Our Southern Zion: Old Columbia Seminary

by David B. Calhoun

A few blocks from the First Presbyterian Church of Columbia, South Carolina, is a fine antebellum mansion, the Robert Mills Historic House, named for the man who designed it. The house, beautifully restored, with Regency furnishings, marble mantelpieces, and sterling silver doorknobs and locksets, reflects the wealth and culture of Ainsley Halt, the man who briefly owned it. More fitting, however, would be desks and tables and books of the professors and students of Columbia Theological Seminary, which made the house its home for almost a hundred years. The rooms of the main floor were the classrooms, where George Howe trained generations of Southern ministers in biblical exegesis, where James Henley Thornwell taught Calvin’s Institutes, where John Adger explained the sacraments and church polity, and where John Girardeau set forth the great themes of Reformed theology. It was in one of these rooms that two students organized the Society of Inquiry on Missions in February of 1831.

Genres: History, Church History, 19th Century

380 pages, Hardcover

First published September 25, 2012

About the author

David B. Calhoun is Emeritus Professor of Church History at Covenant Theological Seminary, St Louis, Missouri. He has taught at Covenant College and Columbia Bible College (now Columbia International University) and served as principal of Jamaica Bible College. Prior to his appointment to Covenant Seminary in 1978, he was the overseas director of Ministries in Action.

Reviews

[Miles Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best histories of 19th Cent Presbyterianism in the South available. This particular volume from Banner of Truth is absolutely stunning. David Calhoun is so informative and an absolute joy to read.

[Drew Norwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Calhoun’s history of the Old Columbia Seminary exceeded my expectations for it. Not only does it provide a good history of a faithful, confessional, and influential seminary, but it accomplishes much more. It also tells of the people (the Southern Presbyterians) and the church (the Presbyterian church in the South from the early 19th century to the early 20th century) associated with the seminary.

Calhoun does an excellent job of succinctly, yet vibrantly, introducing readers to the Southern Presbyterians, many of whom had some connection to Columbia Seminary. Columbia can rightfully claim several giants of the faith ("princes of Israel" as their contemporaries were wont to call them), but these men are largely unknown today—men like James Henley Thornwell, John Leighton Wilson, John Lafayette Girardeau, and Benjamin Morgan Palmer. These men were far from perfect (and Calhoun rightfully notes their flaws and failings) but they were committed and zealous churchmen. They were mightily gifted and they used their gifts, time, and all they had for building and strengthening Christ's church on earth. Their work in this regard was exemplary.

Additionally, the book teaches of the Southern Presbyterian church--its triumphs and failures, controversies and persistence--between the early 19th century and the early 20th century. There is a lot we as the Church can learn from this particular time and this particular place, and Calhoun writes the book in such a way that you leave feeling encouraged and challenged to serve with greater faithfulness. The Southern Presbyterian church devoted itself to the Word of God and to the Westminster Standards as a faithful and robust summary of the Bible's teachings. This devotion to the Word of God was accompanied by a special emphases on preaching, church government, evangelization and missions (both at home and abroad), and theological training.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this. O that God would raise up men like Thornwell, Palmer, and Girardeau!