in 1987, Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary understands itself to stand in the theological tradition of South Carolinian James Henley Thornwell and emphasizes a strict adherence to the seventeenth-century Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms. Because the seminary believes “that the Bible prohibits women from teaching or exercising authority over men in the Church,” only men are admitted to programs leading to ordination. While the seminary also emphasizes its accountability to the church, it is not owned and operated by a denomination or judicatory of a denomination. The seminary offers six degrees, ranging from the Bachelor of Divinity to the Doctor of Theology. Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary seeks its accreditation from ecclesiastical bodies rather than accrediting agencies for higher education and the Association of Theological Schools.
Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.