John Frame Collection (#040)

John Frame was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on April 8, 1939. Apparently his family either attended or were members of the Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh—a congregation of the United Presbyterian Church of North America. It was there where he accepted Christ as his spiritual savior at the age of thirteen. Later, Frame matriculated through Princeton Theological Seminary. During his undergraduate matriculation, Frame attended Westerly Road Church and was involved in Princeton Evangelical Fellowship—both of which had a profound effect on Frame and his developing theology. It was a result of his experiences with these two ministries that he later described himself as a “Reformed ecumenist.”

Over the years, Frame earned several academic degrees, these being an BA from Princeton University, a BD from Westminster Theological Seminary, an MA and a M.Phil. from Yale University (where he pursued but did not finish his work toward a Ph.D.). Lastly, Frame received an honorary doctoral of divinity degree from Belhaven College.

In 1984 Frame married Mary Grace Cummings and with her had two sons: Justin M. Frame and John A. Frame. With this marriage, John also acquired three stepchildren: Deborah, Doreen and “Skip.”