Wycliffe College, Toronto

Wycliffe College is a graduate theological school federated with the University of Toronto. It is affiliated with the Anglican Church of Canada and is evangelical and Low church in orientation. On the other hand, the University of Toronto's other Anglican college, the University of Trinity College, is Anglo-Catholic in outlook. While being an Anglican seminary, Wycliffe College attracts students from many Christian denominations. As a founding member of the Toronto School of Theology, students are free to participate in the wide range of courses from Canada's largest ecumenical consortium. It trains those pursuing ordination as well as those preparing for academic careers of scholarship and teaching.HistoryIn response to the Liberal Catholic perspective of Trinity College, which is the Toronto diocesan seminary, the Church Association of the Diocese of Toronto, a lay Evangelical group at the Cathedral Church of St. James, founded the independent Protestant Episcopal Divinity School in 1877 to provide an alternative source for evangelical and low-church theological training. Like its Oxford counterpart, Wycliffe Hall, the name "Wycliffe College" was inspired by John Wycliffe, a 14th-century English scholastic philosopher, theologian, Biblical translator, reformer, and theology professor at Oxford. The name was given first to the college's building and then to the college itself. To ensure its long-term viability, Wycliffe College began considering various forms of union with the University of Toronto towards the end of the 19th century. Wycliffe College became affiliated with the University of Toronto in 1885 and federated in 1889.