(RNS) — After three decades of independent operations, Phoenix Seminary is set to be acquired by the Talbot School of Theology at Biola University. The acquisition will elevate Talbot as the second-largest interdenominational seminary in the country and, with campuses just outside Phoenix and Los Angeles, the leading site of theological education within the two largest metropolitan areas west of the Rocky Mountains.

Founded in 1988, Phoenix Seminary is a nondenominational conservative evangelical Christian educational institution. Located in Scottsdale, Arizona, the institution’s faculty includes professor emeritus Wayne Grudem, who is best known for his seminal work, “Systematic Theology,” and for co-founding the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, which promotes a complementarian approach to marriage and gender.

Ed Stetzer, the dean of Talbot School of Theology located in La Mirada, California, told Religion News Service that Phoenix Seminary’s board of directors reached out to Biola University to initiate the acquisition of its assets in early January. Biola University’s board of trustees unanimously approved the plan.

In a comment to Christianity Today, Phoenix Seminary chairman Ron Ogan emphasized that the move resulted not from crisis but instead from “prayerfully considering” the merger for over a year. Ogan added in a statement released by Biola University that the acquisition will extend and strengthen the legacy of Phoenix Seminary.

Chris Meinzer, senior director of administration and chief operating officer of the Association of Theological Schools, told RNS the decision “reflects two schools with shared commitments who believe they have found an approach to strengthen their missions in the near and longer term.”

Meinzer also acknowledged the acquisition reflects a broader trend in the U.S. in which theological schools “continue to seek a variety of ways to fulfill and bolster their missions, often in light of changes in enrollment patterns and theological education finances.”

In recent years, higher education institutions have increasingly faced difficult choices. In 2025 alone, Inside Higher Ed reported that 16 nonprofit institutions announced closures due to enrollment and financial challenges; similarly, 16 nonprofit institutions announced their closures in 2024 and 14 did so in 2023.

Ogan told CT that Phoenix Seminary recognized the contracting market and decided to seek an acquisition while the institution was still financially secure.

Talbot School of Theology was established within Biola University in 1952. Biola University is an interdenominational conservative evangelical Christian educational institution. It shares many of Phoenix Seminary’s central theological principles, such as a commitment to scriptural inerrancy.

A spokesperson for Phoenix Seminary told RNS the new Talbot Seminary Phoenix is anticipated to begin operations in mid-August. The combined enrollment of Talbot Seminary Phoenix and Biola’s Talbot School of Theology will establish Talbot as one of the largest interdenominational seminaries in the country, second only to Dallas Theological Seminary.