Trinity Evangelical Divinity School early years began with the influence of two men generally regarded as 2 of the 3 leading theologians of its era, Dr. Kenneth Kantzer and Dr. Carl F. H. Henry.

Ken Kanzter was the dean of the school and taught there between 1963 and 1991. Carl F.H. Henry taught at the school between 1971 and 1997. 

KENNETH S. KANTZER

• "Billy Graham described Kanzter as "one of the three or four leading theologians in the mid-twentieth century" (TEDS: The Early Years, p. 33)

CARL F. H. HENRY

• "The most prominent evangelical theologian of the second half of the twentieth century is without a doubt Carl  F. H. Henry" (20th Century Theology, page 288)

World renown scholars joined the faculty of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Excerpts:

"In many ways, the emergence of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School as an academic heavyweight in the second half of the 1960s, signaled the growing confidence and intellectual prominence of evangelicals in America in general." (Scott Manetsch, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School: The Early Years, page 11)

TEDS began within "a university environment of biblical studies, where world class scholars would produce world class students. TEDS would be a university of great ideas, where great thoughts by great scholars would capture young minds and produce ministers who would change the world" (Elmer Towns, Walking with Giants)

"Dean Kantzer attracted to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School some of the most notable scholars in the country... by the end of the decade, Trinity's academic arsenal had been further fortified by...faculty additions "  (Scott Manetsch, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School: The Early Years, page 11)

Faculty members who have served at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School include Gleason Archer, Norman Geisler, Walter Kaiser, John W. Montgomery, Elmer Towns, Wilbur Smith, David Hesselgrave, J Herbert Kane, Paul E. Little, D.A. Carson, Kevin Vanhoozer, Craig Ott and many others.