Books

Fifty years ago, Covenant Theological Seminary was founded. Led by Robert G.
Rayburn, that first faculty gathered to train ministers for a fledging denomination that
sought to preserve conservative Presbyterianism in the modern world. And yet, the goal
was not simply to plant churches or to grow denominations. Rather, as the Seminary’s
hymn suggested, it was “all for Jesus.”

As Covenant Seminary celebrates its fiftieth anniversary in 2006, a great deal has
changed. As the national seminary for the Presbyterian Church in America, it is now one
of the larger seminaries in the United States. Its faculty has grown and has become
increasingly well-known throughout evangelical Protestantism. Yet one commitment
remains unchanged; all the Seminary seeks to do is “all for Jesus.”

All for Jesus (2006), edited by Robert A. Peterson and Sean Michael Lucas, presents
the work of the Covenant Seminary faculty in celebration of this milestone year in the
Seminary’s life together. In these essays, Christ-centered stories, Gospel, disciplines,
and sermons are presented. The key element that comes through in these essays is
the common commitment to the Seminary’s mission: these leaders seek to train
servants of the Triune God to walk with God, to interpret and communicate God’s Word,
and to lead God’s people and they do so in such a way that Christ is glorified. In other
words, your faith will be strengthened, your heart encouraged, and your vision focused
as these essays direct you to Jesus Christ and his gracious Gospel.

In his book, On Being Presbyterian (2006), Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)
pastor and seminary professor Sean Michael Lucas suggests that being Presbyterian
means embracing distinctive beliefs, practices, and stories as one’s own. As new
members, church officers, and potential Presbyterians explore beliefs such as God as
king over all of life, practices such as Presbyterian church government, and stories
such as the founding of the PCA, they will understand and move to embrace this way of
being Christian. Written in a non-technical style, On Being Presbyterian is an unique
resource for assimilating and equipping believers.

"May prove to be one of the most important Presbyterian books in our generation...
useeful in training young and old, new  Christian and old warrior, lay person and
theologian, broad evangelical and lifetime Presbyterian."--George W. Robertson, Senior
Minister, First Presbyterian Church, Augusta, Georgia

In Robert Lewis Dabney: A Southern Presbyterian Life (2005), Sean Michael Lucas
suggests that contemporary appraisals of Dabney as either Presbyterian hero or
southern intransigent are too narrow. Rather, Lucas claims that Dabney is better
understood as a representative southern Presbyterian, who embodied many of the
contradictions and convictions of the postbellum era.

Ranging widely through published and archival sources, including the first use of
Dabney’s unpublished sermons, Lucas charts Dabney’s movements through his first
pastorate to Union Seminary in Virginia, from the battlefields of the Civil War to the
battleground of the postbellum culture war of the Reconstruction era. The result is a
fascinating look at a complex, complicated and sometimes contradictory public
intellectual who continues to exert influence in conservative Presbyterian circles today.

"If the remainder of the series on American Reformed Biographies measures up to the
standard set by Lucas, its readers will find themselves both gratified and edified."--T.
David Gordon, New Horizons

"Lucas's brisk, delightfully clear writing masks the great difficulty of his achievement. He
gets closer to the ideal of objectivity than Dabney's contemporaries--let alone Lucas's
own contemporaries--could probably imagine. This book is a tremendous feat of
scholarly labor and intellectual discipline."--David Chappell, Professor of History,
University of Arkansas; author, A Stone of Hope: Prophetic Religion and the Death of
Jim Crow.

A collection of essays from a wide-range of theologians, historians, and philosophers,
The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards (2003) charts new directions in Edwards studies.
Celebrating the tercentenary of Edwards' death, the editors have complied a valuable
assessment of the continuing importance of Jonathan Edwards to evangelical
Protestantism.

"Sean Lucas's essay, "He Cut up Edwardsism by the Roots," has an interesting and
stimulating twist when he suggests that southern Presbyterians, particularly Girardeau
and Dabney, in dismissing Edwards's supposed innovations left Baptists to be the
Southern heirs of Edwards. Also Lucas's final bibliographical essay discussing both
popular and academic works on Edwards provides a marvelous map to guide and
instruct an eager readership."--Tom J. Nettles, Founders Journal

“Its authors have paid Edwards the ultimate compliment of considering that his ideas
and arguments may have been not only interesting and influential, but also compelling,
applicable, and true.”--Michael J. McClymond, Church History

"Here is an essay collection that is thought-provoking and that gives a sense of the
breadth of Edwards' life and thought...This is a wonderful manual for personal and
church growth, both intellectual and spiritual."--Kenneth P. Minkema, executive editor,
The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Yale University