perhaps the most well-known / important / influential Reformed Evangelical (Anglican) scholar of our day.
You don't remember seeing such a judgement in print anywhere, do you?
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Praise of Packer
Do you agree that Packer is
You don't remember seeing such a judgement in print anywhere, do you?
You don't remember seeing such a judgement in print anywhere, do you?
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9 comments:
'Well-known' depends a lot on context. Are you thinking about in the UK, or including the US/Canada too, for example?
Important/influential?
And are you only including Englishmen in your list?
If so, I still think it would be hard to pick between Packer and Stott, to be honest. Of the two, I'd say that Stott is slightly better known across the pond, in my experience.
And no, but you could have a look at Alistair McGrath's biography where he says some pretty nice things about Packer. Might be a quote you could use there.
Thank you. Yes, perhaps it would help if I said "theologian" since Stott is perhaps more of a preacher / exegete / pastor etc.
Maybe eminent / respected / significant
I was thinking of saying something like that in the article for ER. Perhaps Mt can put me right?!
I agree with you. I dont' think you need a footnote!
I would agree with Ros that Stott rates higher on the world stage.
He was much more of the figurehead in the Lloyd-Jones split (though JIP was much closer personally to LJ, and deeply grieved that they never spoke after that).
And through Lausanne, Stott has been globally influential in a way I'm not sure Packer has.
Packer has clearly been more of a theologian than Stott, and more clearly capital-R Reformed. He was hgely influential with LJ in rehabilitating the English Puritans. McGrath's biog is good. It has lovely stuff on Packer discovering the Puritans.
While and undergrad, and struggling with Keswick perfectionism which was dominant at the time, he was OICCU librarian, and discovered mouldering tomes of Puritans. So he just started reading them on his own, unguided, and the rest is history.
I agree with Neil about the biography. I bought mine when they were being sold off at £1 each, and I honestly think that was the best pound I have ever spent.
Gosh, that's quite a claim, Ros!
I think my best pound ever spent was almost certainly on something edible, but I couldn't tell you what!
I think I may have heard McGrath criticised for his spin on Packer, but I can't remember any details?
The best pound I ever spent was on the lovely brown leather armchair in my study, in which I'm sitting as I type. Sadly, I had to spend 499 other pounds with it!
This might be the book to look in
J. I. Packer and the Evangelical Future: The Impact of His Life and Thought
"J.I. Packer is one of the most significant evangelical theologians of the last one hundred years. He has had a deep and encompassing influence on many renewal movements within North American Christianity and has become a highly regarded leader in the world Christian movement through his many books and lectures around the globe."
* Contributors Include: Carl R. Trueman
* Mark E. Dever
* Alister McGrath
* Paul R. House
* Chuck Colson
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