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The Complete Works of John Owen #28
The Church, the Scriptures, and the Sacraments
Crossway Introduces the Collected Works of John Owen, Updated for Modern Readers Regarded as one of the greatest theologians in history, 17th-century pastor John Owen wrote extensively on holiness, Scripture, the Trinity, missions, and ecclesiology. His classic works―which have inspired many Christian thinkers including Charles Spurgeon, J. I. Packer, and John Piper―remain influential, but until now haven’t been offered in an easy-to-read collection. The Complete Works of John Owen is a 40-volume series that brings together all of Owen’s original theological writings, reformatted for modern readers. Volume 28, edited by Andrew M. Leslie, includes a variety of Owen’s treatises, sermons, short letters, and tracts. These works cover scriptural, sacramental, and ecclesiological topics, including the integrity of Scripture, identifying and responding to habitual sin, and the importance of devotion and worship. Along with extensive introductions by the editor, this volume includes outlines, footnotes, and other supporting resources. This landmark series―which will be published over a number of years―presents Owen’s prolific work in an easy-to-read layout to reach and inspire a new generation of Bible readers and scholars to deeper faith.
- GenresTheology
629 pages, Hardcover
Published March 12, 2024
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22 people want to read
About the author
John Owen
1,350 books410 followersJohn Owen was an English theologian and "was without doubt not only the greatest theologian of the English Puritan movement but also one of the greatest European Reformed theologians of his day, and quite possibly possessed the finest theological mind that England ever produced" ("Owen, John", in Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals, p. 494)
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 30, 2024
John Owen, as always, is excellent. The content of each individual work within this volume is fantastic. If you like Owen, you will like this. I want to start with that.
However, this is one disjointed volume. Ostensibly, all the works should fall under the three heads (Church, Scripture, Sacraments), some do, some barely do, and some certainly do not.
The volume begins with the two treatises on the Scriptures. The first is a useful if ordinary defense of the integrity of the copies of Scripture we have today, and the second and longer is a book review about an upcoming (in Owen's time) publication that Owen fears could shed general doubt on the previous topic.
The second section (The Lord's Supper) consists of 28 short discourses Owen gave before administering the Lord's Supper to his congregation. Ministers looking for inspiration concerning similar circumstances may be delighted with his reflections, but those looking for a full treatise on the sacraments will be somewhat disappointed.
The Ecclesiology section is the most disparate. They range from three excellent short tracts on infant baptism (which probably should have been grouped with the section before), to Owen's response to a slanderous letter against himself being disseminated that has very little to do with the Church, to how to enforce church discipline across churches in communion, to whether or not Dissenters should attend Anglican services (the intro explains the historical context), to whether or not divorced individuals can remarry. Moving from one work to the next can be jarring in terms of tone and content. I did quite enjoy reading Owen's letter on Anglican excommunications as he is obviously peeved to see his friends thrown in jail and holds nothing back.
Now, this is the complete works, and the publishers are going to have to find ways to fit all the things he ever published into some nooks and crannies, so I understand the purpose of the volume which is why I have taken off no stars for its patchwork nature. Crossway's timing of its publication, however, is very odd. There are so many great works of John Owen still to publish. Why is Volume 28, a veritable kitchen sink of works that didn't quite fit in anywhere else, the fourth volume Crossway has made available to the public? This seems like something to publish near the end of the series for the diehards wanting to fill in the gaps, not one of the first and founding publications for the whole.
However, this is one disjointed volume. Ostensibly, all the works should fall under the three heads (Church, Scripture, Sacraments), some do, some barely do, and some certainly do not.
The volume begins with the two treatises on the Scriptures. The first is a useful if ordinary defense of the integrity of the copies of Scripture we have today, and the second and longer is a book review about an upcoming (in Owen's time) publication that Owen fears could shed general doubt on the previous topic.
The second section (The Lord's Supper) consists of 28 short discourses Owen gave before administering the Lord's Supper to his congregation. Ministers looking for inspiration concerning similar circumstances may be delighted with his reflections, but those looking for a full treatise on the sacraments will be somewhat disappointed.
The Ecclesiology section is the most disparate. They range from three excellent short tracts on infant baptism (which probably should have been grouped with the section before), to Owen's response to a slanderous letter against himself being disseminated that has very little to do with the Church, to how to enforce church discipline across churches in communion, to whether or not Dissenters should attend Anglican services (the intro explains the historical context), to whether or not divorced individuals can remarry. Moving from one work to the next can be jarring in terms of tone and content. I did quite enjoy reading Owen's letter on Anglican excommunications as he is obviously peeved to see his friends thrown in jail and holds nothing back.
Now, this is the complete works, and the publishers are going to have to find ways to fit all the things he ever published into some nooks and crannies, so I understand the purpose of the volume which is why I have taken off no stars for its patchwork nature. Crossway's timing of its publication, however, is very odd. There are so many great works of John Owen still to publish. Why is Volume 28, a veritable kitchen sink of works that didn't quite fit in anywhere else, the fourth volume Crossway has made available to the public? This seems like something to publish near the end of the series for the diehards wanting to fill in the gaps, not one of the first and founding publications for the whole.
Displaying 1 of 1 review