Bryn Athyn College is a small, private Christian liberal arts college located 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Philadelphia in the borough of Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, a National Historic Landmark District. Bryn Athyn is affiliated with the General Church of the New Jerusalem. Bryn Athyn College has been educating undergraduates since its incorporation under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1877. Then known as the Academy of the New Church, its original purpose was (like most institutions of higher learning in those days) to train ministers. In 1890 the Academy established a separate organization: the General Church of the New Jerusalem, a religious body based on the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg. A generous endowment from John Pitcairn and others enabled the Academy of the New Church to very quickly expand from a seminary into a high school and a two-year college. In 1914 it became a four-year college and by 1922 the College was conferring both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees. In 1997, the Academy of the New Church College adopted a new name: Bryn Athyn College of the New Church.