Berkeley Divinity School is an Episcopal Church seminary located at Yale Divinity School. Founded in 1854 by Trinity College president, Bishop John Williams of Connecticut, and named for the Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley, it is the only Episcopal seminary to be affiliated with a major research institution (Yale University).

In 1848, previous to Berkeley's founding, John Williams was named president of Trinity College. Wanting to strengthen the ties between Trinity and the Episcopal Church, Williams was intent on offering courses in theological education, as he had done in the past with students from Union College in Schenectady, New York. Some of these students followed Williams to Trinity, where he continued to informally instruct them in theological coursework. In time, a Theology Department grew out of Williams' instruction and by 1851, the College had integrated a full complement of theological coursework into its curriculum. In 1852, the Diocese of Connecticut recognized the program as an official Diocesan School of Theology, which brought a steady number of new theological students to the College.

John Williams had been elected Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Connecticut in 1851, and as such, was serving both as President of Trinity College and as a diocesan bishop. Under pressure from former Trinity College president and then diocesan bishop, Thomas Church Brownell, to resign his presidency from the College to focus full-time on his diocesan duties, Williams submitted his resignation to the College in 1853. Desiring to move diocesan theological instruction away from the College, Williams proposed that the Theology Department be chartered as a separate corporation and moved to a new location. Bishop Brownell proposed this idea at the diocesan convention, where it was received favorably, and by 1854, the Connecticut General Assembly had chartered Berkeley Divinity School, located in Middletown, Connecticut. The remaining tie between Trinity College and the new divinity school was that the president of the College was to be an ex officio member of the Berkeley Board of Trustees; this connection lasted until 1895.

Bishop Williams served as Dean of Berkeley Divinity School until 1899. In 1928, Berkeley Divinity School was moved from Middletown to its current location in New Haven, Connecticut.

Berkeley Divinity School: History

An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church: Berkeley Divinity School

History of Trinity College (1967) by Glenn Weaver, pp. 112-115.