Abstract
This chapter is an article assessment of the Ashgate Research Companion to John Owen’s Theology. This essay uses this multi-author volume as an occasion to evaluate and to provide a glimpse into the current state of Owen research. This covers a wide range of theological and practical topics that reflect Owen’s interests and influence. This piece justifies the need for the preceding chapters. The Ashgate Companion illustrates the growing scholarly attention Owen is receiving currently. The evaluations of each chapter of the Ashgate Companion serve as a fitting conclusion to the preceding chapters, since they solidify this author’s contention that as Owen rises in prominence in historical research, it is possible to make too much and too little of his significance at the same time.
This article appeared in Mid-America Journal of Theology, Vol. 24, December 2014.
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Notes
- 1.
Rehnman , Divine Discourse.
- 2.
Ryan M. McGraw, A Heavenly Directory: Trinitarian Piety, Public Worship, and a Reassessment of John Owen’s Theology (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, forthcoming). Daniel Hyde makes the same point in this present volume, but he does not connect Owen’s views of public worship to his practical trinitarianism.
- 3.
Samuel Petto , The Difference Between the Old and New Covenant Stated and Explained with an Exposition of the Covenant of Grace in the Principal Concernments of It (London: Printed for Eliz. Calvert, 1674), 5–7, 13, 16, 19.
- 4.
Mark Jones ’s forthcoming book on antinomianism expounds this trend clearly. See also, Robert McKelvey, “‘That Error and Pillar of Antinomianism :’ Eternal Justification,” Michael A.G. Haykin and Mark Jones , eds., Drawn into Controversie: Reformed Theological Diversity and Debates Within Seventeenth-Century British Puritanism (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011), 223–262.
- 5.
See McGraw, A Heavenly Directory, Chap. 3.
- 6.
This stands in contrast to Willem van Vlastuin , who pits Owen against Jonathan Edwards , asserting that Edwards treated the Spirit as the great gift of God while Owen did not. Vlastuin , Be Renewed, 235–239. This is an addition to my original review article.
- 7.
Amandus Polanus , Syntagma Theologiae Christianae Ab Amando Polano a Polansdorf: Juxta Leges Ordinis Methodici Conformatum, Atque in Libros Decem Digestum Jamque Demum in Unum Volumen Compactum, Novissime Emendatum (Hanoviae, 1610), 55, 73–74. I added this observation to my original review article.
- 8.
Thomas Manton , The Complete Works (London: Nisbet, 1870), 20: 460.
- 9.
Jonathan Edwards , The Works of Jonathan Edwards , Sereno E Dwight and Edward Hickman, eds. (Edinburgh: Banner of Thrust, 1997), 2: 905–912.
- 10.
John Owen and William H Goold, The Works of John Owen, D.D. (London and Edinburgh: Johnstone and Hunter, 1850), 2: 246. So Polnaus, Syntagma, 55.
- 11.
Alan Spence, Incarnation and Inspiration John Owen and the Coherence of Christology (London and New York: T & T Clark, 2007).
- 12.
Thomas Goodwin , The Works of Thomas Goodwin , D.D. … the First Volume. Containing, an Exposition on the First, and Part of the Second Chapter, of the Epistle to the Ephesians. and Sermons Preached on Several Occasions (London: Printed by J.D. and S. R. for T. G., 1681).
- 13.
Thomas Boston , The Complete Works of Thomas Boston (orig. pub., William Tegg & Co., 1852; reprint, Stoke on Trent, UK: Tentmaker Publications, 2002), 2: 5–14.
- 14.
Mortimer , Reason and Religion in the English Revolution.
- 15.
Such as, Letham , The Holy Trinity.
- 16.
Robert Letham , “‘Where Reason Fails—’: Papers Read at the 2006 Westminster Conference.” (Westminster Conference, 2006), 11.
- 17.
For example, John Owen, Theologoumena Pantodapa, Sive, De Natura, Ortu Progressu, Et Studio Veræ Theologiæ, Libri Sex Quibus Etiam Origines & Processus Veri & Falsi Cultus Religiosi, Casus & Instaurationes Ecclesiæ Illustiores Ab Ipsis Rerum Primordiis, Enarrantur … (Oxoniæ: Excudebat Hen. Hall … impensis Tho. Robinson …, 1661), 522 (Voetius ) and 519 (Hoornbeeck ).
- 18.
See Gisperti Voetii , Selectarum Disputationum Theologicarum, Pars Prima (Utrecht, 1648), 1: 472, who called the Trinity the fundamentum fundamenti. He added that the doctrine of the Trinity was fundamental because it was the foundation of so many practical uses, personal holiness, and divine worship (473). For Hoornbeeck , see Johannes Hoornbeeck , Theologiae Practicae (Utrecht, 1663), 1: 136.
- 19.
Polly Ha , Patrick Collinson , eds., The Reception of Continental Reformation in Britain (Oxford University Press for the British Academy, 2010), 235–236.
- 20.
Richard A. Muller , Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics: The Rise and Development of Reformed Orthodoxy, ca. 1520 to ca. 1725 (Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academics, 2003), 4: 144–149. Muller makes the important observation that the table of contents of dogmatic works are not a reliable guide regarding how Reformed authors related the divine attributes to the persons of the Godhead in terms of their relative importance. Letham makes this mistake on p. 189 and in other books where he treats Reformed orthodox views of the Trinity.
- 21.
Jonathan Edwards , “Economy of the Trinity in the Covenant of Redemption,” The Works of Jonathan Edwards Online, 20: 441–442.
- 22.
Van Asselt makes a similar observations about Cocceius ’s position. W.J. van Asselt , The Federal Theology of Johannes Cocceius (1603–1669) (Leiden and Boston : Brill, 2001), 235.
- 23.
Hoornbeeck , Theologiae Practicae, 1: 139–141.
- 24.
Peter van Mastricht , Theoretico-Practica Theologia. Qua, Per Singula Capita Theologica, Pars Exegetica, Dogmatica, Elenchtica & Practica, Perpetua Successione Conjugantur. (Trajecti ad Rhenum, & Amstelodami: Sumptibus Societatis, 1724), 235–270.
- 25.
John Fesko acknowledges this charge against Melanchthon and rejects it. J.V. Fesko , Beyond Calvin : Union with Christ and Justification in Early Modern Reformed Theology (1517–1700) (Göttingen and Bristol, CT: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2012), 140–143. He treats propter Christum and in Christ as synonyms.
- 26.
Cooper , John Owen, Richard Baxter , and the Formation of Nonconformity.
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McGraw, R.M. (2017). The Rising Prominence of John Owen: An Analysis of the Ashgate Research Companion to John Owen’s Theology as a Window into the State of Owen Studies. In: John Owen. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60807-5_8
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