John Owen on Overcoming Sin and Temptation

"I owe more to John Owen than to any other theologian, ancient or modern...."

JI Packer

I just started reading Overcoming Sin and Temptation, a combination of three of John Owen's works edited by Justin Taylor and Kelly Kapic, a couple of days ago.

I've briefly complained before that we in the emerging church don't tend to talk very much about sin, so my wading into John Owen is an attempt to rectify any accompanying imbalance in my own life. And I was also struck by a comment made not too long ago that indicated that we emergers might tend to gravitate toward more contemporaneous theological treatments and tend to avoid more time-tested texts such as those provided by Owen. (On the other hand, perhaps I should say that Tony Jones, as he recently mentioned, has edited texts of John Bunyan and Augustine.)

I've already found the book helpfully challenging; it's a substantial treatment of the soul. I'll post more later on my journey as I get deeper into Owens' thinking.

If you'd like to taste and see, Crossway has the entire book available to preview online.

I've also added God's Statesman: Life and Work of John Owen by Peter Toon to my Christmas Wish list. Kapic suggests it's the best Owen biography available.

In full disclosure, I probably should mention that Crossway sends me their new releases on request for review.