A native of Baltimore, Jay E. Adams now resides in Spartanburg County, near Woodruff, South Carolina. He is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, where he majored in Greek and received the A.B. degree. He earned a B.D. from the Reformed Episcopal Seminary, theS.T.M from the Temple University School of Theology in Homiletics under Andrew W. Blackwood, and the Ph.D from the University of Missouri. He also did graduate work at the Pittsburgh-Xenia Theological Seminary and held a post-doctoral fellowship in Psychology at the University of Illinois under O. Hobart Mowrer.

Dr. Adams has pastored churches in Western Pennsylvania and New Jersey in the old United Presbyterian Church, the Reformed Presbyterian Church, E.S., and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. He is now an ordained Associate Reformed Presbyterian minister. For three years he was on the faculty of the University of Missouri, where he taught speech. He taught homiletics, counseling, and pastoral work in Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia from 1963-1983. He is the Founder of the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation of Laverock, Pennsylvania, and has edited The Journal of Pastoral Practice, the Foundation's quarterly publication. He is a past president of the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors. For 7 1/2 years, he was Director of Advanced Studies at Westminster Theological Seminary in Escondido, California where he developed and taught in the Doctor of Ministry program. He also traveled for the seminary teaching Continuing Education programs in preaching and counseling. Several years ago Dr. Adams retired from the pastorate of the church he had established in South Carolina and has devoted his time to writing and lecturing in various places around the country.

In the fall of 2001 the Redeemer Biblical Counseling Training Institute was established at the Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Moore, SC where Bill Slattery, Dr. Adams’ son-in-law is the pastor featuring the teaching of Dr. Adams. The institute meets on Monday nights during the school year. He is Editor-in-chief of Timeless Texts, A publisher dedicated to publishing Biblical books.

Adams is a frequent lecturer at ministerial conferences both here and abroad. He has taught in England, France, Holland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, N. Ireland, South Africa, Canada, Brazil, Guatemala, New Zealand, Austria, North Korea, and China. He has published over 75 books and is the translator of The Christian Counselor's New Testament. He recently completed the ten volume Christian Counselor's Commentary Series.

Dr. Adams and his wife Betty Jane have four children.

One of the most encouraging trends in contemporary evangelicalism is the emergence of Biblical counseling (as opposed to so-called 'Christian' psychology). Several excellent books have been recently been written to expose the deficiencies of the psychological approach to Christian counseling. Jay Adams first warned of these dangers more than twenty years ago. No one has written more clearly or spoken with more insight on this issue. The entire church owes Jay a tremendous debt of gratitude for the work he has done to uphold Godliness and spiritual wisdom against the onslaught of secular theory and worldly wisdom. If you're seeking to understand how to counsel more effectively, I commend this seminar to you.

John MacArthur