John Owen: A Brief Biographical Sketch

The Puritans defined and one of their greatest figures

This winter, I have to focus my writing and reading on one historical theologian/pastor. I have chosen the Puritan minister John Owen since Banner of Truth recently gifted me 16 volumes of his works. Each week, I will be sitting down with Owen and distilling his thoughts and sermons into brief entries that will be published here. However, I thought it best to outline a little of Owen’s life, before digging into his writings. Yet even before we begin, perhaps it would be wise to consider what the term ‘Puritan’ means.

Who were the Puritans?

Puritanism is the haunting fear that someone, somewhere is having a good time.¹ Perhaps you have hear a similar joke about who the Puritans are, or what they believed. Jokes about the Puritans are easy to come by, but like most jokes, are a misunderstanding of who they really were. While there is some debate about the actual movement of the Puritans, there are certain criteria that define who they really were.²

The Puritan movement happened out of the Church of England in the mid-sixteenth century. After the Church of England was established, some considered the Anglicans ‘too similar’ to the Catholic church, claiming that they held on to too many of their old ways. This group of people claimed, instead, that Anglicanism needed to be ‘purified’ from the Roman Catholic influences that remained. Some of the Puritans favored presbyterian forms of church government and theology, while others followed the congregationalists. 

The Puritans earned their name for being rigid rule-followers. They were quick to hold the Bible as the ultimate authority, and didn’t shy away from calling out the sins of their neighbors. Thus, they were called ‘Puritans’ by those who didn’t like them. 

Many, though not all, were Calvinists. They believed in the sovereignty of God in their lives, and that God chooses to elect some to salvation. The Puritans were also deeply concerned with people having a real relationship with God, not simply only living a Christian life externally for the world to see. Some of the greatest Puritan figures include Richard Baxter, John Flavel, Richard Sibbes, and of course, John Owen.

Owen’s Life

John Owen was born in 1616 in modern day Stadhampton, near Oxford University. His father, and at least one of his brothers, were also ministers. Owen went to University and later went to work on his Bachelor of Divinity. He served families in the area and preached the Gospel. He was a Puritan, meaning he sought to reform the Anglican Church of the unbiblical Roman Catholic practices. 

Owen was married and had eleven children. Out of the eleven, only one of them would survive to adulthood.³ He was elected to serve as the Vice-Chancellor at Oxford University when he was only 36 years old.⁴ Owen quickly gained national attention for preaching, his interactions with Parliament, and his relationship with Oliver Cromwell.

In 1662 there was a great ejection of pastors who had once served in the Anglican Church, but whom the Anglicans found to be outside of their faith tradition. This ejection of clergy would include 2000 ministers, among whom would be John Owen. As a result of this great ejection, a number of acts would be passed with the sole purpose of silencing the clergy who were forced out. Owen refused to follow the demands of these acts, and as a result his time at Oxford was brought to an end.⁵

Owen lived through a number of trying events. After his time at Oxford, he moved back to London. He was there during one of the greatest plague outbreaks in 1665. As soon as the spread of the black death started to subside, the Great Fire of London broke out in 1666. Through this, Owen was known to join with other ministers and help people affected by disease and fire. 

He spent his remaining years preaching, writing, and teaching. His wife would eventually die, and he would come close to incarceration several times. Through it all, he was profoundly aware of his security in Christ. He is known for several great works, including The Mortification of Sin and The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. 

Over the next few weeks, we will be working through some of Owen’s greatest works. I hope that they are encouraging, informative, and devotional.

1. This quote is attributed to H.L. Mencken, though the original source is unknown.

2. For example, some consider Jonathan Edwards to be a Puritan while others believe he lived too late to be considered a Puritan.

3. Sinclair B. Ferguson, Some Pastors and Teachers: Reflecting a Biblical Vision of What Every Minister Is Called to Be (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2017), 25.

4. A Vice-Chancellor would be the equivalent of a University President in modern America.

5. Ferguson, 34.