Union Theological Seminary (New York City) in the context of "Cornel West"

Paul Johannes Tillich (/ˈtɪlɪk/; German: [ˈtɪlɪç]; August 20, 1886 – October 22, 1965) was a German and American Christian existentialist philosopher, religious socialist, and Lutheran theologian who was one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century. Tillich taught at German universities before immigrating to the United States in 1933, where he taught at Union Theological Seminary, Harvard University, and the University of Chicago.

For the general public, Tillich wrote the well-received The Courage to Be (1952) and Dynamics of Faith (1957). His major three-volume Systematic Theology (1951–1963) was for theologians; in many points it was an answer to existentialist critique of Christianity.

James Louis Martyn (October 11, 1925 – June 4, 2015) was an American New Testament scholar. He taught for nearly three decades at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where he held the Edward Robinson Professorship of Biblical Theology from 1967 until his retirement in 1987. Martyn's work reshaped Johannine studies with his two-level reading of the Fourth Gospel and his argument about the aposynagōgos passages. He was also a leading interpreter of Paul, noted for a robust apocalyptic reading that culminated in his Anchor Bible commentary on Galatians and in Theological Issues in the Letters of Paul.

Raymond Edward Brown PSS (May 22, 1928 – August 8, 1998) was an American Sulpician priest and prominent biblical scholar. He was a specialist on the hypothetical Johannine community, which he speculated contributed to the authorship of the Gospel of John, and he also wrote studies on the birth and death of Jesus.

Brown was professor emeritus at Union Theological Seminary (UTS) in New York City, where he taught for 29 years. He was the first Catholic professor to gain tenure there, where he earned a reputation as a superior lecturer.

Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (June 21, 1892 – June 1, 1971) was an American Reformed theologian, ethicist, commentator on politics and public affairs, and professor at Union Theological Seminary for more than 30 years. Niebuhr was one of America's leading public intellectuals for several decades of the 20th century and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964. A public theologian, he wrote and spoke frequently about the intersection of religion, politics, and public policy, with his most influential books including Moral Man and Immoral Society and The Nature and Destiny of Man.

Starting as a minister with working-class sympathies in the 1920s and sharing with many other ministers a commitment to pacifism and socialism, his thinking evolved during the 1930s to neo-orthodox realist theology as he developed the philosophical perspective known as Christian realism. He attacked utopianism as ineffectual for dealing with reality. Niebuhr's realism deepened after 1945 and led him to support American efforts to confront Soviet communism around the world. A powerful speaker, he was one of the most influential thinkers of the 1940s and 1950s in public affairs. Niebuhr battled with religious liberals over what he called their naïve views of the contradictions of human nature and the optimism of the Social Gospel, and battled with religious conservatives over what he viewed as their naïve view of scripture and their narrow definition of "true religion". During this time he was viewed by many as the intellectual rival of John Dewey.

Allen & Collens was an American architectural firm based in Boston. It was initially established by architect Francis R. Allen in 1879. After two early partnerships he formed Allen & Collens in 1903 with Charles Collens. The firm was best known as the designers of Gothic Revival buildings, including the Union Theological Seminary campus and Riverside Church in New York City. Allen and Collens died in 1931 and 1956, respectively, and the firm was continued by Collens' partner, Harold Buckley Willis, until his own death in 1962.