Muslim college buys Lutheran seminary campus

BERKELEY, Calif. — A Muslim liberal arts college that offers subjects such as Islamic law alongside courses in math and philosophy has bought a former seminary campus for its undergraduate program.

Zaytuna College, the nation’s first accredited Muslim college, paid $10 million for the 10-acre Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary on a hilltop in Berkeley, California. The college, whose name means “olive tree” in Arabic, integrates Islam with the Western canon.

Zaytuna, which has 52 male and female undergraduates enrolled this fall, will move to the seminary grounds in January. It will continue to own three buildings near the Graduate Theological Union, also in Berkeley. Those buildings will be used to develop a graduate-level seminary down the road, said spokesperson Amna Mirza.

The seminary Zaytuna bought is 1 of 7 in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Pacific Lutheran, which is part of California Lutheran University, recently moved to an office building in downtown Berkeley. (RNS)