Message from the Dean

Dr. David Deane

I am really glad you are here.

We live in a time of deepening isolation, injustice, and fear, a world in need of leaders committed to justice, compassion, resistance, and change. For two thousand years the Christian response to such need has rested on one foundation. People and the world, we believe, can be different as we are conformed to Christ through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This is our hope, grounded in the mission of Christ. Through education and the formation of minds, souls, and skills, AST works for this transformation. We shape transformative leaders who can renew communities and the world. This is what the world needs, and it is what we do here. I invite you to join us in this mission.

If you do, you will find an ecumenical school in the fullest sense. Anglican, United Church, and Roman Catholic traditions study and worship side by side, and people of every background, or none, are welcome among us. What unites us is the conviction that God loves the world and that people and communities can be transformed by union with that love. From that centre flows everything we hold dear: the art of listening across difference, the dignity of every human life, and a faith that seeks understanding.

We take the life of the mind seriously because it helps us know and be united with God and because through thought and research, we can help others be transformed. Our brilliant faculty join the wisdom of the Christian tradition to the realities of ministry today, whether in a congregation, a hospital, a classroom, a charity, or a community in need. Our graduates serve across Canada and beyond, equipped not with knowledge alone but with the presence of the Triune God. Rigour here is never abstract. It is always in the service of people and the communities they are sent to love.

If you are drawn to a deeper life, to questions worth a lifetime, and to a community that will know you by name, come and see what is possible when faith and learning meet.

In Christ,

David Deane