Owen's devotion to Scriptures
John Owen has great comments on the nature of theology and theologians. He has a couple of sections warning against using non-biblical categories in writing about doctrine.
Description
Lovers of theology, and particularly of the Puritans, will welcome this English translation of John Owen’s Latin writings. In William Goold’s 24-volume edition of Owen’s works, this is the one volume that had been unavailable to English readers for years. Banner of Truth has reprinted the first 16 volumes plus the 7-volume commentary on Hebrews, but this volume has been available only in Latin until this edition was produced.
The major portion of this volume is a history of theology from Adam to Christ. Appended to this important work is Owen’s Defense of Scripture against Modern Fanatacism. The Defense is an affirmation that the Bible is the perfect, authoritative, and complete Word of God. Owen also defends proper interpretation against what was known in his day as ‘inner light’, and what is so common in our day – subjective, experience-driven interpretation.
“One oddity merits mention. The lumbering style of Owen's English, with its weird words, Latinized word-order, labored and tortuous exactness, and often wearisome repetitiveness, is well known. But his Latin is taut, brisk, clear and tidy, and in translation reads more easily than do his twisted paragraphs in his mother tongue.” -J. I. Packer, from the foreword
Table of Contents:
Book I: Natural Theology
1. Theology in General
2. Theology in General
3. Theology in General Concluded
4. The Natural Theology of the First Man
5. The Fall and the Loss of Natural Theology
6. The Insufficiency of Natural Theology for Salvation
7-9. Natural Theology Under Total Depravity
Book II: Theology from Adam to Noah
1. The Renewal of Theology After the Fall
2. The Principles of Post-Lapsarian Theology
3. The Second Antediluvian Reformation of the Church
Book III: Theology from Noah to Abraham
1. The Noahchian Covenant and the Noachian Chruch
2. The Original Language, the Confusion of Languages, and the Sibylline Oracle
3-14. The Origin and Progress of Idolatry
Book IV: Theology from Abraham to Moses
1. The Theology of Abraham
2-3. The Theology of Moses
Book V: Theology from Moses to Christ
1-10. The Corruption and Solemn Restoration of Mosaic Theology
11. The Final Abolition of Mosaic Theology
12-13. Ezra’s Reformation of the Jewish Church
14-16. The Final Apostasy of the Jewish Church
Book VI: Evangelical Theology
1-8. Evangelical Theology
9. On the Study of Theology
Editor’s Notes to the English Version
Appendix – A Defense of Scripture against Modern Fanatacism
Endorsement
"Published in Latin in 1661 as a contribution to international reformed scholarship, this treatise draws on a very wide range of learning. The final part, in particular, where Owen characterizes evangelical theology as a gift of the Holy Spirit generating faith in Christ, holiness through Christ, and worship of Christ, is pure gold. Those with a taste for Owen, or for theology, or (best of all) for both, will read this Puritan proto-Biblical Theology with joy." - J. I. Packer
Author
John Owen (1616–1683), amongst the best known of the Puritans, was an English Puritan who served as vice-chancellor of Oxford University and pastor of congregations in Coggeshall and London. His writings continue to be widely read and greatly appreciated to this day.