The earliest roots of Berkeley School of Theology lie in the chartering of California College, Vacaville, in 1871.

In 1915, BBDS merged with the Pacific Coast Baptist Theological Seminary, which had begun in Oakland in 1890 and had moved to Berkeley in 1904.

In 1919, the school building Hobart Hall at 2606 Dwight Way, Berkeley was designed by architect Julia Morgan.

[2][3] In 1968, BBDS merged with California Baptist Theological Seminary (founded in 1944 in Los Angeles, and located in Covina since 1951).

To reflect the fact that the school was no longer wholly in Berkeley, it was renamed the American Baptist Seminary of the West, but six years later the Covina faculty moved to the Berkeley campus, effecting considerable cost savings and at the same time availing themselves of the resources of the Graduate Theological Union.