Arabic instruction at Hartford has evolved from an academic subject focusing on classical Arabic texts to now include speaking and listening competencies related to Islamic Chaplaincy as well as computer-related pursuits. Arabic was introduced at Hartford by the new Instructor of Semitic Languages, Duncan Black Macdonald, in 1892. A review of primary sources shows that Macdonald, an ordained minister of the Church of Scotland, saw value in Arabic as (1) a component of his new program of comparative Semitic linguistics, (2) an aid to Old Testament exegesis, and (3) part of a missionary effort to the Muslim Lands. It was the third with which Macdonald clearly had misgivings. An analysis of the theses and dissertations produced by Macdonald’s students show an orientation, over his career of over 40 years at Hartford, of Arabic (and Islamic Studies) away from a missionary-guided program of instruction. Hartford Seminary had been founded in 1834 as a conservative Congregational antidote to Yale, but within 50 years came to dub itself a University of Religion. While the school remained traditionally conservative for more than a century, its Congregational ethos allowed it a theological and academic openness. Knowledge of Arabic allowed the students of the Seminary, many of whom obtained Ph.D.’s in Islamic Studies during the 20th century, to “ask questions” of Islam without going through the lens of Christian missionary efforts. Dozens of dissertations by Seminary students consist, at their base, of translations into English of classical Arabic works, both philosophical and mystical. Only one thesis has an obvious missionary orientation. The creation of the Macdonald Center in the 1970s after the demise of the Kennedy School of Missions and the end of the Ph.D. shifted Arabic instruction from a classical, text-driven curriculum. The institution of Chaplaincy programs for Imams since the 1990s has further changed Arabic instruction to include both oral and aural Arabic learning. With the re-institution of the Ph.D. in Islamic Studies in this year, it is anticipated that Arabic instruction at Hartford will once again include something of a classical focus, while a new course in Information Literacy for Islamic Studies incorporates instruction in Arabic keyboard use as well as web-searching in Arabic.