History

The college is situated across the road from St Peter’s Cathedral, adjacent to stunning parklands and Adelaide Oval. Historically, the college provided theological education primarily for those preparing for ordination in the Anglican Church. The site was closed in 1950 and the College reopened in 1965 at Belair in the Adelaide Hills as a residential college.

St Barnabas College continued at Belair until 1997 when it was relocated into the Adelaide College of Divinity complex at Brooklyn Park in the western suburbs. St Barnabas College was a founding member of the consortium which included the Uniting College (formerly Parkin Wesley College) and the Catholic Theological College (formerly St Francis Xavier Seminary). Theology degrees were accredited through Flinders University. At that stage the college ceased being residential and embraced opportunities for lay learning in the new ecumenical environment.

In 2010 that consortium dissolved and in 2011 St Barnabas College engaged in partnership with Charles Sturt University through an affiliation with St Mark’s National Theological Centre. The College returned to its original and current site in North Adelaide in 2015, after a brief transitional time in rented premises in Hindmarsh.

Throughout its long history St Barnabas College has consistently delivered high quality undergraduate and postgraduate theological education, equipping clergy, laity, and ordination candidates for ministry in the church and for Christian life in the world. Although an Anglican college, St Barnabas continues to value and practice the ecumenical spirit gained from the era of partnership with the Adelaide College of Divinity. Teaching and learning experiences take in a diversity of theological perspectives which sit within a principle of generous orthodoxy.

St Barnabas College serves the educational needs of the Diocese as a Community of Learning for the whole people of God. The College shares the St Barnabas building with the Diocesan Office and has built strong relationships within that space but maintains a distinct identity as an educational institution.