TST's History
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- Before Canadian Confederation in 1867, several church-supported institutions of higher learning were established in what is now called Ontario.
- In 1887, the province of Ontario established a legal way for church-sponsored colleges and universities to federate with the non-sectarian University of Toronto. Within a few years, Knox, Wycliffe, Trinity, and St. Michael's were federated under this arrangement, which unlocked an unusually creative educational potential.
- St. Augustine’s, Emmanuel, and Regis were all established in the twentieth century. (Emmanuel was created by Victoria University which was already federated with the University of Toronto.)
- In 1944, the Toronto Graduate School of Theological Studies (TGSTS) was formed to promote collaboration in the Doctor of Theology and Master of Theology programs at Emmanuel, Knox, Trinity, and Wycliffe.
- In 1964, the TGSTS was incorporated.
- Also in 1964, the Second Vatican Council published “Unitatis Redintegratio”, the Decree on Ecumenism, which opened the door to an unprecedented level of educational cooperation between Roman Catholics and other Christians.
- In 1966 the Graduate Theological Division of St. Michael's College joined TGSTS.
- During 1969–1970, the success of this venture led to the foundation of the Toronto School of Theology. Regis and St. Augustine's entered into the consortium as member schools. Collaboration began in two professional programs – the MDiv and the MRE, supplementing the cooperation that already existed in the ThD and ThM programs.
- TST was incorporated in April 1970, by an amendment to the Letters Patent of the TGSTS. TST is a corporation without share capital under the Corporations Act of Ontario.
- In 1978, TST and its member schools entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the University of Toronto, making possible the conjoint granting of degrees in theology by the University and the member schools of TST. TST committed itself to the University's academic standards, and began appointing University representatives to its Board, its Academic Councils and its faculty appointments committees.
- In 2012, TST formally came under the University of Toronto Quality Assurance Process (UTQAP) - the same process of quality assurance as the academic units of the University of Toronto.
Subsequent years have seen the approval and launch of a number of new conjoint programs further broadening TST's offerings and links to the University of Toronto. Conjoint programs are conferred jointly by the University of Toronto and a TST member college. These conjoint programs include:
- PhD in Theological Studies (2014)
- MA in Theological Studies (2016)
- New Category 2 Certificate within the Master of Pastoral Studies (MPS): Spiritual Care and Psychotherapy (2016)
- New stream within the Master of Theological Studies (MTS): Theology, Spirituality and the Arts (2019)
- Post-baccalaureate Certificate in Theological Studies (2019)
- Post -baccalaureate Certificate in Theology and Interreligious Engagement (2019)
- A hybrid (online/in-person) learning option for the MDiv program (2023)