Tag archives for John Owen

Weekly Review: 10-19-07

By | Published 10/19/2007

I didn’t post a weekly review for last week because we were on Fall break, which isn’t to imply that I did no learning during this week off, but that it was a week off! Today I’ve got a bunch of miscellanies for you since I had something due in each of my four classes this week, exam or paper or otherwise. Garn.

  • Evangelical Textual Criticism has quickly become one of my most read blogs since hearing an interview with two contributors, Simon Gathercole (Cambridge) and Peter Williams (Aberdeen), on the new perspective of Paul. It’s a team blog so there are regular updates by a multifarious group of scholars. “A forum for people with knowledge of the Bible in its original languages to discuss its manuscripts and textual history from the perspective of historic evangelical theology.”
  • Lots of freely downloadable Christian hip hop can be found at the Sphere of Hip Hop. You’ll definitely want to hear how “Jesus did walk with the ladies.” Intrigued?
  • We’ve booked our flights to go back to England over Christmas. I have a mental list of things to try to remember to do: get a peak at Codex Sinaiticus, visit Bunhill to see the graves of Johns Owen, Bunyan and Gill and Isaac Watts…(Can you say supererogatory acts?), and my list is still growing. Of course spending time with the extremely jovial and congenial Hayes family is top priority. =)
  • I took two semesterin of German in college and now it’s time to shift into Retention Phase. Thank you, http://ergebung.wordpress.com, a theological German blog. Klingt mir gut!
  • That’s it. I’ve got a paper to write.
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Crossway’s New Edition of John Owen Communion with the Triune God

By | Published 10/05/2007

Being an owner of Overcoming Sin and Temptation (gratias tibi ago, JBA) I knew what to expect with this title. I am extremely grateful for volumes such as this new edition of John Owen’s Communion with the Triune God published by Crossway. There are several reasons to rejoice at this printing.

First, while John Owen’s works are notoriously onerous and culto, editors Kapic and Taylor have gone to great lengths—while neither abridging nor paraphrasing—to assist the reader in combating reader’s fatigue commonly brought on by antiquated language, page-length paragraphs, and specialized vocabulary. All Latin phrases and quotes are translated. Hebrew and Greek are both transliterated and translated. Scripture references are provided. Extensive outlines and headings assist in tracking the argumentation. All the above are new to this edition and make this spiritual gold mine more accessible than ever, equipping the reader with the tools necessary to join Owen in the task of meditating on (with increasing depth) the triune nature of our great God and King.

Secondly, it bespeaks the utility of the work by the very fact that over three hundred and fifty years later it is still being reproduced. The work’s longevity is due in great part to Owen’s own saturation in Scripture, doing the work of a true systematic theologian tying Scripture together to weave a tapestry of the God who has revealed himself in the Bible. It is here within this work that we are invited to meet with Owen as he treats of the thrice holy God in three parts, answering our objections with grace and passion. Kevin J Vanhoozer in the foreword calls the work “indispensable reading for all those who want to go deeper into the meaning of relationality than one typically goes in the pop-theology boats that float only on the psychological surface of the matter” (12).

The (aspiring) theologian and layman alike will greatly benefit from spending these pages with Owen.

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Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers

By | Published 06/24/2007

Mortification from a self-strength, carried on by ways of self-invention, unto the end of a self-righteousness, is the soul and substance of all false religion in the world.–John Owen, Overcoming Sin and Temptation (Wheaton: Crossway, 2006), 47.

In this wonderfully crafted, multi-faceted treatment of the killing of sin in believers, Owen accurately describes what the mortification of sin is and what it is not, striking a fatal blow to all false religion.

False Religion consists of:

  1. Self-strength – the error of Pelagius
  2. Self-invention – denying the work and need of the Holy Spirit to work His good pleasure. Confer the words of Augustine: “Grant what Thou commandest, and command what Thou dost desire.” Ironically enough, this is the very statement of Augustine’s that Pelagius took exception with because it does not affirm self-strength.
  3. Self-righteousness – we are made wholly righteous because of Christ’s righteousness, not and never our own.

The mortification of sin in false religions focuses on self. Mortification of sin in the Christian religion focuses on God as the strength, the inventor (means) and the end.

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Obvious Titles

By | Published 05/22/2007

I love books that you can gather the whole thrust of the work simply by reading the title. Not only this but the title alone speaks volumes. Right now, I know of only two examples:

  • The Death of Death in the Death of Christ by John Owen [Link]
  • God is the Gospel by John Piper [Link]

If I encounter more, I’ll be sure to add them to this list.

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