covenant magazine - [winter 2004]

The Magazine of Covenant Theological Seminary

It’s All in the Name

A Man Just Like Us

Closing the Great Divide

COVENANTVol. 19, No. 4 Winter 2004-2005

Truth, Fiction, and the Rise to Popularity of

The Da Vinci Code

COVENANT MAGAZINE Winter 2004-2005

Topping our Christmas tree each year is a plaster figurine of a

beautiful blond angel playing a flute. This little angel is precious

to my family for a couple of reasons: it reminds us of the angels

who heralded Jesus’ birth and it reminds us of the precious,

young woman who gave us the ornament years ago. Soon after

she gave us this gift, she was killed by a drunk driver. We were

young in the ministry when the tragedy occurred and it struck

us very hard. But through the tragedy some of the young woman’s friends re-examined

their lives and committed their hearts to the Lord. I rejoiced in receiving a Christmas

card from one of these individuals recently.

These new saints and their growing testimony helped change our church. We became

more sensitive, forgiving, and willing to let people grow in the Lord before judging them

harshly. We simply had paid too high a price as a church to claim these young people to

now be impatient with their new faith and frequent failures.

Surely this is the Lord’s attitude toward us as well. He who gave His Son for us

purchased us at too high of a price to now turn away from us for our immature faith

and still frequent failures. Even in our shame we are able to rest in the knowledge of

His love because the angels announced how precious was the One with whom the

Father bought us.

The message of Christmas is one of God loving us in spite of ourselves and of being

transformed by that grace. This is the message that we seek to keep central in all we do

at Covenant Seminary. In these pages of Covenant magazine, you will see pictures and

hear messages of grace that came through such a great sacrifice. Please pray for this

seminary and for the students as we seek to carry this message of great love, a great

price, and the great gift of faith to the next generation.

As you celebrate Christmas and welcome a new year, may the God who gave

His Son give you rest in His love, knowing that He never fails and that our eternity

is secure in Him.

2A Message for Nobodies

REV. GEORGE W. ROBERTSON

6A Man Just Like Us

Jonathan Edwards and Spiritual Formation for Ministerial Candidates

DR. SEAN LUCAS

16It’s All in the Name

Access Distance Education Opens a Unique Way for Students

to Tap into Seminary Studies

182004 Connect

Conference

20Closing the Great Divide

Alumna Helps Christians See Error in Sacred/Secular Split

– COVENANT TO THE WORLD –

24Truth, Fiction, and

the Rise to Popularity of The Da Vinci Code

– FRANCIS A. SCHAEFFER INSTITUTE –

CHRIS BRYAN

From the President

Volume 19, No. 4

Winter 2004-2005

Looking Back on the 2004Connect ConferenceOver 200 pastors and ministry leadersgathered in St. Louis this past Octoberfor Covenant Seminary’s 2004Connect Conference. The conference,themed Salt of the Earth, featuredtime for leaders to sharpen their skills,be renewed in their lives and callings,and just simply connect with each other.Read and see more on pages 18 and 19.

Intercessor 10

Alumni News 12

Events 14

Campus News 28

Student Profile 30

REV. GEORGE W. ROBERTSON

Pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church,

St. Louis, Mo., and Adjunct Professor

of Practical Theology

COVENANT MAGAZINE Winter 2004-2005 2

And there were shepherdsliving out in the fieldsnearby, keeping watchover their flocks at night. An angel of the Lordappeared to them, andthe glory of the Lordshone around them, and they were terrified.

A MESSAGEfor Nobodies

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you goodnews of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in thetown of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ theLord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrappedin cloths and lying in a manger.”

n his book No Little People, Francis Schaeffer

insisted that if Jesus Christ has made you His own,

then it is impossible for you to think of yourself

as insignificant.

If the demographics of our country are any

indication, we can safely say that many readers of

this publication have had deep disappointments.

We have suffered setbacks in business or not

attained the career goals we set for ourselves; we have been

through divorce or are children of divorce. Often, we are

tempted to think that we are rejected, to believe that we

are insignificant. Luke 2:8-20 offers an answer to this temp-

tation, an answer that is the core of the Christmas message.

In God’s family there are no “rejected,” “worthless,” or

“insignificant” people. There are no little people.

In Luke 2, an angel announces this truth to shepherds

watching over their flocks. The angel says, “Do not be afraid.

I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the

people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born

to you.” Then a great number of angels appeared, praising

God and declaring, “Glory to God in the highest, and on

earth peace to men on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14).

You may have heard this story many times. The shepherds,

praising God joyfully, go and find Jesus and then spread the

word, telling others what they have heard and seen.

A Message that Is the Same for Everybody

I recently received a letter in which a woman told me of

unimaginable abuse in her past. She described herself as the

www.covenantseminary.edu 3 Training Servants of the Triune God

A Message for Nobodies

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel,praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peaceto men on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherdssaid to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has hap-pened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, whowas lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the wordconcerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard itwere amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured upall these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned,glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen,which were just as they had been told. – LUKE 2:8-20

I


queen of self-condemnation and the duchess of others’

contempt. She wrote, “I have become a person of rage,

bitterness and self-hatred. People told me I was worthless,

they rejected me, and I believed them.” However, she went

on to write, “I am beginning to understand that this is not

true, that God loves me, that Christ died for me, and that

as I surrender my life more and more to Him I get it back

more and more. I’m set free, I’m given dignity.” This is such

a clear statement of God’s grace. God loves to take a nobody

and make them a somebody, giving them the message of

grace that is the same for everybody.

This is the story told in Luke 2:8-20.

Next to lepers, shepherds were the biggest

nobodies in Israel. Shepherds were

denied basic civil rights. They were

not permitted to testify in court, because

it was assumed that all shepherds were

dishonest. They were not allowed access

to the temple. They might have even

thought that God Himself rejected them.

It is to these men that the angel makes

his announcement, “Unto you a Savior

has been born.” Christ the Savior comes

to the nobodies. For nobodies He has

been born, and for nobodies He will die.

God Himself, no one less, announces

the same words to you. Christ was born

for you, and He has died for you. You

are not allowed to think of yourself as

insignificant, as worthless.

What is the response to such grace?

The response of the shepherds was to

worship God. Think of what you know

about worship. Worship inevitably transforms a person.

If you worship your house, you will find that you become as

worthless as your house. If you worship your career, you will

soon act like you are of no more worth than your career.

However, the Bible promises that when you worship Christ,

you become like Christ. God takes nobodies and transforms

them to be like Christ. If you are like Christ, nobody can

call you a nobody.

God could have announced the birth of His son to

any number of people. The religious experts of the day

were waiting, studying carefully, expecting the arrival

of the Messiah. There were others who were more socially

prestigious. The shepherds, however, were on God’s short

list. Other than Joseph, Mary and their immediate family,

shepherds were the first to know the good news. They

were the first to see the Savior after His birth. We cannot

simply assume that the shepherds were not devout men.

Like the religious experts, they might have been eager for

the consolation of Israel. We do now see clearly in the

passage, however, that the shepherds were aware of their

need. They recognized the good news so readily because

they were desperate for deliverance.

There is a true story of Francis Schaeffer walking in the

streets of France with a group of friends.

They passed a prostitute and Schaeffer

stopped and asked her, “How much?”

His friends were horrified but the woman

gave him her price. He replied, “No,

how much?” She gave her price again.

“I do not mean that,” he said. “I mean,

how much are you worth?” She did not

know how to answer such a question.

He explained that she was made in the

image of God, and that Christ had died

for sinners so they might have fellowship

with God. She was worth much more

than the price she had quoted. She

was worth the price of the blood of

the Savior.

A Free Message

Was she looking for this message?

Did she somehow deserve it, because

of something in herself? No more than

you or I. God found this woman, and

He found the shepherds, and He finds you and me. You

could have been born in another part of the world. You

could have died in your sleep last night. Those things could

have happened, but there is something actually happening.

That is certain. This message is being put before you right

now. God announces to you just as He announced to the

shepherds, “Christ the Savior has been born.”

Why should He bring that news to you, whether it is

the first time you have heard it or the thousandth time?

He brings this good news to you simply because He chooses

to, because He elected to. God predestined that you would

hear His good news right now. I use the word predestination

because it is used in the Bible. The Bible simply states it as

Often, we aretempted to think that we are rejected, to believe that we are insignificant.

fact: God chooses to bring His good news to those whom

He will. In fact, the Bible does not argue the point, it simply

offers a hymn of praise when God announces His good news.

Do you see what this means? God has chosen to bring

this announcement to you. You can be offended by it. You

can think that you somehow deserve it, and offend God with

your attitude. You can even waste your time trying to explain

all of the details. Or you can recognize that God has brought

this message to you for the praise of His glorious grace. He

delights in saying to people – to you – “Christ the Savior is

born for you.”

A Message to Share

Notice that once they embraced this

message, the shepherds could not resist

sharing it. What can we see from these

verses about the message that these men

shared? We know from the angel, in verse

10, that it is a message of joy. Do you give

the impression to others around you that

the Gospel is a message of joy? Paul said

that the good news of Christ is not a

matter of rules; it is about righteousness

and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Is there joy and laughter in your life?

Watching you, would the world suspect

that the Gospel is a message of great joy?

Secondly, we see that this message is for

all people. The angel told the shepherds

that the message was for all people, that

it would spread beyond the borders of

the Jewish nation. It was a message for

the Gentiles as well. The angel was

announcing the missionary heart of God.

One Sunday, a man pulled me aside to ask if I allow

former drug addicts to come to our church. I responded,

“Look at all of these people. All of these people are addicted

to something. They are addicted to their clothes, their cars,

their houses. They are addicted to their jobs, their children,

their egos, and their sin. This church is full of addicts, and

their pastor is no exception.” He began to smile, and I asked

him, “Do you feel at home now? Do not let the Sunday

clothes fool you. We are all messed up.”

The Gospel is the message of great joy for all people.

Do our churches welcome all people? Are we nervous about

inviting friends to church, that they will not be accepted?

If so, what are we doing in church – do we think we are

more acceptable than they are? Maybe the opposite is true.

Maybe we know how messed up we are and come hoping

that all of the other churchgoers, who have their lives

together, will rub off. Not a chance. We are all messed up,

but the Gospel is a message of kept promises. The shepherds

went to look for Jesus, and they found Him. Everything was

just as the angel had told them. We live in a society that

does not know the keeping of promises. When you hold out

Jesus to people, and they come to embrace Him, they will

find He is just exactly as the Bible says He is.

A Message of Salvation

A few years ago, I met a very dear elderly

woman in a nursing home. She told me

the story of how she, an African

American, was found as a baby on the

side of a railroad track by a rich Jewish

woman. The woman took her home and

raised her as her own daughter. She was

given everything she wanted, including

security and love, but the woman’s family

resented that this child had been brought

into their home. They persecuted this

little girl until, when she was a teenager,

she ran away from home.

For the rest of her life she had lived

with the regret that she could not find

the woman who had taken her in, who

had saved her. As she told her story,

I could only think of those who reject

the gracious knowledge that Jesus Christ

has come to save sinners. However, the

woman’s story did not stop there. She went on to tell us how

another Jew had found her, found her while she was trying

to reject everyone, and had announced to her: “I am Christ

the savior. I was born for you.” She had embraced Jesus as

her Savior, and she sang praises with us, announcing to us

the good news of the Gospel, just as she did with everyone

around her. This is the message that God delights in deliver-

ing over and over again. He takes nobodies and makes them

somebodies by His grace, and then gives them a message

that is for everybody, even for people like you and me.

This is the message of Christmas. n


God loves to take a nobody and make them a somebody, giving them themessage of gracethat is the same for everybody.

DR. SEAN LUCAS

Candidate Relations Coordinator

and Adjunct Professor in Church History


“Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.” – JAMES 5:17-18 NIV

A MAN Just Like Us

Jonathan Edwards portrait courtesy of the Billy Graham Center Museum, Wheaton, Ill.

Jonathan Edwards and the Spiritual Formation of Ministerial Candidates

et as difficult as it may be to

remember, there was a time when

Jonathan Edwards was not “Jonathan

Edwards.” There was a time when Edwards

was a Yale College student, preparing for

ministry. There was a time before the

Great Awakening, Religious Affections,

and Freedom of the Will made Edwards

a household name in colonial New England and a man with

an impact that carries on to this day.

As one reads the personal records that Edwards left

behind from this period, it seems clear that during those

days of anonymity Edwards struggled to know God and to

commune with Him, to mortify his sins and to live for God’s

glory. “He was not a saint by nature,” historian George M.

Marsden observed. “His spiritual life was often an immense

struggle. Despite his massive intellect and heroic disciplines,

he was, like everyone else, a person with frailties and contra-

dictions.” Yes, Edwards was “a man just like one of us.”1

The early period of Edwards’ life still serves as a witness

to the Church as we consider the process of spiritual forma-

tion for ministerial candidates. Both in its positive and nega-

tive aspects, Edwards’ spirituality during these early years

teaches important lessons about how we as Christians and

particularly as Christian leaders should live for God’s glory.

Seek God with Your Whole Being

If anything could be said about Edwards’ approach to spiritu-

ality during his preparatory years, it would be that he sought

God wholeheartedly. A good summary of Edwards’ spirit-

uality can be found in his diary entry from January 14, 1723,

where he daydreamed about what the ideal Christian would

look like and resolved to strive to be such a believer in his

own age. In Edwards’ famous resolutions, he expressed his

Puritan determination to live every moment wholly for God.

For example, Edwards “Resolved, never to lose one moment

of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly

can”; “Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live”;

“Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself (as much

happiness in the other world), as I possibly can, with all

the power, might, vigor, vehemence, yea violence, I am

capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that

can be thought of.” Whatever else could be said about

Edwards’ spirituality, it was certainly intense.2

Perhaps Edwards believed that the Christian life demand-

ed such a wholehearted application because he was so aware

of the deceitfulness of his own heart and the prevalence of

his sins. Edwards saw his chief besetting sin to be pride. A

mature Edwards later admitted that “I am greatly afflicted

with a proud and self-righteous spirit; much more sensibly,

than I used to be formerly. I see that serpent rising and

putting forth its head, continually, everywhere, all around

me.” Even in his diary, recorded while he was supplying a

Presbyterian church pulpit in New York, Edwards recognized

his great battle with pride. “How hateful is a proud man!”

he exclaimed, “How hateful is a worm that lifts up itself with

pride! What a foolish, silly, miserable, blind, deceived, poor


A Man Just Like Us

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) is often called America’s theologian. Borninto a pastor’s family as one of eleven children, he grew up to serve as a solopastor in Northampton, Mass., for 21 years, and worked for seven years as amissionary to native Americans in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. EvangelicalChristians typically revere Edwards as a Great Awakener, as a brilliant theologian, and as a “Protestant patron saint.”

Y


worm am I, when pride works!”3

Edwards’ proud spirit manifested itself primarily in

argument with others. He recognized that he had “a certain

inclination” to “too much dogmaticalness, too much of the

egotism.” This dogmatic spirit apparently led to sins of anger

and rash speech. In one diary entry on July 1, 1723, Edwards

“resolved for the future to observe rather more of meekness,

moderation, and temper in disputes.” Two and a half weeks

after this, on July 18, 1723, Edwards recorded, “Resolved to

endeavor to make sure of that sign the apostle James gives

of a perfect man, Jas. 3:2, ‘If any man offend not in word,

the same is a perfect man, and able also

to bridle the whole body.’”4

As Edwards warred against these sins,

he sought God with his entire being.

He craved the “inward, sweet delight in

God and divine things” that he had

experienced around 1721, a year after he

graduated from Yale. Edwards continued

to immerse himself in Scripture, in which

he had “the greatest delight.” Edwards

later observed that during these years as

a ministerial candidate, “oftentimes in

reading [Scripture], every word seemed

to touch my heart.” His view of God

expanded as he began to delight in the

nature of God. He gained “a sweet sense

of the glorious majesty and grace of God

that I know not how to express. I seemed

to see them both in a sweet conjunction:

majesty and meekness joined together: it

was a sweet and gentle, and holy majesty;

and also a majestic meekness; and awful

sweetness; a high, and great, and holy gentleness.”5

This longing for God’s presence connected with a

passionate desire for holiness. “I felt in me a burning desire

to be in everything a complete Christian.” For Edwards,

who struggled with pride, angry words, and a dogmatic spirit,

the holiness that he sought with his whole being appeared to

be quite contrary and almost unattainable. Yet he sought it

with his whole being. He believed that without holiness, one

could not and would not see God and know His presence.6

Understand That You Belong Completely to God

While Edwards was serving the Presbyterian church in New

York, he underwent a solemn renewal of the promises made

for him in his baptism. This dedication to God involved

every facet of Edwards’ being: “I can challenge no right in

this understanding, this will, these affections that are in me;

neither have I any right to this body, or any of its members:

no right to this tongue, these hands, nor feet; no right to

these senses, these eyes, these ears, this smell or taste. I have

given myself clear away...I have been to God this morning

and told him that I gave myself wholly to him.”7

This time of self-dedication to God made a deep

impression on Edwards. Around this same period, Edwards

preached a sermon on “dedication to God.” He held that the

“offering up ourselves to God” was the

“greatest of all the duties of a Christian.”

Edwards’ most compelling reason for

dedication to God was that “if you give

yourself to God, he will also give himself

to you. You give yourself to him to be his

servant; he will give himself to you to be

your portion and everlasting happiness,

and thereby you are sure of eternal glory,

because the infinite source and fountain

of eternal glory is yours already.”8

This understanding that he belonged

wholly to God provided Edwards with a

firm grounding for certainty and assur-

ance. At one point in his sermon, he

proclaimed that those who were wholly

given to God “may [be] certain of his

love and favor, certain of his guidance in

all your ways, certain that no evil shall

befall you, certain that whatever befalls

you is for your good.” Edwards realized

that confidence that God in Christ is

working all things together for our salvation enables us to

“lie and rest quietly and securely in the midst of storms and

tempests, fearing nothing, knowing that you are in God’s

hands where nothing can hurt you.”9

Remember That Holiness Is by Grace

With all of his “violent” striving for holiness, Edwards some-

times seemed to exemplify the temptation to gain holiness

by works, rather than by grace. His diary was filled with

reproachful reminders that his spiritual condition depended

upon self-denial in eating, drinking, and sleeping; that he

was not properly using his time for God’s glory; and that he

needed to devote even more time to private prayer. By focus-

In Edwards’ famous resolutions, he expressed his Puritan determination to live every momentwholly for God.

ing on these exercises of self-denial, by turning his gaze

inward, Edwards’ religious feelings ebbed and flowed.

Over a two week period at the end of 1722, his spirituality

ran the gamut. Such reporting went on throughout his

diary, marking his spiritual temperature. By engaging in

this introspective spirituality at this point in his life,

Edwards appeared to conflate his wholehearted pursuit

of God’s glory with right standing with God.10

To be fair, at his best moments (or moments of frustration

with his rigorous spiritual practice) Edwards recognized that

his sanctification would only progress through the work of

the Holy Spirit. Around the same time

Edwards renewed his baptismal covenant

and gave himself anew to God, he also

confessed in his diary that “I find by

experience, that let me make resolutions,

and do what I will, with never so many

inventions, it is all nothing, and to no

purpose at all, without the motions of the

Spirit of God.”11

In addition, Edwards later recognized

that his constant self-examination and

scheming for holiness occurred “with too

great a dependence on my own strength;

which afterwards proved a great damage

to me.” As Edwards continued on in the

Christian life he learned two things: “my

extreme feebleness and impotence, every

manner of way; and the innumerable and

bottomless depths of secret corruption

and deceit, that there was in my heart.”

The only true solution to remaining sin

was not self-willed striving, but “a more

full and constant sense of the absolute sovereignty of God,

and a delight in that sovereignty…[and] more of a sense of

the glory of Christ, as a mediator, as revealed in the gospel.”

If Edwards was to make any progress in the Christian life,

it was due solely to the work of God’s Spirit motivated by

God’s amazing grace and rooted in God’s glorious Gospel.12

The Fruit of the Spirit Is Love for God and Others

Edwards’ spirituality focused on love for God and others

as the chief mark of the Christian life. As a supply preacher

in New York, Edwards tried to put his love for God into

language. In one sermon, Edwards tried to persuade his

congregation to give themselves in love to Christ. The

chief motivation to do so was “the loveliness of Christ”

Himself. Unlike human loves that can be alloyed with

impure motives or faulty objects, “the love of Christ is the

love of that which is truly above all things excellent and

lovely, and therefore the pleasures that result from it must

be solid, real, substantial, and never fading.” Only by giving

oneself in love to Jesus Christ did one experience a union

that was “more intimate than between any other lovers.”13

Importantly in light of the sins with which Edwards

struggled, love for God would manifest itself in character

qualities toward others such as humility and gentleness.

Edwards certainly longed for humility

to replace his pride, and he talked about

that virtue in terms that paralleled his

discussion of love. “How immensely

more pleasant is an humble delight,

than a high thought of myself!” Edwards

exclaimed in his diary. “O, how much

more pleasanter is humility than pride!

O, that God would fill me with exceeding

great humility, and that he would

evermore keep me from all pride!

The pleasures of humility are really

the most refined, inward and exquisite

delights in the world.” Likewise, Edwards

esteemed gentleness as a character trait

that others would see. He lamented in

his diary that “a virtue, which I need

in a higher degree, to give a beauty and

luster to my behavior is gentleness. If I

had more of an air of gentleness, I should

be much mended.”14

Edwards never deviated from this

basic approach to spiritual formation that he developed in

his years of ministerial preparation. Those seeking to serve

as pastors in Christ’s Church can learn important lessons

from Jonathan Edwards, because he was just like one of us.

May God grant that our heartbeat would become more like

his: that we might become those who seek the presence of

God by offering ourselves wholeheartedly to God out of a

passionate love for God and others, the evidence of which

will be humble reliance upon God’s sovereign grace and a

gentle spirit with God’s people. n

Please see page 29 for footnotes.


If Edwards was tomake any progress in the Christian life,it was due solely tothe sovereign work of God’s Spiritmotivated by God’samazing grace...

O Lord, support us all the daylong of this troubled life, untilthe shadows lengthen and theevening comes and the busyworld is hushed, the fever oflife is over, and our work isdone. Then, Lord, in yourmercy grant us safe lodgingand a holy rest and peace atlast; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.1

theIN

TER

CES

SOR

As Covenant Seminary exists to train servants of the triune God to walk with God, to interpret and communicate God’s Word,and to lead God’s people, we recognize the importance of prayerto guide and continue the mission.

While much of our training takes place in one geographic area as students relocate for study, the mission continues in the lifetime of ministry that the Lord grants as people continue on from Covenant Seminary. Therefore prayer for the seminary and its mission comes with a local, national, and global scope.

We are grateful for your prayers for Covenant Seminary. We hope that this prayer calendar that can be prayed throughduring the autumn months will help focus your thoughts and prayers for the seminary, its students and alumni. As the color key indicates, the dark squares share campus concerns, the medium squares national concerns, and the white squares international concerns.

1 Lutheran Worship, (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing

House, 1982), 267.

WINTERPray for peace in Iraq andfor salvation among thepeople. Give thanks forthe service of ChaplainsSeth George (currentTh.M.), Anthony Reed(M.Div.’03), Steve Prost(M.Div.’03), as they areserving in or have recentlyreturned from Iraq. Prayfor Chaplain Matt Temple(M.Div.’03) who will bedeployed to Iraq inJanuary.

Pray for the StudentMission FellowshipConference that will be held from Feb. 7 to 11, 2005. Pray that the conference would help students see how they can encourage the congregations they willserve to be mobilized forGod’s world mission.

Praise the Lord for Hispursuing love despite His people’s unfaithfulness:“Come, let us return to theLord. He has torn us topieces but he will heal us;he has injured us but hewill bind up our wounds”(Hosea 6:1).

Pray for ministers of theGospel that you knowthroughout the world.Pray that the Lord wouldfeed them as they seek to feed their flock. Askthat He would provide asupport system of encour-agement among leadersthat would guard againstburnout and loneliness.

Pray for the Sacrifice ofPraise Worship Renewalconference to be held oncampus from Feb. 28 toMar. 2, 2005. Pray thatthe pastors, worship lead-ers, and musicians gather-ing for this event willleave better equipped tospur others on towardGospel-centered worship.

Pray for the pastors fromacross the U.S. who areparticipating in the PastorsSummit program led byCovenant, Westminster,and Reformed Seminaries.Pray for this new programwhose purpose is to equip,renew, and encourage pastors and to serve thenext generation.

Pray for the Access dis-tance education studentswho will gather on campusin January for a one-weekresidency. Pray that thepersonal interaction withfaculty members and otherstudents would furthertheir studies, deepen theirgrasp of God’s grace, andsharpen their ability tocommunicate with others.

Praise God for using His people in His grandpurposes. “As you come to him, the Living Stone –rejected by men but cho-sen by God and preciousto him – you also, like living stones, are beingbuilt into a spiritual houseto be a holy priesthood,offering spiritual sacrificesacceptable to God throughJesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:4-5).

Pray for students as theybreak at Christmastime.Pray that this time wouldbe restful, and providemeaningful moments withfamily and friends. Ask theLord to refresh students forthe Spring semester.

Pray for Kirk Adkission(M.Div.’04) who wasrecently called to plant a church in Boulder, Colo.Pray that God would useKirk to bring the riches of His Gospel to the poor,downcast, and self-assuredof this city.

Pray for the individualsand families across theU.S. who are consideringattending CovenantSeminary next year. Pray for the Lord’s guidance in this decision-making process and thatHe would use this time to prepare the Fall 2005incoming class.

Pray for alumni in Floridaand other places in theSoutheast who are leadingchurches in disaster reliefdue to this past summer’shurricanes. Pray that theywould receive grace tominister to people bothphysically and spiritually.

Praise God that Christ will come in glory saying,“Come, you who areblessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared foryou since the creation ofthe world” (Mt. 25:34).

Pray for Dr. Greg Perry,Adjunct Professor ofBiblical Studies, as heserves on the Board ofThird MillenniumMinistries. Pray that Dr. Perry and all involvedin this ministry would see much fruit in seekingto provide theologicaltraining in countries wheresuch resources are sparse.

Praise God for the faithfulservice of the CovenantSeminary Board ofTrustees. Pray that Godwould give them discern-ment as they make impor-tant decisions regardingfuture plans for CovenantSeminary. Pray for God to bless them as they have blessed manythrough their efforts asBoard members.

Ask God to use the Spring Francis A.Schaeffer Lecture Series on hospitality totransform His people intoa welcoming haven for all kinds of people. Praythat God would challengethose attending to makeroom in their lives for thepractice of hospitality.

Pray for the recently elected leadership of theU.S. Pray that God woulduse the men and womenin government to bringabout justice and right-eousness in the U.S., aswell as internationally.Pray for renewal for theChurch in her attitudes,submission, and prayerregarding our nationalgovernment.

Praise God for the fulfillment of His promisesin Christ: “For to us achild is born, to us a son is given, and the govern-ment will be on his shoul-ders. And he will be calledWonderful Counselor,Mighty God, EverlastingFather, Prince of Peace”(Isa. 9:6).

Pray for Steve Jamieson(M.Div.’04) as he takes onhis new role as Referenceand Systems Librarian forCovenant Seminary. Praythat Steve would havewisdom from the Lord toenable His service in thelibrary and that the entirelibrary team would see theadvancement of God’sKingdom in their work.

Pray for Dr. Jay Sklar’swork on a Leviticus commentary. Pray that the Lord would enablehim to write in a way thatis greatly beneficial forpastors and teachers.

Praise the Lord for Dr. Hans Bayer’s continuing commitmentto serve the church ofEurope even across themiles. Give thanks for Dr. Bayer’s recent opportu-nity to teach for RigaTheological Seminary in Latvia. Pray that thisteaching time would bear fruit even now.

Pray for CovenantSeminary professors whoare caring for aging parentsover great geographicaldistances and for Mrs.Mary Pat Peterson, wife of Dr. Robert Peterson, as she faithfully cares forDr. Peterson’s ailing fatheron a daily basis.

Pray for the CovenantSeminary graduates serving in theNorthwestern UnitedStates that they wouldhave patience in the long,slow growth of Gospelministry in that area.Praise the Lord for all the growing number of alumni serving inWashington State.

M.Div. Master of Divinity; M.A. Master of Arts; M.A.C. Master of Arts in Counseling; G.C. Graduate Certificate; Th.M. Master of Theology; D.Min. Doctor of Ministry

Sat/Sun Praise Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday


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Campus National International

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Give thanks for the opportunity Drs. BryanChapell and NelsonJennings recently had tomeet with an AnglicanBishop from Sudan. Pray for peace and justice in the country of Sudanand healing for the manypeople there who have suffered greatly.

2004-2005

Jim Drexler (M.Div.’84) beganserving as Education DepartmentChair at Covenant College thispast August. The Drexlers live inChattanooga, Tenn., where Jim’swife Sara assists in the guidancecounselor’s office for ChattanoogaChristian School. Two of theDrexler children, Julie and John,attend Chattanooga ChristianSchool. Their oldest child, MaryCatherine, is in her senior year ofstudies at Covenant College andson Nate is spending a semesteraboard Mercy Ships.

Two plays written by Eddy Lee(M.A.G.T.S.’93) were performedby Stage Presence Playhouse this past fall in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia. Eddy is a Director/Producer for Stage PresencePlayhouse.

The Craig Barnard (M.Div.’96)family would like to praise Godfor the Covenant family’s faithful-ness in prayer and for the Lord’sgracious answers to those prayers.Craig survived an acute case ofpancreatitis in early 2004 and isrecovering. He remains on staff as youth director of Main StreetPresbyterian Church inColumbus, Miss.

Christopher Pierce(M.A.G.T.S.’96) has been calledand installed as the rector ofEmmanuel Reformed EpiscopalChurch, Somerville, N.J.Christopher and his wife have sixchildren who are all doing well.

Paul Rawlins (M.A.C.’97) wasmarried to Courtney Robertsonon May 8, 1994, at CentralPresbyterian Church in St. Louis,Missouri. Pastor Brett Eubank(M.Div.’03) officiated and DougMerkey (M.Div.’01), James Kim(M.Div.’00), Chad Brewer

(M.Div.’00), and Phil Rowland(M.Div.’01) participated.

Caleb Ludwick (M.A.G.T.S.’99)has begun serving as MarketingIntelligence Manager withTricycle, a startup company thatworks with the carpet industry inthe U.S. and Europe. Tricycle islocated in Chattanooga, Tenn.,where Caleb and his family live.

Jamie Johns (M.A.G.T.S.’99)recently received a doctorate from the University of Edinburgh.Jamie serves as assistant professorof Christianity for HoustonBaptist University.

Mandy Brown (M.A.C.’00) was married to Mike McBride on September 11, 2004, inAtlanta, Ga., at WestminsterPresbyterian Church. Cora DoddTaylor (M.A.C.’00) and NaomiRaines Oosting (M.A.C.’99)served as attendants. John Gullet (M.Div.’02) officiated.Mandy serves as a therapist forTransitional Family Services in Atlanta.

Cora Dodd (M.A.C.’00) wasmarried to Mark Taylor onOctober 9, 2004. ChristineBurkley Gordon (M.A.’03),Karsee Taylor Parr (M.A.C.’02),and Mandy Brown McBride(M.A.C.’00) served as attendants.The Taylors were married atGrace and Peace Fellowship in St. Louis and Pastor KurtLutjens (M.Div.’82) officiated.Cora serves as a case worker and counselor for BJC HealthSystems in St. Louis and is begin-ning part-time work with Cross-roads Christian Counseling.

Allen Vargo (M.Div.’00) wasinstalled as Assistant Pastor atNorthpointe Presbyterian Church

in Meridian, Miss., on August 29,2004. Allen and his wife, Lynetteextend their thanks to theCovenant Seminary communityfor continued prayers during these past three years followingthe complicated birth of theirdaughter Grace Ann. (GraceAnn was born three months premature.) Praise the Lord with the Vargos for Grace Ann’sgrowth and development. GraceAnn is a healthy, active, inquisi-tive three-year-old.

Jon Dunning (M.Div.’01) wasordained as Associate Pastor ofOak Hills Presbyterian Church inOverland Park, Kan., on June 5,2004. Dr. Mark Dalbey preachedfor the service and Russ Ramsey(M.Div.’00, Th.M.’02) and Rev.Tony Felich (M.Div.’98) also participated. Russ is the seniorpastor of Oak Hills. Jon and hiswife Tricia celebrated the birth of Lucy Ellen, their first child, on July 22, 2004.

Phil (M.Div.’01) and Mary(M.Div.’02) Moren are now living in Memphis, Tenn., wherePhil serves as Pastor of Singles for Hope Presbyterian Church.The Morens recently welcomedsons Jordan (6) and Jarvis (3)into their family through adop-tion. The Morens are grieving,yet rejoicing, in the homegoing of Mary’s grandmother, MaryEdwards (d. Oct. 10, 2004), who was the wife of long-timeseminary board member PresleyEdwards, and Mary’s great auntConn (d. Sept. 26, 2004) whowas also a faithful supporter ofCovenant Seminary.

This past October, Jose Figueroa(M.Div.’02) accepted a call toserve as the Reformed University

Campus Minister for the Florida International Universityin Miami. Jose and his wife Laura have two children, Adelita (2) and Lucas (born in February 2003).

Dr. David Calhoun, Professor of Church History, and Dr. HansBayer, Associate Professor of New Testament, participated inthe ordination of Nicolas Farelly(Th.M.’02) and Joel Rinn(M.Div.’03) in Paris on June 26,2004. Dr. Bayer gave a charge tothe candidates and Dr. Calhoundelivered a sermon on 2Corinthians 4. Nicolas and hiswife Alison are ministering inParis and Joel and his wife Jessicaserve in Ferarra, Italy. Both menare missionaries with PresbyterianMissions International. Nicolasand Joel were ordained in theInternational PresbyterianChurch. Among those in atten-dance were, Mark (M.Div.’92)and Marti Mylin, Wade Bradshaw(formerly of the Francis A.Schaeffer Institute), and SashaBukovietski (M.Div.’03).

Brad Wright (M.Div.’02) hasbeen called to serve as AssistantPastor for Grace PresbyterianChurch in Woodlands, Texas. He began serving there this past October.

Jennifer Maurizio (M.A.C.’03)was married to Joel Lohr inDecatur, Ill., on November 8,2003. Her husband is the pastorof Old Stonington BaptistChurch in Stonington, Ill., where they now reside. Jenniferworks as a guidance counselor at Argenta-Oreana High School and Junior High. JoEllen Borgos(M.A.T.S.’02) and Megan Philip(M.A.C.’02) participated in the wedding.


ALUMNInew

s

If you have information for Alumni News, please mail it to Covenant Magazineor e-mail Alumni News: [email protected]

Dan Adamson (M.Div.’04) was ordained August 8, 2004, as Assistant Pastor for All SoulsFellowship in Decatur, Ga., whereShayne Wheeler (M.Div.’97) isSenior Pastor. Dan and His wifeLynda have three children: Emily,Ben, and Joey.

Allen Cooney (M.Div.’04) and Matt Uldrich (M.Div.,M.A.C.’03) were ordained andinstalled to serve on the pastoralstaff of Catalina Foothills Churchin Tucson, Ariz., on SundayOctober 24, 2004. Allen serves as Assistant Pastor and Mattserves as Director of Pastoral Care. Dr. Donald Guthrie, Vice President for Academics,gave the sermon.

Filling the Quiver

David (M.A.G.T.S.’98) andJennifer Owens Brown(M.A.G.T.S.’99) welcomed

Thelma Dulcea “Dulce” into the world on September 14, 2004.David serves as the Assistant tothe Director of the Physical Plantfor Covenant Seminary. Prior tothe birth of Dulce, Jennifer wasworking with an architecture firm in St. Louis.

Clark Madison joined the familyof Howard (M.Div.’98) andKellie Brown on November 20,2003. Clark was also greeted bybig brother Harrison (2). Howardserves as Church Planting Pastorof Christ Central Church inCharlotte, N.C., with GeorgioHiatt (M.Div.’00).

Wilson Edward was born to Chris (M.Div.’99) and Carol(Bilbo) (M.A.G.T.S.’99) Clarkon July 4, 2004. Wilson joins his brother, Bennett. Chris isResident Director of FoundersCenter at Covenant College inLookout Mountain, Georgia.

David (M.Div.’99) and KellyRogers celebrated the birth ofLiliana Grace on August 15,2004. This is the Rogers fifthchild. David serves as organizingpastor at Faith CommunityChurch (PCA) in LaPorte,Indiana.

Livia Raine Melissa Tredway was born on May 7, 2004, andadopted into the Jeremy(M.A.G.T.S.’00) and RebeccaTredway family on June 26, 2004.

Baby Samuel James joined theJohn (M.Div.’02) and BeverlyGullett family this past summerthrough adoption. John serves asPastor of Princeton PresbyterianChurch in Johnson City, Tenn.

Chris (M.Div.’01,Th.M.’03) and Robyn (M.A.T.S.’01)Richardson celebrated the birthof Avery Ann on August 5, 2004.Avery joins big brother Wyatt.

The Richardsons live inAberdeen, Scotland, where Chris is pursuing a Ph.D. in NewTestament at the University ofAberdeen. Recently Chris wasasked to teach and tutor in NewTestament within the Depart-ment of Divinity and ReligiousStudies. This fall semester, he isresponsible for the Greek tutorialsin the Gospel of John course forundergraduate divinity students.

Heath (M.Div.’02) andShawna (M.A.T.S.’02) Kahlbaucelebrated the birth of Noah John on Saturday, July 24, 2004.Heath serves as Pastor of FaithFellowship in Dothan, Ala.

Correction from Fall 2004

Kor Van As’s baby girl Mischawas born on April 20, 2004 rather than 2003.


DATE: June 22 to July 2, 2005

HOSTED BY: Dr. Bryan and Mrs. Kathy Chapell

Trace the path of God’s

mighty work in the early

Church as Covenant

Seminary President

Dr. Bryan Chapell leads

a teaching tour along the

Pathways of Paul. Stops

along the way will include Athens and Corinth.

Additionally a beautiful Aegean Sea cruise will make

stops at six ports including Ephesus, Patmos, and

Santorini. Make plans now to spend part of your sum-

mer being renewed in the fellowship of other believers,

the study of God’s Word, and the beauty of Greece.

Greece 2005 Tour

PATHWAYSof Paul

DATE: July 25 to 29, 2005

CO-SPONSORED BY: Covenant Theological Seminary

and Ridge Haven Conference and Retreat Center

Plan your family vacation in the North Carolina

mountains, surrounded by the beauty of God’s

creation and immersed in delightful Bible teaching

by Covenant Seminary professors. This conference

provides an opportunity

for Covenant families,

both parents and chil-

dren, to explore God’s

gracious covenant and

what it means for daily

living as a family today.

The Covenant

FAMILYConference

CALL 1.800.903.4044 FOR MORE INFORMATION

EVENTSGatherings, Conferences

Spring 2005 Francis A. Schaeffer Lectures

Making Room: The Mystery, Riches, and Challenge of Christian HospitalitySPEAKERS INCLUDE: Andi Ashworth, Author of Real Love for Real Life;

Charlie Peacock, Author, Singer/Songwriter, Producer; Christine Pohl, Author

of Making Room: Recovering the Practice of Christian Hospitality; Michael

Gordon, Pastoral Assistant, Grace and Peace Fellowship, St. Louis, Mo.

DATE: February 25 to 26, 2005

CONFERENCE FEE: $15.00 (Free for alumni, current students, and staff)

In a society that struggles with fragmentation and loneliness,

the practice of Christian hospitality becomes all the more

refreshing and needed for the friends and strangers among us.

But while hospitality sounds like a great idea to some, it may

sound overwhelming to others.

How do busy people “make room” for the practice of Christian

hospitality? How does hospitality differ from entertaining? What

does God’s Word teach about the role of hospitality in the life

of believers? How do the home and the church work in concert

offering spiritual nurture through hospitality? Come hear a

group of speakers with a wealth of wisdom on this topic

discuss these issues and gain a vision for hospitality in

your home today.

Spring 2005

Student Mission FellowshipConferenceSPEAKER: Daniel Oh, Director of Intercultural Ministries

for OC International

DATE: February 7 to 11, 2005

Every year Covenant Seminary’s Student Mission Fellowship

organizes a conference to help promote concern for, commit-

ment to, and involvement in God’s world mission. This year’s

conference speaker is Daniel Oh who will address leadership

development and local church mobilization as it relates to world

mission. The lectures associated with this conference are open

to the public.

Save the Date!

ONEYimi Summer ConferenceDATE: June 20 to 25, 2005

This summer, Covenant Seminary’s Youth in

Ministry Institute (Yimi) will bring together high

school students from across the nation to help them

grow in their view of God, themselves, others, and the

entire world. The week will explore a Biblical under-

standing of one truth, one Lord, and one Church

while seeing the implications for this teaching in

everyday life. The conference will take place on the

campus of Covenant Seminary and will include

intense thinking, serious questions, fun, small

group interaction, and ministry trips to learn

through experience. A special Youth Leader

track (staff or volunteer) will also be offered.

More information will be available in early 2005.

E-mail [email protected] to be added to the

conference mailing list.

These events are open to the public and are offered free or for a minimal charge. To learn more about any of

these events, please log on towww.covenantseminary.edu

or call 1.800.903.4044.

Please join us.


Lifetime of MinistryLecture SeriesRegister online for any of these two- to five-day ministry enrichment courses. As part of the Lifetime of Ministry program, these classes can be audited* for a minimal fee.

IslamINSTRUCTOR: Carl Ellis, President of Project Joseph,

and co-author of The Changing Face of Islam in America

DATE: January 3 to 7, 2005

Registration open until December 22, 2004, or

while spaces remain available.

Women’s MinistryINSTRUCTORS: Judy Dabler, Executive Director

of the Center for Biblical Counseling and Education,

St. Louis, Mo., and Tasha Chapman, experienced leader

of women’s ministries

DATE: January 6 and 7, 2005

Registration open until January 4, 2005, or while

spaces remain available.

Covenantal Nurture of the FamilyINSTRUCTOR: Scotty Smith, Senior Pastor of Christ

Community Church, Nashville, Tenn.




IsaiahINSTRUCTOR: Dr. Ray Ortlund, Jr., Senior Pastor

of Christ Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tenn., and

author of a forthcoming commentary on Isaiah to

be published by Crossway Books




Church-Based Immigrant/Refugee MinistryINSTRUCTORS: Dr. Nelson Jennings and others

DATE: January 14 and 15, 2005



*non-transcript audit


Covenant Seminary Worship Renewal Conference

February 28 to March 2, 2005

the SACRIFICE of PRAISE

SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

Bryan ChapellPresident of Covenant Theological Seminary

Reggie KiddAssociate Prof. of New Testament, Reformed Theological Seminary

Jonathan SedaPastor of Grace Presbyterian Church, Dover, Del.

Scotty SmithPastor of Christ Community Church, Franklin, Tenn.

Hughes Oliphant OldDean of the Institute of Reformed Worship at Erskine Seminary

Come be renewed as you gather with pastors, worship leaders,

and musicians to learn from each other about worship that its

Gospel-centered, Biblical, and Reformed. This conference will

help you address current issues in worship, think about worship

in your church context, and see how your congregation can grow

in bringing the sacrifice of praise.

Watch your mail or logon to www.covenantseminary.edu

for more information.

This program is made possible through a Worship Renewal Grant from the Calvin Institute of

Christian Worship, Grand Rapids, Michigan, with funds provided by Lilly Endowment, Inc.


Twice a year a group of students arrive at Covenant Seminary who may havenever before set foot on campus. But if they run into Dr. Hans Bayer, Dr. David Calhoun, Prof. Jerram Barrs, or a number of seminary professors,they could strike up a deep conversation about a recent class lecture. Theseare Access students and they have enrolled in seminary without relocatingusing the technology of video and audio recording as well as the telephone

and Internet. Most take time out oftheir otherwise busy lives to investin a wide range of seminary courses.Some even take their vacation daysto study intensively for one week oncampus during Access Residency.

It’s All in THE NAME

Access Distance Education Opens a Unique Way for Students to Tap into Seminary Studies

Covenant Seminary’s Access distance education was developed to share seminary resources on a wider level. In 2001 the seminary was accredited to offer not only individual courses, but an entire degree (Master of Arts in Theological Studies) through Access.

At a recent Access Residency, Mimi Larson (left), Jorge Reynardus (middle), and Mike Parish (right)shared a bit about their lives and their learning as non-traditional students with Access. These are their stories.

Mimi LarsonOccupation: DIRECTOR OF CHILDREN’S MINISTRIES

Hometown: WHEATON, ILL.

Home Church: NAPERVILLE PRESBYTERIAN

Mimi Larson oversees about 200 volunteers in her

role as Director of Children’s Ministries for Naperville

Presbyterian Church and those volunteers touch the lives of

over 650 children through the year. That’s why Mimi takes

her position so seriously.

A few years ago Mimi began to sense her need for deeper

theological training. “The curriculum I develop almost daily

is a translation of wonderful Biblical and theological truths

into language and concepts that are on a child’s level,”

Mimi says. “If I was going to grow in serving the church,

I needed to become more equipped theologically to do that

job of translating.”

At that point Mimi enrolled in the Master of Arts

in Theological Studies program at Covenant Seminary

through Access. “I was not able to leave Naperville to get

the training I needed, so I had to have a program that

would come to me.”

During a recent Access Residency week at Covenant

Seminary, Mimi said that through her Access courses she

has been learning to address the heart of the matter when

it comes to teaching children. “So much of the curriculum

that is available for teaching children and adults in the

church really only addresses behavior, not the motivations

behind our behavior,” Mimi says. “But my Covenant

Seminary courses are helping me teach Biblical truths to

children with the goal that these truths will be woven

into their souls as they grow and face life in this world.”

Mike Parish Occupation: LONG-RANGE SCHEDULER FOR

COMMANDER SUBMARINE FORCE U.S. PACIFIC FLEET

Hometown: MILILANI, HAWAII

Home Church: TRINITY CHURCH, CENTRAL OAHU

When Mike Parish is not charting courses for Navy sub-

marines, he uses some of his time to work with his pastor

to chart out a course for starting a theological seminary

in Hawaii. “Hawaii is a long way from the U.S. mainland,”

says Mike. “And it is difficult to attend a good seminary in

the States when you are coming from such a distance.”

For now, Mike’s seminary training comes to him. He

enrolled in Covenant Seminary to gain seminary training

personally and gain a better understanding of what it would

take to offer similar training to Christian leaders in Hawaii.

“There will probably always be some distance learning

component to a seminary in Hawaii, but we would like

to figure out a creative way to facilitate training in Hawaii

like that available through seminaries on the mainland,”

Mike says.

Mike is not waiting for a Hawaiian seminary to be born

to pass on his training. Right now he invites anyone from

his church who would like to join him to watch Access video

courses at home with him. “We are basically having a Bible

study on steroids,” Mike says. “My pastor joins us to answer

our questions and I get the benefit of interacting with others

after each lecture.”

In four years Mike plans to retire from his work with the

Navy. Hopefully at that point, the course he and his pastor

are charting for a Hawaiian seminary will continue to devel-

op and Mike will be able to share even more of the training

he is receiving through Covenant Seminary.

Jorge ReynardusOccupation: CIVIL LITIGATOR FOR HOLLAND AND KNIGHT LLP

Hometown: MIAMI, FLA.

Home Church: PINELANDS PRESBYTERIAN

Jorge Reynardus lives the life of a fast-paced civil litigator

in Miami, Florida. Yet he still finds time to invest not only

in his work, but also in the people with whom he works.

Jorge meets with a group of fellow lawyers weekly for a time

of discipleship and Bible study. “These men are from all

walks of life, but there is one place they must come everyday:

work,” Jorge says. “We spend a lot of time together and I

have seen that I have co-workers who want to grow in a

newly born relationship with God or who want to deepen

their faith and walk together in doing so.” Jorge and his

small group get away on Monday evenings to talk about

God, His Word, and how it applies to their lives.

Jorge is also continuing on a path of theological learning.

That path brought him to enroll in Covenant Seminary

Access courses to study at a level previously not available

to him. “I was being mentored by a man in theology and

he eventually told me, ‘I have taught you what I have to

teach you. You need to sign up for seminary.’”

Although Jorge was already familiar with many of the

books on his seminary reading list, he is grateful to be able

to study this same material in a more formal manner.

“There is a difference between reading something and

studying something,” Jorge says. “Access enables me to

do a more in-depth study of the Bible and theology and

deepen my theological knowledge and understanding.” n

If you or someone you know would like to learn more about

the opportunities for study though Covenant Seminary Access,

log on to www.covenantseminary.edu or call 1.800.264.8064.


It’s All in The Name


In recent years, Covenant Seminary has begun to hold a Fall gathering toencourage and support God’s servants for a lifetime of ministry. The confer-ence, called Connect, became the meeting place for over 200 pastors andministry leaders this past October.

As Connect conference emphasizesboth content and context, it givesattendees opportunities to think andtalk around issues they face daily anda time where significant relation-ships can be developed or renewed.

2004 CONNECTin pictures

Above: James Ward of New City Fellowship

Chattanooga led worship during the

conference along with his son Kirk

(current M.A.T.S. student), Jon Dunning

(M.Div.’02), and Suzanne Bates (M.A.C.'99).

(Suzanne and Kirk are pictured).

Left: The staff of Center for Ministry

Leadership at Covenant Seminary, directed

by Dr. Bob Burns (left), took time to learn

from pastors and ministry leaders in order

to see how the center can develop in

supporting church leadership.

Mark your calendars: Next year’s Connect Conference will be held from October 11 to 12, 2005.

www.covenantseminary.edu 19 Training Servants of the Triune Godwww.covenantseminary.edu 19 Training Servants of the Triune Godwww.covenantseminary.edu 19 Training Servants of the Triune God

Covenant Seminary faculty and guest speakers led conference teaching times focusing on topics such as “Salt in Our Preaching” (SCOTTY SMITH),

“Revisiting Counseling 101” (DAN ZINK AND RICHARD WINTER),

and “Contextualization: Wisdom or Compromise?” (TIM KELLER).

While some attendees were new to CovenantSeminary, some experi-enced a kind of home-coming and were able to visit with old friends and the professors, whohave been an importantpart of their lives.

The following is a partial list of Connect conference audiorecordings available free of charge through CovenantSeminary’s Online Resources(www.covenantseminary.edu):

Salt in our Fellowship:Reconciliation and Renewalin RelationshipsBRYAN CHAPELL

Salt in Our PreachingSCOTTY SMITH

Salty Lives: Personal Growthand Renewal for Pastors andMinistry LeadersBOB BURNS

Contextualization: Wisdom or Compromise?TIM KELLER

Gospel Ministry in a Society of AlienationJERRAM BARRS


Nancy’s most recent book, Total Truth: Liberating

Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity, soared

to number nine on the Religion and Spirituality

bestseller list within two days of its release on

Amazon.com. Through Total Truth Nancy helps

readers see how many modern Christians unwit-

tingly accept a sacred/secular split, which allows them

to relegate faith to the private sphere of life. Nancy

then clearly puts forth a Scriptural picture of integrating

all of life under the liberating Lordship of Christ and

shows what that truth means for the areas of public policy,

family life, science, business, law, education, and more.

The following interview with Nancy about

Total Truth was jointly conducted by byFaith magazine,

the magazine of the Presbyterian Church in America

and Covenant magazine.

CM & byFaith: What needs did you see – in the Church

and in the world – that led you to write Total Truth?

Pearcey: I am convinced that one reason believers fail

to experience the focus and power of the Christian life is

that they are fragmented and compartmentalized. They

put their faith in one pocket, while keeping their work

and professional lives in another pocket. This is sometimes

called the sacred/secular split, and in Total Truth my goal is

to persuade Christians that the joy and fulfillment we all

long for can be found only by bringing our

faith into every aspect of life.

The book’s opening story tells about a young

woman I call “Sarah” who worked for Planned

Parenthood – and yet she was a Christian.

She had grown up in a solidly evangelical

denomination and had undergone a genuine conversion

experience as a teenager. “I still have the white Bible my

grandmother gave me,” she told me, “where I underlined

all the passages on how to be sure of salvation.” So how did

Sarah end up working for Planned Parenthood? The answer

is that when she went to college, she studied anthropology

and sociology, courses where the assumption of cultural

relativism is utterly pervasive – and she had no idea how

to respond. Her church had given her assurance of salvation,

but it had not given her the tools to deal with the challenges

she was encountering in the classroom. As a result, she

simply absorbed what she was learning as part of the profes-

sional ethos of her field.

Sarah’s story is a chilling example of how it is possible to

become secular in our professional and work life, even while

remaining orthodox in our theology. The theme of Total

Truth is that this kind of dichotomy is more common than

we might think. In order to experience the joy and power of

God in our lives, we need to reject the sacred/secular divi-

sion so we can open every part of our lives to Biblical truth.


In 1981 Nancy Pearcey graduated from Covenant Theological Seminarywith an M.A. in Biblical Studies. For the past 20-plus years she has servedthe Church in an ever-growing manner, helping Christians understand theiressential need to integrate faith with the entirety of life.

CLOSING the Great Divide

Alumna Helps Christians See Error in Sacred/Secular Split

CM & byFaith: What positive movements or trends in the

Church do you hope to encourage with this book?

Pearcey: The book is a manifesto for a Christian worldview

– a concept that was first developed in the Reformed tradi-

tion. But today as I travel around the country, I sense a real

hunger for worldview thinking among Christians of all

theological traditions. For example, teachers at evangelical

schools and colleges are realizing that it is completely

inadequate to treat Christianity as an “add-on” to the

curriculum, something you do on the side in chapel and

prayer meetings. A Christian

account of reality has to be at

the center of the curriculum.

A generation ago, it

might have been possible

for believers to survive with

a faith that was only an “add-

on” to their normal weekly

round of activities. But as

modern culture grows

increasingly hostile to

Biblical truth, Christians are

recognizing that apologetics

and worldview thinking are

necessary survival equipment.

To counter the secular and

New Age worldviews that

are dominant in the public

arena, we need to develop

an equally comprehensive,

holistic Christian worldview.

CM & byFaith:

You emphasize that the Christian message does not begin

with “accept Christ as your Lord and savior,” but rather

with “in the beginning God created the heavens and the

earth.” How does this inform our understanding of the

mission of the Church?

Pearcey: Our understanding of the Church’s mission must

begin with Genesis, because that’s where we learn what

God’s original purpose was in creating the human race. In

Genesis, God gives what we might call the first job descrip-

tion: “Be fruitful and multiply

and subdue the earth.” The first

phrase, “be fruitful and multiply,”

means to develop the social world:

build families, churches, schools,

cities, governments, laws. The

second phrase, “subdue the earth,”

means to harness the natural

world: plant crops, build bridges, design computers, compose

music. This passage is sometimes called the Cultural

Mandate because it tells us

that our original purpose was

to create cultures, build civiliza-

tions – nothing less.

This means our vocation

or professional work is not a

second-class activity, something

we do just to put food on the

table. It is nothing less than the

high calling for which we were

originally created.

CM & byFaith: Toward the

end of the book you discuss

suffering, dying to self, and

embracing a “theology of the

cross.” You write: “The

terrible reality is that we may

attend church regularly, read

the Bible diligently, even work

in a Christian ministry, yet

still be what Schaeffer calls

‘death-producing-machines’ –

living contrary to our calling, yielding ourselves to the

devil and therefore producing death in this poor world.”

What do you think it will take for an affluent church in a

capitalistic society to become “life-producing machines”?

Pearcey: It is crucial to realize that a worldview is not just a

slick new apologetics method, or set of intellectual argu-

ments, or a new fundraising gimmick. A worldview is a

roadmap directing us how to live according to God’s calling.

The most difficult message for an affluent society to accept is




Covenant to the World

that this always involves sacrifice and suffering. In order

to have the mind of Christ, we must be willing to be cruci-

fied with Christ. “For to this you were called: Christ suffered

for us, leaving you a model for you to follow in His steps”

(I Pet. 2:21). We have to die to our own goals and ambi-

tions, our craving for professional recognition and respect,

our drive for social and political influence. These are what

Ezekiel calls “idols of the heart” and it is almost always

painful when God roots them out. We rarely realize how

much we actually derive our sense of worth and identity

from things like achievement and professional advancement

until God takes them away. In other words, when we suffer

loss, disappointment, injustice. As Francis Schaeffer writes,

the pattern for an authentic Christian life is the one laid

out by Jesus: rejected, slain, and raised. This sequence has

to become a daily spiritual reality for us if we hope to live

for Him in every area of life – including the life of the mind.

CM & byFaith: Your underlying thesis is that Christianity

functions as a “unified, overarching system of truth that

applies to social issues, history, politics, science…”

How should we view the Bible, knowing that it speaks

to all of life, yet it is not a science book, an anthropology

book, a political science book, etc.?

Pearcey: People often make the mistake of thinking that

expressing a Biblical worldview means simply “trumping”

secular thought by quoting Bible verses. But that kind of

simplistic response is rarely effective. To communicate a

Christian perspective in any area, we first need to construct

a general account of the world that “translates” Biblical truth

into the thought forms of our day. Like missionaries, we need

to love people enough to learn their language and thought

forms, in order to restate timeless truths in words they will

understand. We need to build a bridge between the Bible

and the various fields of scholarship – to craft a Christian

philosophy of science, a Christian philosophy of economics,

a Christian philosophy of the arts, a Christian political

philosophy, and so on. That’s the step that is missing in

most simplistic attempts to apply Biblical verses directly

to a particular subject area.

CM & byFaith: Your book is subtitled “Liberating

Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity.” Do you think

Western culture corrupts Christianity?

Pearcey: Western culture seeks to contain Christianity.

When Christians try to move out of the sacred/secular split,

they are likely to be told, “Don’t impose your beliefs on me,”

or, “That may be true for you but not for me.” What this

means is that both inside and outside the church, there is a

kind of compartmentalized thinking that keeps Christianity

contained in the private sphere, stripping it of its power to

challenge and redeem the whole of culture.

In secular circles, this division is called the fact/value

split, and it is the idea that religion and morality are not

matters of genuine truth (as they were traditionally thought

to be), but merely personal “values,” subjective and relativis-

tic. They may be personally meaningful, they may be part of

our cultural tradition, but they do not give us knowledge or

information about the world. The only source of reliable

knowledge is the “fact” realm, known by science and reason.

The fact/value split has become the most powerful

strategy for delegitimizing Christianity in the public square

today. Here’s how it works: In America, secularists are too

politically savvy to attack religion directly, or to debunk it

as false. So what do they do? They consign it to the “value”

sphere – which takes it out of the realm of true and false

altogether. That way they can assure us that of course they

“respect” religion – while at the same time denying that it

has any relevance to the public arena, where we decide

what we are really going to do.

Consider the statement by Ron Reagan, son of the

former president, at the 2004 Democratic National

Convention. Speaking of people who oppose embryonic

stem cell research, he said they are “entitled to their belief,”

In order to experience the joyand power of God in our lives,we need to reject the sacred/secular division so we can open every part of our lives to Biblical truth.

but it is nothing more than that – “an article of faith” –

and their “theology” should not be allowed to influence

public policy.

What is he really saying? Notice that we are invited

to believe whatever we want, so long as we hold it as a

privatized value, not as an objective truth that belongs in

the public arena. This is a prime example of the way the

fact/value split functions to keep Christianity in its “cultural

captivity” – locking it into the realm of merely privatized

values and preventing it from filtering down and having a

redemptive effect across all of life and society.

CM & byFaith: How does the concept of “Total Truth”

help us raise our children?

Pearcey: It gives them the tools to resist being “squeezed

into the world’s mold,” to use the Phillips paraphrase of

Romans 12:2. In the typical public school classroom,

children are socialized into the divided concept of truth

every day. Social studies and the humanities have been

moved to the “values” realm and taken over by postmodern

relativism. In English classes, teachers have tossed out their

red pencils and treat correct spelling and grammar as forms

of oppression imposed by those in power.

But, ironically, if you go down the hallway to the science

classroom, there you find that only one view is tolerated.

For example, Darwinian evolution is not open to question,

and students are not introduced to the evidence against it

so they can judge for themselves whether it is true.

What this means is that the divided concept of truth

is inculcated from an early age – and we have to help even

children detect and counter it. Yet, tragically, Christian

schools often fall into the same trap. Recently I clipped an

article written by a young woman who had just graduated

from a Christian high school. On the first day of class,

she wrote, “my theology teacher drew a heart on one side

of the blackboard and a brain on the other side.” He told

the class that “the heart is what we use for religion, and the

brain is what we use for science.”

This is a radical dichotomy. Our schools and churches are

in danger of turning out young people who are Christian in

their religious life but secular in their mental life. If we are

going to teach them to think and live with integrity, guided

by a comprehensive Biblical worldview, we need to begin by

detecting and overcoming the divided concept of truth that

permeates even Christian schools and churches.

CM & byFaith: How did your Covenant Seminary

education help prepare you for your life’s work?

Pearcey: The classes where I gained the most were courses

on critical theories of the Bible and how to counter them –

for example, courses by Dr. Harold Mare on how to deal with

questions of date and authorship. I also took an outstanding

course on Old Testament history from Dr. R. Laird Harris

that included persuasive data on the historical reliability of

the Old Testament.

In a course with Dr. David Jones, I first worked out the

themes that appear in Total Truth in the chapter titled

“How Women Started the Culture War,” discussing how

the fact/value or public/private divide has reshaped even the

relationship between men and women. The division we have

been talking about is not merely a matter of abstract ideas,

but has revolutionized the way modern society is organized.

CM & byFaith: Nancy, thank you for your thorough

work in this area and your service to the Church.

We trust that this book will bear much fruit as it

touches the lives of many. n

Currently Nancy serves as the Francis A. Schaeffer scholar at the World

Journalism Institute and is a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute.

Eileen O’Gorman and Dick Doster served as interviewers from Covenant

magazine and byFaith magazine respectively.


This divided concept of truthhas become the most powerfulstrategy for delegitimizingChristianity in the publicsquare today.



The book, of course, is The Da Vinci Code. It debuted at number one on theNew York Times Best-Seller List for Hardcover Fiction and remained there for14 weeks. The book has continued to be listed in the top-five best sellers forthe past 80 weeks as of the writing of this article. Columbia Pictures hassecured rights to the story and will produce a movie of the book scheduledfor release in 2005. All of this means that The Da Vinci Code has sold overseven million copies and is being translated into more than 40 languages.Reaction has spawned websites, television interviews, and countless discus-sion groups. At least a dozen books have been written in response to itsclaims, including a study guide written by the author himself.

TRUTH, FICTION,and the Rise to Popularity of The Da Vinci Code

Feminists cheer. Conservative Christians jeer. And many are asking, “Could the things spoken of in this book be true?”

In a culture where truth has become relative,

author Dan Brown paints an appealing picture of a

2000-year-old conspiracy to suppress the truth, and

challenges the historical teachings of Christianity

that millions of its readers profess to hold dear. Yet

the book remains wildly popular. Is its popularity limited

to hype and controversy? Wherein lies its appeal? Does it

reflect Biblical truth? What ways is it in error? It is easy to

applaud and easy to attack, but it takes effort and patience

to sift fact from fiction – but not that much effort. In fact,

I was able to satisfy most of my questions within the first

two critiques I read.*

Uncovering the Appeal

A good mystery leaves the reader asking, “Whodunit?,” until

its final pages. It builds suspense and tempts the reader to

draw false conclusions. Lovers of the mystery genre are by-

and-large patient and observant readers, attentive

to detail, working to solve the puzzle before its

solution is revealed. So how, in this Information

Age of rapid images and brief phrases, when the

average attention span is rapidly decreasing, does

an author catch and hold the readers’ interest through a

book like The Da Vinci Code?

Readers are drawn into The Da Vinci Code with short

chapters, averaging less than five pages in length, that end

with unresolved tension or “cliff-hangers.” Brown uses this

technique to encourage a sense of urgency and expectancy in

the reader. One gets the feeling that an impending revela-

tion is always about to emerge. As for clues, the author drops

enough crumbs for an army of Hansels and Gretels, which

build a sense of confidence in the reader, who is given the

tools to “figure it out” before the characters themselves are

able to solve the mystery. Brown skillfully maintains

multiple plot lines, keeping each plate spinning by revisit-

ing each character’s situation frequently. All of this lends

to the appeal of a book that in a very real sense, reads

like television.

In addition to his skill with literary form, Dan Brown has

done his homework. He creatively incorporates the diverse

disciplines of art history, linguistics, mathematics, cryptology,

symbology, forensic science, religion, and the occult, in a

manner that bespeaks careful research. The average reader

will walk away feeling cleverly armed with new trivia to

amuse his or her friends. What drives the effectiveness of

this synthesis is Brown’s compelling use of real-world detail.

Again, due to the nature of the Information Age, the aver-

age reader has ready access to small amounts of knowledge

about a great many topics. The author uses this to his advan-

tage to make the reader feel sophisticated, knowledgeable,

and cosmopolitan. In doing so, Brown appeals to icons of

popular culture: the Mona Lisa, Vitruvian Man, the Louvre

and other popular tourist destinations – objects and places

with which people will recognize and connect. Despite the

variety of subjects he covers, Brown fashions a cohesive

rationale that ties up many apparent loose ends and leaves

the reader with a sense of, “Oh, so that explains it.”

Dan Brown knows his audience. Through his characters,

he communicates a deep respect for learning, especially high-

er education, which resonates with well-educated readers.

Brown appeals to the culturally initiated: those who see

themselves as “enlightened” or “cognoscenti” and he uses this

to gain their sympathy and inter-

est. He expresses a positive desire

to correct a historically unjust view

of the role of women and his story-

line promotes a view of the inter-

connectedness of all cultures.

Additionally, Brown’s conspiracy theory appeals to the

modern appetite for scandal. In an era where 24-hour news

channels vie for ratings, he plugs in to the mistrust and disil-

lusionment latent in the Baby-Boomer generation. Indeed,

authority figures in the book such as the French police, the

Vatican, and even a Swiss banker are often portrayed as

unjust manipulators of power. Throughout the book the plot

is underscored with deep questions: “What are the treasures

we pursue?” “What would happen if we discovered they are

not what we think they are?” “What truths are right before

our eyes, but we fail to see them?” “How have we blinded

ourselves?” “Have we been told the truth?” “Is someone

treating us unjustly?”

Affirming Worthy Themes

In addition to his God-given skill as a writer who is sensitive

to his audience, there is much for the Christian to admire

and affirm in Brown’s work. He appeals to a sense of history.

The reader is encouraged to consider that humanity has a

common story, a common connection. And he asks what

would happen if the hidden truths of our history were


Truth, Fiction, and the Rise to Popularity of The Da Vinci Code

This article was originally given as a presentation for Covenant Seminary’s

Francis A. Schaeffer Institute. The talk with Q and A time can be heard

on www.covenantseminary.edu through the “Online Resources.”

Chris Bryan responds to listeners’ questions and comments after the

presentation on The Da Vinci Code.

CHRIS BRYAN

Current M.Div. Student


Francis A. Schaeffer Institute

revealed. Until its end, the story is driven by the pursuit

for truth and a desperate quest to reveal what has long been

hidden, before time runs out. These are the same themes

that are reflected in Biblical teaching. As Christians, we

believe all people have a common story. Additionally,

the Bible teaches that God revealed himself in Christ, and

that in Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are

hidden. Christians stand for truth. And what is evangelism

if not a mission to reveal the truth before time runs out?

The juxtaposition of historical wisdom and modern

ignorance is another of Brown’s main themes. He contrasts

the beautiful historic building of the Louvre with its ugly

modern pyramid entrance, made of glass and steel. He

contrasts the incredible skill and subtlety of Renaissance

paintings with the high-tech methods and gadgetry of

forensic work. And he contrasts the “wisdom” of ancient

pagan religions with the alleged corruption and compromise

of the modern Catholic Church. With the exception of

his elevation of pagan religions, the Christian can affirm

the author’s appeal to historical wisdom. For the past 200

years of human history, society’s view of the value of things

historical has depreciated with our inflating infatuation with

the “modern,” but the Bible reveals we are a people with a

past, and our understanding of that past matters, because

we are part of the story.

Additionally, Christians can affirm the story’s portrayal

of the desire for justice. The first chapter begins with the

murder of an unarmed man. The French Police pursue the

main characters as suspects in this murder even though

they are innocent. The parents of the main female character,

Sophie, were brutally murdered in her childhood. And Mary

Magdalene, who takes on mythic proportions in this book as

the “sacred feminine,” is presented as having been maligned

by the Catholic Church as a prostitute. Yet in the end,

justice is achieved for many of the characters. The true

murderer becomes a self-sacrificial person who dies knowing

forgiveness in his heart. The suspected villain turns out

to be a dupe and is restored to his proper standing.

The issue with Mary Magdalene, which is a main sticking

point of the controversy surrounding the book, can also be

seen from the perspective of justice. The story presents

Mary Magdalene as one who has been treated unjustly.

While Christians can affirm a desire for proper justice,

we must respectfully disagree that this woman of the

Scriptures has been treated unfairly.

Inappropriate Mixing of Fact and Fiction

The issues surrounding Mary Magdalene and her “true”

identity (i.e., Jesus’ wife, mother of his children, and the

“sacred feminine”), brings me to point out the areas where

we must take exception to this book as followers of Christ.

Brown’s treatment of truth claims has a damaging effect on

readers’ confidence in historical fact. Though the book is

admittedly a work of fiction, it gives the impression of

portraying its facts accurately, in the same way that readers

might trust a John Grisham novel to accurately describe the

role of a lawyer in the legal process. Prior to the introduction

there is a disclaimer page which, if not read carefully, would

seem to indicate that all of the historical facts and religious

ceremonies referred to within the text are true. This is fur-

ther evidence of Brown’s skill as a storyteller. Stories become

much more engaging if the reader thinks they could be true.

However, by his suggestion, Brown blurs the distinction

between fact and fiction, specifically the question of which

ideas are factual and which ideas are fictional, thus planting

a seed of doubt in the readers. This doubt is expanded fur-

ther when the character Teabing says, “The winners in

history are usually the ones who write the history we read.”

This begs the question, what history can be trusted?

As the story progresses there are many references to

actual historical occurrences: For example the Council of

Nicea and the service of the Knights Templar. But many of

these truths are presented out of context, and are assigned

new meaning against a fictional background. The Council of

Nicea, which in actual history met in 323 A.D. to denounce

a heresy that denied the deity of Christ, in Brown’s history

becomes the source of a cover-up whereby the Church

deified the human teacher Jesus and declared His teachings

infallible (the Bible) for the purpose of denying the “true”

identity and role of Mary Magdalene. The Knights Templar,

who in actual history guarded Jerusalem and provided

Additionally, Christians canaffirm the story’s portrayal of the desire for justice.

protective escort for religious pilgrims, in Brown’s history

become secret guardians of the Holy Grail. The legend of

the Grail itself is changed so that the Holy Grail becomes

the body and documents of Mary Magdalene, and the

Knights (who in reality suffered a tragic end) in Brown’s

story bequeath their secret over the centuries through secret

societies (notably, the Priory of Scion, membership of which

included Leonardo Da Vinci and other famous figures).

This is no doubt familiar territory for readers acquainted

with the teachings of the Freemasons, who claim to be able

to trace the genealogy, or “Rose Line” of the descendants of

the union of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. This idea also plays

a central role in Brown’s story, where ultimately Sophie, the

main female character, discovers she is of the line of Christ.

Though the rumor of a union between Jesus and Mary

Magdalene is indeed ancient, it has never been substantiated

and the weight of actual historic evidence is against it. These

are only a few of the many examples where actual events and

true facts are reinterpreted (through the characters) for the

purpose of the story. The overall effect is engaging because,

by displacing familiar history, Brown invites his reader to rely

on the cogent reinterpretations of his characters, who appear

genuinely concerned with the truth.

Indeed, the search for truth is one of the driving themes

of the book. Brown’s novel engages the reader by following

the main characters on a suspenseful and dangerous quest to

find and reveal the “true” identity of the Holy Grail. Until

the final chapters, it would seem as if the entire book was

focused toward one aim: revelation of truth. The general

thrust is that, regardless of the cost, the human race must

be disabused of its mass delusion, but ironically, this is not

where Brown leads us. Following the climax of the book,

the actual discovery of the “Holy Grail,” there is a profound

anti-climax where the hero Langdon decides not to reveal

the truth, reasoning that, “Religious allegory has become a

part of the fabric of reality. And living in that reality helps

millions of people cope and be better people” (342).

A Disturbing End to the Quest

In essence, The Da Vinci Code raises questions it is not

willing to answer. It undermines the true identity of Christ

and the authority and authenticity of the Bible as Scripture,

then dumps the reader off on the side of the road in the con-

fusing swamp of relativism. This might actually be comfort-

ing if Brown had not taken such effort throughout the book

to develop a detailed alternative to Biblical Christianity.

And yet, there is an honesty here that addresses our culture

where it is, acknowledging our doubts and recognizing our

resistance and disagreement regarding claims of authority.

It certainly explains how a book that seems to make such

radical claims can still be popular in a culture where truth

is relative. And it explains how this book can even be

popular among those who claim Biblical faith! Had Dan

Brown brought his novel to a definite (moral) conclusion,

he might have alienated part of his readership. As it is, he

leaves readers the freedom to believe in the way that each

finds most pragmatic and helpful. As a Christian, I must

respectfully disagree with this position, both because it leads

people (whether intentionally or unintentionally) to doubt

the existence of truth, and because it presupposes people

really are better off not knowing the truth.

So while The Da Vinci Code teaches us much about our

day and age, its treatment of truth is not a pattern Christians

can follow. It may be tantalizing to believe a great scandal

has been uncovered, and of course it is worthwhile to pursue

truth; but Christians must seek not only to draw people into

the quest for truth but also to help them find freedom in

the truth. God has given us a place to land in our quest for

truth which is ultimately found in His Son Jesus. As Francis

Schaeffer said, we may not know fully, that is know every

last aspect of the mind of God, but we can know truly.

At the end of the day, people need to see that the truth

claims of Christianity can both stand up to historical

questions and address the deepest human needs. In our

day and in every age, people do not need freedom from

the truth but rather to be liberated by the truth. Such

liberty comes from knowing the truth and living within it.

For Jesus, in whom can be found no falsehood, encouraged

true followers saying, “Then you will know the truth, and

the truth will set you free” (Jn. 8:32). n

*The author would like to recommend two critiques that he found

helpful in preparing this article: Darrell L. Bock, Breaking The Da Vinci

Code, (Nashville, TN: Nelson Books) 2004. Carl E. Olson and Sandra

Miesel, The Da Vinci Hoax, (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press) 2004.

Truth, Fiction, and the Rise to Popularity of The Da Vinci Code

Brown blurs the distinctionbetween fact and fiction…


Community Space Open

The large classroom space in the Founders Wing of EdwardsHall has now been converted to serve as a much-needed community center. The space is in use currently, but futuredevelopments are still antici-pated. Right now students aretaking advantage of the newlounge space, wireless Internetaccess, and a small coffee shop. A student/administration committee has been formed to plan for the best use of thespace in the future.

Eswine Writes on Preaching and Teaches Abroad

Dr. Zack Eswine, AssistantProfessor of Practical Theology, will use his upcoming Spring sabbatical to write on CharlesSpurgeon’s theology of preachingand also on Spirit-dependentpreaching in a digital age.Additionally, Dr. Eswine and hisfamily will travel to New Zealandwhere he will serve as a guest professor for two months withGrace Theological College,preach in local churches, andteach for a pastors’ conference.

Jones Participates inReligion and Politics Forum

Dr. David Jones, Professor ofTheology and Ethics, served as a guest on St. Louis radio stationKWMU this past October to discuss religion and politics. The host show, called St. LouisOn the Air, covered the subject of “The Proper Role for Religionin the Electoral Process.” Theforum included varying perspec-tives on the role of religion inpolitics – Roman Catholic, liberalProtestant, and evangelical

Protestant. The show can beheard online for the next fivemonths at www.kwmu.org/Programs/Slota/archivedetail.php?showid=1520.

Men’s Bible Study

A small men’s Bible study thatstarted 10 years ago in a local St. Louis cafe is now a 75- to 90-member-strong group that meetsat Covenant Seminary everyother Tuesday morning. TheBible study started when seminarytrustee Jack Reed asked Dr. HansBayer to meet with a few men ona regular basis to help them growin understanding God’s Word. Afew years later that group beganmeeting on campus and has beengrowing ever since. In addition toDr. Bayer, Drs. David Calhoun,Phil Long, Dan Doriani, and JaySklar have taught the group. Thisyear’s study focuses on the book of Psalms and is led by Dr. JaySklar. For more information aboutthe men’s Bible study [email protected] or call 314.434.4044.

Almquist Accepts PastoralPosition in Maine

Per Almquist, who has servedCovenant Seminary in variouslibrary staff roles, will depart St. Louis for Portland, Maine, in January 2005 where he willassist with a church plant. TheBuswell Library has benefitedgreatly from Per’s service whichbegan part-time when he was aMaster of Divinity student. Hisefforts during the library’s recentrenovation and construction wereessential to the success of thatproject. In 2001 the MissouriLibrary Association chose Per to receive the Outstanding NewLibrarian Award. Most recently,

Per has served the library asAssociate Librarian for PublicService and Research. Please join the Covenant Seminarycommunity in giving thanks forPer’s service and praying for theLord’s blessing upon a new placeof ministry for Per and his family.


CAMPUSnew

s

For a campus calendar, log on to www.covenantseminary.edu.

Faculty Itinerary

Donald Guthrie, Vice Presidentfor Academics and AssociateProfessor of Christian Education,in French Lick, Ind., Feb. 9 to 12, leading the 2005 Men’sConference for the Ohio Valley Presbytery.

David Calhoun, Professor ofChurch History, in Kingstown, St. Vincent, West Indies, Jan. 7and 8, leading IONA Seminar on Medieval Church History; in Nashville, Tenn., Jan. 30, preaching for Christ PresbyterianChurch.

Robert Peterson, Professor of Systematic Theology, inCollinsville, Ill., during themonths of December andFebruary, preaching and teaching Sunday school for Hope Presbyterian Church.

Jerram Barrs, Professor ofChristianity and ContemporaryCulture, in India, Jan. 6 to 11,teaching in collaboration withthe ministry of Paul Billy Arnold,in Memphis, Tenn., Jan. 14 to 16,teaching for the Christian Life Conference of SecondPresbyterian Church; in Austin,Tex., Feb. 4 to 6, teaching for All Saints Church.

Bob Burns, Director of theCenter for Ministry Leadershipand Assistant Professor ofChristian Education, in St. Louis,Mo., during the month ofDecember preaching for GoodShepherd Presbyterian Church; in St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 21, teach-ing for Chesterfield PresbyterianChurch Men’s Retreat.

Greg Perry, Adjunct Professor of Biblical Studies, in Jackson,Miss., Jan. 14 and 15, attendingthe winter board meeting ofThird Millennium Ministries.

Zack Eswine, Assistant Professorof Homiletics, in Nashville, Tenn.,Jan. 9, preaching for ChristPresbyterian Church; in TampaBay, Fla., Feb. 4 to 6, preachingfor the Missions Conference ofTampa Bay Presbyterian Church;in Atlanta, Ga., Feb. 18 and 19,speaking for Perimeter BreakoutWeekend of Perimeter Church.

Hans Bayer, Professor of NewTestament, in St. Louis, Mo.,during the months of Februaryand March, teaching Wednesdayevening Bible studies forBonhomme Presbyterian Church.

LeadershipAND

FORGIVENESSLearn very early how to forgive people. You willforfeit your ability to lead if you cannot forgive.

– Dr. Bryan Chapell from the opening session

of the 2004 Connect Conference

Briefly Stated

Covenant is published by CovenantTheological Seminary, the NationalSeminary of the Presbyterian Church in America.

The purpose of Covenant Seminary is totrain servants of the triune God to walkwith God, to interpret and communicateGod’s Word, and to lead God’s people.

Volume 19, Number 4. ©2004

Executive EditorDavid Wicker

Managing Editor and WriterEileen O’Gorman

WriterSusan Bach

Copy EditorsBetty PorterHuntley Cooney

CirculationPaul Rawlins

PhotographyEd EubanksJoe Cogliandro

Design and Production501creative, inc.

Covenant Theological Seminary12330 Conway RoadSt. Louis, Missouri 63141

Tel: 314.434.4044Fax: 314.434.4819E-mail: [email protected]

Visit Covenant Seminary on the Internet atwww.covenantseminary.edu

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripturereferences are taken from the Holy Bible,New International Version®, NIV®, ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International BibleSociety. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) arefrom The Holy Bible, English StandardVersion, ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, adivision of Good News publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

PR0411-001

Footnotes from page 9:1George M. Marsden, Jonathan Edwards: A Life (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 1, 45, 50. 2Diary, 14 January

1723, in Jonathan Edwards, The Works of Jonathan Edwards: vol. 16, Letters and Personal Writings, ed. George S. Claghorn

(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), 764; Resolutions no. 5, 6, 22, 30, Ibid., 753-55. 3“Personal Narrative,” Ibid., 803;

Diary, 2 March 1723, Ibid., 767. 4All quotations from Diary, Works, 16: 4 May 1723 (769); 1 July 1723, (773); 18 July 1723

(774); 17 August 1723 (779); 2 September 1723 (781). 5“Personal Narrative,” Letters and Personal Writings, Works, 16:

793. 6 Ibid., 795. 7Diary, 12 January 1723, Letters and Personal Writings, Works, 16:762. 8“Dedication to God,” Sermons and

Discourses, 1720-23, Works, 10: 551, 559. 9Ibid., 558. 10Diary, 21 December 1722; 22 December 1722; 24 December 1722;

29 December 1722; 1 January 1722-23; 2 January 1722-23, all found in Ibid., 759-60. 11Diary, 2 January 1722-23, Ibid.,

16:760; Diary, 6 March 1723, Ibid., 767. 12“Personal Narrative,” Ibid., 16:795, 803. 13“Fragment: Application on Love to

Christ,” in Sermons and Discourses, 1720-1723, Works, 10:612-13, 615, 617. 14 Diary, 2 March 1723, Letters and Personal

Writings, Works, 16:767; Diary, 16 February 1725, Ibid., 787. 15Jonathan Edwards, “Charity and Its Fruits,” in The Works of

Jonathan Edwards: Vol. 8, Ethical Writings, ed. Paul Ramsey (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), 233, 243, 245-6.

COVENANT MAGAZINE Winter 2004-2005 www.covenantseminary.edu Training Servants of the Triune God

Tripp (M.Div.’07) and Jennifer (M.A.’07)

Sanders came to Covenant Seminary

with the resolution to allow their past

ministry experiences to be the first build-

ing blocks for future ministry training.

Before coming to Covenant Seminary,

the Sanders spent a total of ten combined

years leading campus ministries. When

talking with them, it is clear that they are

eager to grow in wisdom and understand-

ing for future ministry.

Jennifer came to Christ through

Reformed University Fellowship at

Clemson University and after college

moved to Charlottesville, Va., to serve

with the Center for Christian Study.

The Sanders met in Charlottesville

where Tripp was serving with Intervarsity

Christian Fellowship as a campus minister

for the University of Virginia.

Both Tripp and Jennifer desired to attend seminary immediately

following college but decided to wait and pursue the respective

ministries the Lord had put before them. Seven years after both

independently visited seminaries as single people, Tripp and

Jennifer were glad to find the right time to attend seminary

together as a married couple.

The Sanders chose Covenant Seminary, in part, because of

its basis in Reformed Theology. “During my time in Charlottesville,

I met a number of people who were teaching from a Reformed

perspective – many of whom were graduates of Covenant

Seminary,” Tripp says. “Through these relationships, I began

to see that the Gospel is not something that only needs to be

communicated to unbelievers. Rather, I need to grow in seeing

my need for the Gospel every day.”

That is the message that Tripp and

Jennifer are glad to find at Covenant

Seminary. “If I were to think of a headline

for our story it would be witnessing the

Gospel embodied in the faculty at Covenant

Seminary,” Tripp says. “Covenant Seminary

has made an effort to bring together professors

whose characters reflect a desire to know God

and have a posture of repentance. If they were

teaching the message of God’s grace in Christ

but not showing it in their lives, the message

would be irrelevant.”

Jennifer uses the imagery of a sieve to

talk about her time in seminary. “It was hard

to leave the college students at UVA to come

to seminary, but this new season in life has

really given me a chance to sift through my

own personal questions about faith. I am

grateful for a time to be strengthened and

equipped with truths that I long to take

deeper root in my life.”

Although the Sanders are not leading a ministry, they do have

a growing group to care for in their own family. Son Benjamin is

one year old and their second child is expected in January of 2004.

In the midst of their on-going responsibilities they see the Lord

caring for them. “We’ve had a lot of needs and questions about

community, studies, and finances and how all of this would come

together during these seminary years,” Tripp says. “We have really

seen the Lord provide.”

So the Sanders continue on their journey of serving and being

served, equipping others and being equipped. “Our time here is

going to affect us for the rest of our lives,” Jennifer says. Tripp

echoes that thought saying, “My hope for perseverance in future

ministry is life today with roots growing deep in the Gospel.” n

Student Profile

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Equipping AND BEING Equipped

Tripp, Jennifer and Benjamin Sanders

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covenant magazine - [winter 2004]

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