Six dioceses in the United States are already attempting to separate from the Episcopal Church, and the Archbishop of Canterbury has suggested that the Anglican Communion explore creating a new covenant among its provinces with the option of a lesser status for a province, like the Episcopal Church, that wants to go its own way on major issues.

"We really are being opportunistic here," said Barry H. Corey, the academic dean at Gordon-Conwell, which is headquartered in South Hamilton and offers courses in Boston; Charlotte, N.C.; and Jacksonville, Fla.

"Given what's going on in terms of the schisms in the Episcopal Church USA . . . as churches depart, they are going to need training for their ministers, and they are probably not going to send them to Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, because those schools pretty much have sided with the liberal end of the spectrum." Corey said Gordon-Conwell, a multidenominational seminary that currently has only a handful of Episcopal students, will offer "an orthodox view of the Bible" to Episcopalians seeking a seminary "that has not departed from biblical truth and the historic faith of the Anglican Communion."

He said Gordon-Conwell teaches that "the practice of homosexuality within the church has been seen as unbiblical" and that "the Bible presents a view of marriage that is not an evolving paradigm."

Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, head of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, was traveling yesterday and unavailable for comment, but his spokeswoman, Maria Plati, said that while "there are a range of theological programs available to individuals . . . we are not familiar enough with the Gordon-Conwell program to make any comment."

Episcopal Divinity School, whose faculty and students have been strongly supportive of same-sex marriage, said it does not view Gordon-Conwell as competition, given the theological distance between the two schools.

As an example of its liberalism, the Cambridge seminary has barred all on-campus marriage ceremonies, although it allows blessings, to protest the Episcopal Church's prohibition of same-sex marriage. "It makes sense that they [Gordon-Conwell] would target the idea of going after conservative Episcopalians, just as we go after liberals of other denominations -- we look to attract people who are interested in liberal theological study," said Lawrence M. Wills, acting academic dean at Episcopal Divinity School, which draws about one-third of its students from other denominations.

"In the Protestant theological seminaries there is a huge spectrum . . . and we're definitely at the liberal end. What Gordon-Conwell is doing is not likely to compete with the students we're looking for."

Gordon-Conwell, which currently has only one or two Episcopalians on its faculty and a few dozen Episcopal students among a student body of 2,000, is planning to add courses in Anglican prayer, liturgy, and governance as it moves aggressively to recruit conservative students who might go on to serve in the Episcopal Church or in other Anglican parishes in the United States that have already split from the Episcopal Church or that might do so in the future. Corey said the faculty at Gordon-Conwell, which is a multidenominational Protestant seminary, is discussing whether it will develop similarly specialized curricula for seminarians from other denominations, such as the Presbyterian Church, that are riven by controversy over homosexuality and other issues.

The Anglican-Episcopal program, which will lead to a master's degree in divinity, was suggested by a West Newbury Episcopal priest, the Rev. William L. Murdoch, who is the New England dean of the Anglican Communion Network, a coalition of parishes and dioceses unhappy with the Episcopal Church. The seminary is planning collaborations, such as visiting faculty or distance-learning courses, with the two most conservative Episcopal seminaries in the United States: Nashotah House Theological Seminary in Wisconsin and Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry in Pennsylvania. Officials at those seminaries -- which are among 11 accredited Episcopal seminaries in the the country -- said they would welcome students from Massachusetts, but that they agreed to help Gordon-Conwell out of a recognition that many prospective seminarians will not relocate for theological education.

At least one other Protestant seminary in the United States has already launched a similar program. Northern Seminary, a Baptist institution outside Chicago, has a dozen Episcopalian and Anglican students in the first year of its new program. "God is drawing the lines differently here in the early 21st century than in the 20th century, and people are not automatically going to their denominational schools," said Charles E. Hambrick-Stowe, the seminary dean at Northern.

"An Anglican or Episcopalian who is on the evangelical end of the spectrum is going to feel more at home at a place like Northern or Gordon-Conwell than at a place like Seabury-Western [in Illinois] or Episcopal Divinity School."

Episcopal priests have to pass an exam and win approval of their local bishops to be ordained, but do not have to attend one of the 11 Episcopal seminaries in the United States.

In Massachusetts, there are already Episcopal priests who study at Harvard Divinity School and Boston University School of Theology, for example. The phenomenon of seminaries reaching out beyond their historic constituencies is likely to become more common, scholars said, as theological controversies continue to roil Protestant denominations.

Also, with the rising age of seminary students, many are also unwilling or unable to relocate for education. "You have a number of Anglicans or Episcopalians in the New England area who are looking for a theological education of a biblically faithful and theologically orthodox nature, and recognize Gordon-Conwell is capable of giving that," said the Very Rev. Robert S. Munday, dean and president of Nashotah House.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/07/07/

Michael Paulson can be reached at mpaulson@globe.com Copyright Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.