Jerusalem Seminary and the University of the Holy Land have merged. One institution. Three schools. Accredited MA and PhD programs in Jerusalem.
Read the AnnouncementJerusalem Seminary and the University of the Holy Land are now one institution — offering accredited Master’s and PhD programs, immersive Biblical Hebrew, and biblical studies taught from the heart of Jerusalem, where the story of Scripture and the Land it happened in are never separated.
For decades, two institutions on opposite ends of the same calling have taught from the same soil: that the story of the Bible must never be separated from the Land of the Bible. In 2026, after months of prayerful discernment and careful due diligence, they became one. Beginning with the 2026–27 academic year, the merged institution operates as Jerusalem Seminary, from its campus at 55 HaNevi’im Street — with the University of the Holy Land’s forty-year academic legacy carried forward inside it.
Founded to bring ministry training home to the Land of the Bible. Three schools — the School of Hebrew, the School of the Bible, and the School of Graduate Studies — with Biblical Hebrew taught as a living language and every course grounded in the land, people, and language of Scripture.
An internationally accredited graduate university and research center founded by Dr. Stephen and Dr. Claire Pfann. For nearly forty years, students earned Master’s and doctoral degrees among the physical, social, and cultural world in which Scripture was written — in Land of Israel studies, Second Temple Judaism, Dead Sea Scrolls research, and the world of the early Church.
What was two is now one — and by God’s grace, more than the sum of its parts.
Co-founders, University of the Holy Land · est. 1986
In 1986, Dr. Stephen Pfann and Dr. Claire Pfann founded the University of the Holy Land on a conviction that now defines the merged institution: that the subjects best studied in the Land of the Bible should be taught in the Land of the Bible, by the finest Christian and Jewish scholars, in service of the global Church.
Stephen helped pioneer the fields of Land of Israel studies and the history of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, and his scholarship shaped generations of students and researchers. Claire, as Academic Dean, was the cornerstone on whom UHL’s vision for international Christian higher education was built — a beloved teacher of daily life in the Second Temple period and of the Johannine and Pauline literature, whose insight reached classrooms, field trips, documentaries, and audiences around the world.
Stephen went to be with the Lord in October 2025, and Claire in 2026, after a long battle with cancer. They are together now, and their absence is felt by all who knew and loved them.
The School of Graduate Studies carries their curriculum and their academic vision forward, and every student who opens the Scriptures in the Land they loved continues what Stephen and Claire began.
Those who wish to honor their memory are invited to support a student’s studies in the Pfanns’ name.
Give in MemoryYour program continues without interruption. Existing UHL students complete their degrees within the merged institution, credits carry forward, and UHL faculty have been invited to continue teaching. If you’re mid-program and have questions about your specific track, write to us — a real person will answer.
One institution now offers the full path: enrichment and undergraduate-level biblical studies, immersive Biblical Hebrew, and accredited MA and PhD programs — online, modular, and in Jerusalem. The merged institution can also sponsor student visas for study in Israel.
The academic community you were part of continues — expanded, not diminished. The School of Graduate Studies is the new home of UHL’s degree programs and the academic vision Dr. Stephen and Dr. Claire Pfann built over forty years. Their legacy is a pillar of the merged institution’s identity.
This new chapter is built on the foundation laid by those who came before — including Dr. Claire Pfann (1953–2026), whose scholarship and devotion shaped the University of the Holy Land and generations of its students.
To equip and empower the global church to understand their faith in and through the Land of the Bible, by integrating rigorous academic study of Scripture, language, and land with formation for ministry and service.
Our vision: to make biblical education and ministry training in the Land of the Bible essential and transformative.
Geography, archaeology, language, and history — our courses step out of the classroom and into the places where the Bible happened. Referred to by St. Jerome as the “Fifth Gospel,” the Land doesn’t just illustrate Scripture. It teaches it.
The convictions and standards that govern the merged institution — available in full, in writing, to anyone.
The theological convictions we hold in common: a vital Christianity and a mature Messianic Judaism, united as one body in Messiah, centered on Jesus and the authority of Scripture.
Download PDFAdmissions, credit transfer, grading, academic integrity, and degree requirements — set out in full in the 2026–27 Academic Catalog.
Download the CatalogWhy we exist and where we’re going — the full mission and vision of the merged institution, from Jerusalem to the nations.
Download PDFThe Story of the Bible must never be separated from the Land of the Bible. The conviction we share
From personal enrichment to accredited research degrees — online, modular, and in Jerusalem.
Hebrew for the Nations: Biblical Hebrew taught as a living language, to students in more than 30 nations — including Bible translators and pastors across Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
Continuing-education for biblical and theological studies, taught in the Land of the Bible by Christian and Jewish scholars.
Accredited MA and PhD programs — the new home of UHL’s graduate degrees and forty years of scholarship in the Land of Israel, Second Temple Judaism, and the world of the early Church.
Tell us a little about yourself and what you’re looking for. Our admissions team will reply personally with program details, dates, and next steps for the 2026–27 academic year.
Five fields. Two minutes.
A personal reply.
Our full course catalog, faculty pages, and resources remain available while we build the new home.
