Guild of Scholars of the Episcopal Church, The

Corporate body

Guild of Scholars of the Episcopal Church, The

1939-

The Guild of Scholars of the Episcopal Church (the Guild) emerged in 1939 when Robert Root, Norman Pittenger, Thomas S.K. Scott-Craig, and William Eddy agreed to call together like-minded Churchmen into an association of college and university contacts with the common goal of promoting the Christian faith and scholarship in institutions of higher learning. At the first conference, held in 1940 at Hobart College and attended by fifteen scholars representing eleven institutions, the decision was made to establish a formal association within The Episcopal Church.

After a second conference, also held in 1940, the group met in 1941 under the name of the Easter Conference of the Guild of Scholars. The current name was adopted in 1949, just a year before the Guild began to hold its annual meetings exclusively at the General Theological Seminary. While there were initially hopes that regional chapters would be formed as a nucleus of a national association of Episcopal teachers and scholars, by 1950 the Guild had relinquished the idea of an expanded association of local chapters in favor of a single national conference.

In 1966 Virginia Harrington of Barnard College was the first woman invited as a guest; she became a member in 1968. In the succeeding years other women were invited first as guests and eventually to membership. The membership was also extended later to those in the scientific, medical, and technical fields. Membership is limited to the laity, unless a member is ordained after being admitted, with the one exception being the honorary membership granted to one of the original founders, the Rev. Norman Pittenger. The Guild continues with members from a wide range of academic and creative disciplines meeting annually to share their work, although meeting locations now vary.