A "good" bio on John Owen
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There's a section about him in John Piper's Contending for Our All: Defending Truth and Treasuring Christ in the Lives of Athanasius, John Owen, and J. Gresham Machen, but as you will see from this excerpt, not much is known about his life:
"Most people—even pastors and theologians—don’t know much about John Owen. One of the reasons is that his writings are not popular today. But another reason is that not much is known about him—at least not much about his personal life. Peter Toon, in his 1971 biography, says, 'Not one of Owen’s diaries has been preserved; and … the extant letters in which he lays bare his soul are very few, and recorded, personal reactions of others to him are brief and scarce.' 'We have to rely on a few letters and a few remarks of others to seek to understand him as a man. And these are insufficient to probe the depths of his character. So Owen must remain hidden as it were behind a veil … his secret thoughts remain his own.'
"I think this may be a little misleading because when you read the more practical works of Owen, the man shines through in a way that I think reveals the deep places of his heart. But still the details of his personal life are frustratingly few. You will see this—and perhaps share my frustration—in what follows."
John Piper, Contending for Our All: Defending Truth and Treasuring Christ in the Lives of Athanasius, John Owen, and J. Gresham Machen (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2006), 83.I would also recommend James M. Houston's "Editor's Note" and J.I. Packer's "Introduction" to Sin and Temptation: The Challenge of Personal Godliness from the Works of John Owen (Classics of Faith and Devotion series). Houston aptly introduces Owen's thought in this short volume. It's too bad this series isn't available in Logos format.
Biographies of Owen that Houston and Packer reference:
- God's Statesman: The Life and Work of John Owen by Peter Toon (Wipf & Stock, 2018)
- Life of Owen by A. Chalmers (1850) - can't find this for sure, but it might be similar to the entry "OWEN (John)" in The General Biographical Dictionary, revised by A. Chalmers, 1815, see p. 452: https://books.google.com/books?id=8R4IAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA452
You can also find, for free on Scribd, The Life of Dr. John Owen by Rev. Andrew Thompson. This is the same biography of him that appears in Volume 1 of Works of John Owen, which is available in Logos.
More biographies of him available on the Internet Archive:
- The Life of the Rev. John Owen, abridged from Orme's Life of Owen
- Memoirs of the life, writings and religious connexions of John Owen, D.D.
- Biography of John Owen from 1885 & 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
And from the Dictionary of National Biography:
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Very helpful. Thanks [Y][:D]
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Also, I just suggested this on UserVoice along with the rest of the "Long Line of Godly Men" series. Others have said the series is very good: It's available in Kindle format.
The Trinitarian Devotion of John Owen
Sinclair Ferguson and Steven J. Lawson
Reformation Trust
2014
978-1567694031
https://www.amazon.com/dp/15676940390 -
Thank you so much Rosie for this information. It is greatly appreciated in my work on John Owen
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