Prior to the American Revolution, the Church of England in America existed under the episcopal oversight of the Bishop of London.

Samuel Johnson founded the King's College, New York (now Columbia University) as an Anglican institution, in part to prepare men for the ministry.

Johnson had been a close friend of the English priest, philosopher, and missionary George Berkeley and had induced him to donate his farm and library to Yale in 1731.

[1] In 1794, Connecticut churchmen founded the Episcopal Academy at Cheshire in the hope of later elevating it to collegiate status, though this did not come to fruition.

[5] The Middletown campus consisted of two houses adjacent to the Church of the Holy Trinity, with several buildings and extra wings being added over the next half century.

The chapel was designed “in the decorated style of Gothic architecture,” in collegiate seating with 62 stalls and a five-sided apse.

[9] The seminary also developed a series of academic and ecclesial affiliations, including one with Wesleyan College, allowing students in both institutions access to lectures in the other.

William Palmer Ladd, who had arrived at Berkeley as a professor in 1916 was formally inaugurated as dean on the Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude, on 28 October 1918.

Ladd was a noted liturgical scholar, and like many of his English colleagues––including the visiting professor, priest, and author, Percy Dearmer––was a committed Christian socialist.

In 1919, at the immediate conclusion of the war, a guest lecture on Russia sparked a small scandal with accusations of “Bolshevism at Berkeley.” Though Ladd was ultimately vindicated, the incident resulted in permanent tensions with certain members of the Board.

[10] Ladd remained committed to Social Gospel movements throughout his tenure and also expanded public access to seminary education, inaugurating a Summer School of Theology for Women from 1923 to 1925.

[11] After many years of discussion about potential moves or mergers, Ladd transferred Berkeley to New Haven in 1928 to take advantage of the resources of Yale University.

[12] The impossibility of immediately selling the Middletown campus, as well as the Great Depression caused another prolonged period of financial instability from 1929 to 1935.

[18] In the late 1940s and early 1950s under Urban's deanship, Berkeley grew significantly, buying and renovating a number of buildings off Prospect Street.

Richard Hooker Wilmer Jr., previously the Episcopal Chaplain at Sewanee and then Yale, succeeded Urban in 1957.

Philip W. Turner III, Berkeley elected R. William Franklin to the deanship, to date the only lay person to be dean of the seminary (he would later be ordained).

[25] Franklin resigned, and a formal audit verified personal expenditures “not consistent with the dean’s employment agreement.”[26] The incident resulted in some tension between Berkeley and Yale University, which apparently rescinded permission to build a new chapel on the main Divinity School campus.

Joseph H. Britton substantially stabilized relationships with Yale Divinity School and the university, and undertook a series of new initiatives including urban ministries and international exchanges.

However, because it remains an institution chartered with a degree-granting power, it continues to offer honorary degrees, such as the Doctor of Divinity.

Like all seminaries within The Episcopal Church, Berkeley requires and helps to coordinate Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) and Supervised Ministry Internships for all of its Master of Divinity candidates who are preparing for ordination.

This is officially the fourth Chapel of St. Luke (the previous ones being in Middletown, and two iterations on Sachem Street in New Haven).