.John Owen was a man for his times. I recently picked up a book by five professors from (mostly from England) who wrote for the conference of the Jown Owen Centre for Theological Study: Sinclair Ferguson, Graham S. Harrison, Michael A. G. Haykin, Robert W. Oliver, and Carl R. Trueman. The book is called, John Owen: The Man and His Theology. This book is a valuable read for anyone who loves the doctrine of sovereignty, Pneumatology, Christology, or even Ecclesiology.
Particularly challenging was John Owen's view of theology. Trueman states, "My contention is that Owen's theology was overwhelmingly shaped by his doctrine of God, and its counterpoint in his understanding of humanity" (44). I find in Owen a man who was concerned foremost that people have a correct view of God. as a result of this, he fiercly combatted the Pelagianism, Arminianism, Socinianism, and Quakerism that was present in his day through the use of tongue and pen. What's more, he desired that this view of God play itself out in his own day to day holiness. Hence his writings on the person of Christ and the Holy Spirit. Ferguson explains it well: "One of the axioms that Owen returns to again and again as a preacher of the gospel is that there is a difference between the knowledge of the truth and the knowledge of the power of the truth...it is the presence of the Spirit of God that transforms our bare knowledge of truth into our experience of the power of the truth" (106-107). For Owen, theology must be applied. Application of theology results in a closeness to God that produces holiness.
I must end with two things. First, I am resolved to read more John Owen. Second, with Piper I have to say, "Brothers read Christian biographies!" There is a wealth of godly example that can be learned from the lives of those who thought our thoughts before us.
6 comments:
John Owen is one of Chris' favorite Puritan authors. Sadly, I haven't read much of him, but up until a week before Luke was born, his name was going to be John Owen! We were going to call him Owen; but for some reason, we just kinda wanted to change our minds and decided on "Luke Roland" the night before labor was induced. We love these names too, and Lukie is a Lukie, not an Owen. I'm still open to naming a future son (John) Owen, although watching "Throw Mama From the Train" has dampened the desire a bit. :)
I must say that I came upon John Owen of a completely different motivation. We wanted to name our children after people of significant biblical, political or familial influence. Well, I had been striking out with the names I was coming up with and one day in church i thought to myself "i love the name Owen" I told nate and I was so happy to hear of John Owen. I have yet to read any of his works, but I was thankful that I had finally found a qualifying name! :) Hopefully by the next time we have a baby (granted it's a boy) I will have had time to read and be benefited by Owen's writings!
great idea for naming kids. Actually, we had kind of thought about Jonathan Edwards Hall as a name for one of our boys, if we have a boy. But I actually have entertained the idea of "John Owen Hall." Julie likes Jonathan Edwards Hall, but I haven't talked to her about the other name yet.
I just hope that our kid would be blessed with the solid theology but not the poor looks if we named him John Owen! Seems like you have to be kind of ugly to be a sweet theologian.
Rob,
You have no business naming your kid after a Calvinist and a magisterial exegete. You ought to name your kid "Mike Saunders Hall."
. . . or "Dave Hunt Hall"
I would name him Dave Hunt Hall if I wanted him to be a reprobate!
Funny how you could accomplish as much by naming your child Timothy Robert Baylor Jr.
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