John Owen

John Owen for Today Conference

A ‘John Owen for Today Conference’ has been announced for 19-22 August 2008. It will be held at Westminster College, Cambridge and the speakers will be Alan Spence, Steve Holmes, Carl Trueman, Kelly Kapic, Sebastian Rehnman, Crawford Gribben, Suzanne Macdonald & Michael Horton.

It’s great to see such a conference being organised. On top of having really awesome hair, Owen is arguably English Nonconformity’s most significant pastor and theologian. If you want a taste of his work, I highly recommend reading his Communion with God, his The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, as well as his excellent work on the Spirit (you could start with this one or with this CD). It’s also worth checking out Jim Gordon’s recent review of Carl Trueman’s book, John Owen, Reformed Catholic, Renaissance Man.

A conference blog has also been set up here.

Toleration

‘If errors must be tolerated, say some, then men may do what they please, without control. No means, it seems, must be used to reclaim them. But is gospel conviction no means? Hath the sword of discipline no edge? Is there no means of instruction in the New Testament established, but a prison and a halter?’ – John Owen, Of Toleration.