Trinity International University
in Deerfield, Illinois
Trinity International University (TIU) is a private Christian university previously headquartered in Bannockburn, Illinois, United States. It comprised Trinity College, a theological seminary (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School), and a law school (Trinity Law School which was located in Santa Ana, California). The university also maintained campuses in North Lauderdale, Florida, and Miami. TIU was the only university affiliated with Evangelical Free Church of America in the United States and enrolled 1,242 students. On February 17, 2023, TIU announced it was moving the undergraduate program to online modalities only and closed the residential campus at the end of the Spring 2023 semester. The online undergraduate program closed at the end of the Spring 2024 semester.
In April 2025, it was announced that the divinity school would merge with Trinity Western University and cease operations at the Bannockburn campus, while the rest of the university would continue to operate independently. After this change, the law school and an undergraduate program jointly operated with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections will remain the main operations of TIU.
History
Tracing its roots to 1897, TIU formed in the late 1940s as the result of a merger of two schools:
A school run by the Swedish Evangelical Free Church, founded in 1897 in Chicago, and incorporated as the Swedish Bible Institute of Chicago, then affiliated with Moody Bible Institute as the Swedish Department until 1925 when it became the Swedish Evangelical Free Church Bible Institute and Seminary.
A three-year Bible school, the Norwegian-Danish Bible Institute and Academy, founded in 1910 by the Norwegian-Danish Free Church, established in Rushford, Minnesota, and later moving to Minneapolis and becoming Trinity Seminary and Bible Institute.
By 1949, the Minneapolis-based school moved to Chicago and the unified schools became known as Trinity Seminary and Bible College.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Trinity International University” is in Deerfield, Illinois. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Trinity, International and University, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “in Deerfield, Illinois” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7842863. VIAF identifies the subject as 135900753. The Library of Congress control number is no99057934. Authority coordinates are 42.196, -87.881. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2023, 2024, 2025 and 1897.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Trinity International University”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Trinity International University primary sources, Trinity International University archive and Trinity research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Trinity International University”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Trinity International University” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.