Alma White College
Encyclopedia
Bible college
Bible colleges are institutions of higher education that specialize in biblical studies. Curriculum is Bible-based and differs from that of liberal arts colleges or research universities. Bible colleges generally exclude the study of philosophy, unlike seminaries and theological colleges...
in Zarephath, New Jersey
Zarephath, New Jersey
Zarephath is an unincorporated area of Franklin Township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. It was the communal home to the Pillar of Fire Church, and was the worldwide headquarters of Pillar of Fire International and housed the church's college, Somerset Christian College, and radio...
from 1921 to 1978. It was an institution of the Pillar of Fire Church
Pillar of Fire Church
The Pillar of Fire International is a Christian organization founded in Denver, Colorado in 1901 by Alma White, with headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey. The Pillar of Fire was originally incorporated as the Pentecostal Union, but changed its name to distance itself from Pentecostalism in 1915...
.
History
In June 1917 an elderly German professor came to Zarephath, the headquarters of the Pillar of Fire, and offered to teach college level classes. Several other classes were organized around a standard college curriculum.The college was first allowed by the New Jersey State Board of Education (New Jersey Department of Education
New Jersey Department of Education
The New Jersey Department of Education administers state and federal aid programs affecting more than 1.4 million public and non-public elementary and secondary school children in the state of New Jersey. The department is headquartered in Trenton.The Department is responsible for ensuring that...
) to grant Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
and Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degrees in 1921 and the name Alma White College (named after the church founder, Alma White) was chosen. Alma White's son, Arthur Kent White
Arthur Kent White
Arthur Kent White was a bishop, and the general superintendent of the Pillar of Fire Church in Zarephath, New Jersey and the President of Belleview College...
was the first president starting in 1921.
In 1923 the Ku Klux Klan in New Jersey provided funding for the school, allowing it to become "the second institution in the north avowedly run by the Ku Klux Klan to further its aims and principles." Alma White said that the Klan philosophy "will sweep through the intellectual student classes as through the masses of the people." At that time, the Pillar of Fire was publishing the pro-KKK monthly periodical The Good Citizen
The Good Citizen
The Good Citizen was a sixteen-page monthly political periodical edited by Bishop Alma White and illustrated by Reverend Branford Clarke. The Good Citizen was published from 1913 until 1933 by the Pillar of Fire Church at their headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey in the United States...
. In 1927 the college conferred its first Doctor of Divinity
Doctor of Divinity
Doctor of Divinity is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects....
degree.
Arthur Kent White
Arthur Kent White
Arthur Kent White was a bishop, and the general superintendent of the Pillar of Fire Church in Zarephath, New Jersey and the President of Belleview College...
retired as president in 1971.
The college made the decision to shut down its liberal arts and science programs. The state gave the school permission to allow the students already enrolled to complete their studies until graduation.
It graduated its last student in June 1978.
The building suffered heavy damage in 1999 from flooding on the Delaware and Raritan Canal
Delaware and Raritan Canal
The Delaware and Raritan Canal is a canal in central New Jersey, United States, built in the 1830s that served to connect the Delaware River to the Raritan River. It was intended as an efficient and reliable means of transportation of freight between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York City,...
and the Millstone River
Millstone River
The Millstone River is a tributary of the Raritan River in central New Jersey in the United States.The Millstone River begins in western Monmouth County and flows northward through southern Somerset County into the Raritan River at Manville. Almost three quarters of its length is paralleled by...
.
After the closing of the college, the Pillar of Fire continued to operate Zarephath Bible Institute [ZBI], which historically had operated on the campus. In the early 2001, on the same campus, the Pillar of Fire founded Somerset Christian College
Somerset Christian College
Somerset Christian College is a private evangelical Christian college and is owned and operated by Pillar of Fire International, a religious denomination. The college was located in the Zarephath section of Franklin Township in Somerset County, New Jersey. Due to the recent flood, all 2011 classes...
.
Administration
- Arthur Kent WhiteArthur Kent WhiteArthur Kent White was a bishop, and the general superintendent of the Pillar of Fire Church in Zarephath, New Jersey and the President of Belleview College...
was president from 1921 to 1971. - Gertrude Metlen Wolfram (1888-1959) was the dean of the college.
Notable and noteworthy graduates
- Arthur Kent WhiteArthur Kent WhiteArthur Kent White was a bishop, and the general superintendent of the Pillar of Fire Church in Zarephath, New Jersey and the President of Belleview College...
honorary D.D. (1927) - Alton Milford Young, D.D. (1927)
- Donald Justin WolframDonald Justin WolframDonald Justin Wolfram was the fourth General Superintendent of the Pillar of Fire Church from 1984 to 2000.-Biography:...
, B.A.Bachelor of ArtsA Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both... - Robert Barney DallenbachRobert Barney DallenbachRobert Barney Dallenbach is a bishop in the Pillar of Fire Church. He also was the Pillar of Fire Church's fifth general superintendent until losing a vote of confidence at the 2008 Pillar of Fire annual camp meeting convention. He also served as a director for the North Metro Arts Alliance in...
, B.A. - Joseph Gross, current general superintendent, Pillar of Fire ChurchPillar of Fire ChurchThe Pillar of Fire International is a Christian organization founded in Denver, Colorado in 1901 by Alma White, with headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey. The Pillar of Fire was originally incorporated as the Pentecostal Union, but changed its name to distance itself from Pentecostalism in 1915...
- Johannes Maas (B.A. 1958), president of Worldwide Faith MissionsWorldwide Faith MissionsWorldwide Faith Missions is a non-governmental international Christian relief and development church missionary organization based in the United States of America with mission branches in India, Burma , and Thailand. It is a part of the worldwide missions church movement.- History:Worldwide Faith...
- John Gross, former president, WEC InternationalWEC InternationalWEC International is a mission agency which focuses on church planting, and emphasises the importance of shared life in a local church as a vital expression of Christian life...
Further reading
- Alma White College: a history of its relationship to the development of the Pillar of Fire; Evan Jerry Lawrence (1966)