How to Read John Owen (from someone who struggles to read John Owen)
By Andy Young
I had the enviable privilege of being born and raised in the great land of Wales. Not New South Wales in sunny Australia. And certainly not that town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, US of A, with a population, at the last count, of 1,838. Yes, you have got it now – that Principality in southwest Great Britain known for its rugged coastline, mountainous national parks, distinctive language and Celtic culture. That is the one, and that is where I grew up.
As I grew up I quickly learned that there were three untouchables. Three things so treasured, and so prized, that any form of critique or critical appraisal of them would likely bring the righteous wrath of God down around you … or at least the pursed lips, sneering jibes, and incredulous cries of alarm from the eternally affronted evangelical community. What were those three things? Quite simply rugby, revivals and the righteous Dr. himself (Lloyd-Jones not Paisley). These three were the holy trinity of Welsh evangelical culture. The first inspired us, the second fuelled our hope for better days to come, and the last was our national treasure. Not even a hint of criticism would be brooked. They were untouchable. Only to be loved, adored and dare I say, idolised.
You may of course be wondering what all of this has to do with John Owen. Having got this far I think you have a right to ask. In a sense nothing. And yet, having lived for longer in England now than I ever did in Wales, I have experienced a similar phenomena of adulation for the right reverend Mr. Owen. In the English speaking evangelical world, John Owen is regarded as something of a giant. A towering intellect. A magisterial theologian. A Puritan of puritans. His contribution to the corpus of Christendom and his revered ‘Works’ are akin to the holy grail of Reformed thought.
And let me hastily affirm they should be. They are a marvel to behold. Not only have many a Minister’s study been sanctified by their presence, the sheer precision, depth and pastoral insight of the man has left us enriched and profoundly blessed. The problem is that John Owen is so firmly ensconced in the ivory tower of Reformed adulation that even a whiff of wonderment in regard to the readability of the man is sure to bring the house of orthodox consternation crashing down around you. Let’s be frank, his writings can just ever so often smack of … well, being a tad loquacious. I mean, seven complete volumes on the book of Hebrews(!) … it is enough to give a good upright Protestant a cardiac arrest just thinking about having to wade through his palaverous prolix. And dare you say it in the wrong company? Before you know it your orthodox credentials will be questioned and your Reformed convictions doubted.
So what is one to do? The man is clearly a theologian par excellence. And yet he can be tough to read. His books are recommended to us left, right and centre, and mature Christians who we love and respect, urge us to “Tolle Lege!” Yet when we do we can too easily get bogged down in the sheer depth and density of his labyrinthine prose. Have no fear! Here are three tips on reading Owen from a decidedly amateur, non-expert, not-in-a-thousand-lifetimes-will-he-ever-be-an-authority-on-the-man, wanting-to-read-Owen-but-need-as-much-help-as-I-can-get, kind of guy:
1) First, actually read him. Now this may sound obvious. Bear with me. The Banner of Truth are to be commended for publishing his Works. They are to be congratulated for making his corpus so readily available. And undoubtedly every self-respecting Protestant either has a copy of them all, or is planning on getting one forthwith. That being said you will have to forgive me for wondering what the percentage proportion of those who own Owen’s works are, relative to those who have actually read any of them. My guesstimate is that the answer may struggle to attain double figures. They may stand in pride of place on our bookshelves, but have we honestly ever actually taken one down and read it? And by the way, perusing the contents page, and skimming over a paragraph or two does not count. So how about you actually read him? And not just books about him, as helpful as they often are. Actually read the man himself. I recently decided to bite the bullet and I began reading Volume 2 on ‘Communion with God’ as part of my daily devotions. And fair play, I am loving it. If the actual Works create feelings of foreboding doom in you, why not start with one of the Puritan Paperbacks (published by the Banner of Truth – what would we do without them?).
2) Second, do not actually read him. And by that I mean feel free to not be honour bound to read every sentence, word and phoneme that is on the printed page. There is theological gold dust in Owen. But he does have the tendency to be verbose and to reference every last Scripture that may have some outlandish bearing on the point he is making. Some paragraphs you need to read carefully and digest slowly. Others, by the second sentence he has made his point and is simply bringing it home to roost. In addition he has that much loved and yet ever-so-difficult-to-follow puritan trait of making points within points within points. You know what I mean: “Under the second heading, section three, part B, sub-section iv …” So feel free to skip on to the next point or paragraph. And do not feel guilty for failing to cogitate on every last syllable or Bible reference, and have not tracked every last detail of his intricate flow of thought.
3) Third, only read the first sentence. Not of each volume, that would be silly. Of each paragraph. Seriously, you should try it. Owen is in my humble opinion both a very logical and clear thinker. He builds his arguments and makes his points in clear order. The fog comes during his lengthy, periphrastic and multi-Bible referencing explanations of his main points. So if you struggle with the fog, just read the main points. And these are usually found at the beginning of each paragraph (surprise, surprise). I discovered this to my surprise(!) when preparing for some ‘pooling of ignorance seminar’ back in the mists of time when I was a theological student. For reasons best left alone I only had a few hours to read and digest Owens discourse on ‘The True Nature of a Gospel Church.’ I needed to be to sufficiently familiar with his argument so as to engage in the seminar and convince my audience that I had at least a modicum of knowledge about this particular treatise. Whether or not I actually succeeded to pull the wool over my fellow students eyes is beside the point. I found that if I just read the first sentence of each paragraph (sometimes the second sentence was helpful as well) I could follow the flow of his thought. More than that, I was able to piece together the broad outline of his argument. Did I get the details? Obviously not. Would my Owen loving theology Professor have been pleased? I seriously doubt it. But it was a helpful way of beginning to engage in his writings and to circumnavigate the circumlocutory aspects of his compositions.
I will end by daring to say the following:
The Welsh are not as good at rugby as we think we are.
We have sometimes turned the history of revivals into revivalism and prioritised the extraordinary work of God over above the ordinary means of grace.
And the Dr. (Lloyd-Jones not Paisley), despite being one of the finest preachers of the 20th Century, was just a man and (shock horror) was also a sinner and so did not get everything right.
It appears that whilst I may have offended the entirety of Welsh Christendom, for now at least, I am able to write on. And that means I should be ok to say this as well, despite the risk of affronting your Protestant and Reformed sensibilities:
As dazzling a theologian as John Owen is, sometimes he is difficult to read.
And so I at least need all the help I can get. And in fact, I want that help, because I want to be able to read him, because he is worth reading, despite his verbosity. And as with all of the above – we love them all the same. In fact, once we acknowledge their flaws, we may just love them even more (especially the rugby).
