John Owen (theologian)

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John Owen, portrait by John Greenhill († 1676)

John Owen (born 1616 in Stadhampton in Oxfordshire , England , † August 24, 1683 in Ealing ) was a congregational pastor and theologian of Welsh descent during the reign of Oliver Cromwell . It is attributed to radical puritanism .

Live and act

Owen was born the son of a Welsh pastor in Stadhampton, Oxfordshire. On November 4, 1631, he enrolled at Queen's College , Oxford for study. He dealt with classical philology, mathematics, philosophy, theology and Hebrew and obtained the title of Magister artium in 1635 . It was not until 1653 that he obtained a doctorate in theology.

Owen had to leave Oxford several times. The first time this happened in 1637, when he refused to bow to the new statutes of the Archbishop of Canterbury , William Laud , and therefore had to flee. As a result he worked as a chaplain and teacher. He lost this position when he sided with Parliament when the civil war broke out in 1642. His demeanor also robbed him of the inheritance of his Welsh uncle, who was loyal to the king. Owen fell into a spiritual crisis, from which he recovered in retirement in Charterhouse Yard (London).

In 1643 he published the strictly Calvinist treatise The Display of Arminianism , which opened the doors for him to the parish in Fordham (Essex). Until 1646 he mainly devoted himself to community work in Fordham.

While Owen was still in favor of a Presbyterian church constitution in The Duty of Pastors and People Distinguished , written during his time in Fordham, he broke with this attitude after a thorough study of the history of early Christianity and turned to moderate independentism or congregationalism . His changed point of view first became clear in a sermon he delivered on April 29, 1646 in front of the " Long Parliament ". He explained them in greater detail in the Country Essay for the Practice of Church Government .

In 1646 Owen became a pastor in Coggeshall, Essex. He organized the local community entirely according to congregational principles. He explained these principles in 1648 in the treatise Esheol; or the Rules of Direction for the Walking of the Saints in Fellowship .

During this time the siege of the nearby Colchester by Thomas Fairfax falls , during which a friendship developed between Owen and Fairfax. At Fairfax's request, Owen also preached in army services. He was chosen to preach in parliament on the day of Charles I's execution and mastered the task without directly addressing the event. Through this sermon he came in contact with Oliver Cromwell, whom he accompanied as a chaplain on his campaigns to Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1651.

After that, Owen returned to Oxford. In 1651 he became dean of Christ Church in Oxford. For a short time from 1651 he represented Oxford University as a member of parliament. In 1652 he was installed by Cromwell as Vice Chancellor of Oxford University and remained in that position until 1658.

Cromwell sought Owen's advice on the establishment of a pluralistic state church. In 1654 he was consulted as an advisor to the settlement of differences of opinion in the Scottish Church. He was also involved in an official mission with Protestantism in Ireland. In addition, Owen was instrumental in drafting the independentist Savoy Declaration of 1658, a modified version of the Westminster Confession .

After the Stuart Restoration in 1660, Owen was again forced to leave Oxford. When 2000 pastors were removed from their offices in 1662, Owen stood up for the rights of these persecuted nonconformists . He refused a bishopric offered by Charles II. As a result, he remained without office, but was still active as a writer and as a preacher at a major Congregational Church on Leadenhall Street in London, where he received support from David Clarkson in 1682 .

Owens' marriage with Mary Rooke († 1675) in 1644 gave birth to eleven children, ten of whom died in infancy. Only one daughter reached adulthood, but died of tuberculosis soon after their marriage.

Services

Owen was an extremely prolific theological writer. Through his publications on questions of the church constitution, in which he emphasized the independence of individual parishes from each other and from every state and church authority, he became a leading figure in congregationalism or independentism .

Owens' works are published and read in England and America to this day. The first German translations were carried out by Bernardus Ancumanus .

Works

  • William H. Gould (Ed.): The Works of John Owen. 16 volumes, Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh 1966, ISBN 0-85-151392-1

Published in German:

  • Life through his death. Christ's Atonement in the light of the Bible. (Original title: The Death of Death in the Death of Christ ) Reformatorischer Verlag Beese, Hamburg 1995, ISBN 978-3-928936-06-4 .
  • The danger of falling. (Original title: Apostasy from the Gospel ) 3L Verlag, Waldems-Esch 2010, ISBN 978-3-935188-96-8 .
  • The glory of Christ: more precious than gold. (Original title: The Glory of Christ ) revised new edition, 3L Verlag, Waldems-Esch 2013, ISBN 978-3-935188-30-2 .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The information in this article is based primarily on Amos Schmidt:  Owen, John. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 6, Bautz, Herzberg 1993, ISBN 3-88309-044-1 , Sp. 1395-1398.  ( Article / beginning of article in the Internet archive ) , as well as RC Walton: Owen, John (1616–1683). In: Helmut Burkhardt, Uwe Swarat (ed.): Evangelical Lexicon for Theology and Congregation. Vol. 3, p. 1498.
personal data
SURNAME Owen, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION congregational pastor and theologian of radical puritanism
DATE OF BIRTH 1616
PLACE OF BIRTH Stadhampton
DATE OF DEATH August 24, 1683
Place of death Ealing (London)