His first submission was rejected by the publisher.

“It was artificial; it didn’t work,” said Pastor Anthony Selvaggio, an adjunct professor of New Testament Studies at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary (RPTS), of the sample chapter he put together when a friend connected him with Evangelical Press (EP) in Great Britain and encouraged him to give a try at penning a book.

In a sense, it was arbitrary. Writing merely to be published didn’t inspire him or EP. But his preaching and marriage counseling as senior pastor of College Hill Reformed Presbyterian Church in Beaver Falls, Pa., did. Six months after his first submission was declined, Pastor Selvaggio began preaching on the 12 Minor Prophets in the Old Testament, emphasizing their Christology. He was inspired to turn them into a helpful study book. He converted his sermons, each covering a prophet, to sample chapters and submitted them to EP. They were accepted.

What began at the pulpit is now a 208- page paperback just released by EP entitled, The Prophets Speak of Him: Encountering Jesus in the Minor Prophets. Selvaggio was motivated to provide a survey of all of the Minor Prophets and their fullness as a whole body in one manageable book due to a dearth of such resources.

The Prophets Speak of Him is part of a new Emmaus Series by EP. While the book is theological, it is intended to be used by the church, and includes questions at the end of each chapter for small-group discussion.

Selvaggio is intrigued with preaching neglected areas of the Bible to present the whole counsel of God to his church members, many of whom he discovered had not read any of the Minor Prophets within the last five years. He hopes his book will foster the same love for all the Scripture in readers and the greater church that the preaching from Hosea through Malachi elicited with his own people.

“The congregation began to see clearly what was before obscure to them in terms of the interconnectedness of the Old and New Testaments and the unity of the whole of the Bible, and this gave them hope in God’s covenant to us fulfilled in Christ. But the series also convicted them about the same things going on in today’s church that plagued Israel and that God chastised them for through the prophets, such as corruption in leadership, hypocrisy in worship, and national unrighteousness and injustice.”`

While his first book came out of his preaching, marriage counseling provided the experience for his second book.

As a pastor in a college town with many engaged undergraduate students in his church, Selvaggio developed the material for his second book to provide himself with a helpful premarital instruction tool. He counseled for and officiated six weddings in summer 2005, which was affectionately lauded as the “Summer of Love Tour” by his congregation, complete with a promotional T-shirt that listed each couple and their respective marriage dates.

Unlike most books on marriage that, according to Selvaggio, model a workbook format, he wanted to provide people with a broader biblical perspective on marriage. “The Bible doesn’t speak specifically to every detail that might come up in marriage and life,” he said. “The Bible provides a more encompassing worldview of general principles that govern day-to-day minutiae and keep a family strong. Marriage takes wisdom.”

Selvaggio turned to the Old Testament Song of Songs, identified as one of the Bible’s books of wisdom, to glean insights on marriage and counsel others.

Selvaggio’s book on the Song of Songs, which, he notes, is also an oft-neglected area of the Bible, is entitled What the Bible Teaches about Marriage. Scheduled for release by EP this month, it is designed as a pastoral resource for him and others to provide marriage counseling, as well as a tool for couples and small groups in a self-study environment.

“Song of Songs is the account of a marital relation between a man and a woman that ultimately points us to the marriage between Christ and His church,” said Selvaggio. “Through the medium of poetry, the Song provides us with beautiful imagery and instruction regarding the biblical ideal of marriage and sinless romance. Like the early chapters of Genesis, the Song of Songs depicts a man and a woman in love in a garden.”

After he prepared the book to use in his marriage counseling, Selvaggio developed a sermon series on marriage based on the example of Song of Songs. The response was tremendous. CD recordings were the most requested of any sermons, and even people outside the congregation asked for them. In addition, Selvaggio said there are plans to hold a marriage conference soon.

“We are extremely pleased with Anthony’s work,” said RPTS president, Dr. Jerry O’Neill. “It is encouraging to see his theological publishing reflect why we have men like him teaching here. It flows from his heart, study, and service as a church pastor striving to show his love for Christ by feeding His sheep.”

Professor Selvaggio Also Edits Festschrift to Honor Dr. Wayne Spear

Format of RPTS Westminster Confession Conference in 2007 to Feature Book

In addition to writing two new books, Professor Selvaggio is editing a festschrift in honor of Dr. Wayne Spear, RPTS professor emeritus of systematic theology who retired in 2005 after 35 years of service. The book, entitled The Faith Once Delivered: Celebrating the Legacy of Reformed Systematic Theology and the Westminster Assembly, Essays in Honor of Dr. Wayne R. Spear, is slated for release by P&R next May. The 3rd Annual RPTS International Conference on the Westminster Confession in 2007 will feature this festschrift and its writers in honor of Dr. Spear.