Notes
Notes
Chapter 1
See his remarkable piece ‘ ’Tecs, Thrillers, and Westerns’, Christianity Today, 8 (November 1985), p. 12.
J. I. Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1984), p. 129.
J. I. Packer, ‘In Quest of Canonical Interpretation’, in Robert K. Johnston, The Use of the Bible in Theology: Evangelical Opinions (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1985), pp. 35−55; quote at p. 39.
J. I. Packer, Puritan Portaits (Fearn, Ross-shire: Christian Focus, 2012), pp. 79−80.
John Pawson, Sermons (Leeds: Edward Baines, 1809), pp. 6−7.
Michael A. G. Haykin, ‘ “Dissent Warmed Its Hands at Grimshaw’s Fire”: William Grimshaw of Haworth and the Baptists of Yorkshire’, Perichoresis, 7, 1 (2009), pp. 23−37.
J. I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1990), p. 12.
J. I. Packer, A Kind of Noah’s Ark? The Anglican Commitment to Comprehensiveness, Latimer Study No. 10 (Oxford: Latimer House, 1981), p. 2.
Chapter 2
C. S. Lewis, ‘On the Reading of Old Books’, in Essay Collection: Faith, Christianity and the Church (London: HarperCollins, 2002), p. 440.
J. I. Packer, ‘Living Truth for a Dying World: The Message of C. S. Lewis’, Crux, 34, 4 (1998), pp. 3−12; quote at p. 3.
J. I. Packer, ‘On from Orr: The Cultural Crisis, Rational Realism, and Incarnational Ontology’, Crux 32, 3 (1996), pp. 12−26.
C. S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961), pp. 140–1.
Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism, p. 139.
Anthony C. Thiselton, The Two Horizons: New Testament Hermeneutics and Philosophical Description with Special Reference to Heidegger, Bultmann, Gadamer, and Wittgenstein (Exeter: Paternoster, 1980), pp. 15−16.
John Stott, The Contemporary Christian: An Urgent Plea for Double Listening (Leicester: InterVarsity Press, 1992), p. 13. For Stott’s use of The Two Horizons, see John Stott, I Believe in Preaching (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1982), pp. 137−8.
J. I. Packer, ‘Infallible Scripture and the Role of Hermeneutics’, in D. A. Carson and J. D. Woodbridge (eds), Scripture and Truth (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1983), pp. 325−56. Cf. Thiselton, The Two Horizons, pp. 303−10.
For a good set of essays on this theme, see Darren Sarisky (ed.), Theologies of Retrieval: An Exploration and Appraisal (London: Bloomsbury, 2017).
Chapter 3
American readers might like to know that ‘table tennis’ translates as ‘ping pong’.
J. I. Packer, ‘The Puritan Treatment of Justification by Faith’, The Evangelical Quarterly, 24.3 (1952), pp. 131–43.
The BCMS also established a women’s college in October 1930 in Cotham Park, Bristol, which was named Dalton House.
Chapter 4
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, ‘Can We Learn From History?’, in J. I. Packer (ed.), Puritan Papers, 5, 1968/9 (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing, 2005), pp. 215−16.
Packer, A Quest for Godliness, p. 21.
Packer, Puritan Portraits, p. 23. The list of writers Packer discusses can all be described as ‘Puritan’ in the popular sense of the term; historians, however, would point out that they hold quite different, even divergent, views on such issues as biblical interpretation, church polity and the sacraments.
Packer, Puritan Portraits, pp. 23−6.
Packer, A Quest for Godliness, p. 28.
Packer, A Quest for Godliness, p. 215.
James Henley Thornwell, Collected Writings, 4 vols (Richmond, VA: Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 1870−3), vol. 1, p. 34.
Packer, A Quest for Godliness, p. 12.
John Owen, ‘Mortification of Sin in Believers’, in W. H. Goold (ed.), The Works of John Owen, 24 vols (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1967), vol. 6, p. 9.
Packer, A Quest for Godliness, p. 15.
Packer, A Quest for Godliness, p. 14.
Packer, A Quest for Godliness, p. 13.
Packer, A Quest for Godliness, p. 77.
John Piper, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Press, 1986).
John Piper, ‘A Personal Encounter with Jonathan Edwards’, The Reformed Journal, 28, 11 (1978), pp. 13−17.
Chapter 5
J. I. Packer, review of Steven Barabas, So Great Salvation: The History and Message of the Keswick Convention, Evangelical Quarterly (1955), 27, pp. 153−67.
J. I. Packer, ‘ “Keswick” and the Reformed Doctrine of Sanctification’, Evangelical Quarterly 2, no.3 (1955), pp. 153–67.
Alister Chapman, Godly Ambition: John Stott and the Evangelical Movement (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 43–4.
Chapman, Godly Ambition, pp. 39−48.
A. G. Hebert, Fundamentalism and the Church of God (London: SCM Press, 1957).
J. I. Packer, ‘Fundamentalism’ and the Word of God (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1958), p. 29.
Packer, ‘Fundamentalism’ and the Word of God, p. 136.
Billy Graham, How to be Born Again (Dallas, TX: Word, 1977), p. 162.
Packer, A Quest for Godliness, p. 293.
J. I. Packer, ‘Puritan Evangelism’, Banner of Truth (4 February 1957), pp. 4–13.
Packer, ‘Puritan Evangelism’, pp. 4–13.
J. I. Packer, ‘The Puritan View of Preaching the Gospel’ in How Shall They Hear: A Symposium (London: Evangelical Magazine, 1960), pp. 11–21.
J. I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012), p. 35.
Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, p. 18.
Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, p. 23.
Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, p. 21.
Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, pp. 34−5.
Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, p. 99.
Chapter 6
Alister E. McGrath (ed.), The NIV Thematic Study Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1998).
For Packer’s involvement in this project, see Leland Ryken, J. I. Packer: An Evangelical Life (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2015), pp. 258−62.
‘J. I. Packer: A Balanced Bible Study Diet’, Bible Study Magazine (Nov–Dec 2009).
J. I. Packer, ‘Reading the Bible Theologically’, in English Standard Version Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008), pp. 2567.
J. I. Packer, ‘Revelation and Inspiration’, in Francis Davidson, Ernest F. Kevan and Alan M. Stibbs (eds), The New Bible Commentary (London: Inter-Varsity Fellowship, 1954), pp. 12−18.
For an excellent example of this kind of approach, see Vaughan Roberts, God’s Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002).
See, for example, Packer, ‘Hermeneutics and Biblical Authority’, The Churchman, 81 (1967), pp. 3−12.
J. I. Packer, ‘Evangelical Foundations for Spirituality’, in Marcus Bockmuehl and Helmut Burkhardt (eds), Gott Lieben und seine Gebote halten: In memoriam Klaus Bockmuehl (Basel: Brunner Verlag, 1991), pp. 149−62.
J. I. Packer, ‘In Quest of Canonical Interpretation’, in Robert K. Johnston, The Use of the Bible in Theology: Evangelical Opinions (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1985), p. 47.
Packer, ‘In Quest of Canonical Interpretation’, p. 45.
Packer, ‘In Quest of Canonical Interpretation’, p. 47.
Packer, ‘In Quest of Canonical Interpretation’, p. 53.
Packer, ‘Reading the Bible Theologically’, p. 2567.
J. I. Packer, Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1993), pp. 134−5.
J. I. Packer, Beyond the Battle for the Bible (Westchester, IL: Cornerstone Books, 1980), pp. 144−5.
Packer, ‘In Quest of Canonical Interpretation’, p. 48.
J. I. Packer, ‘The Comfort of Conservatism’, in Michael Horton (ed.), Power Religion (Chicago: Moody, 1992), pp. 283−99.
Chapter 7
John Stott, Basic Christianity (London: Inter-Varsity Fellowship, 1958), p. 7.
Chapman, Godly Ambition: John Stott and the Evangelical Movement, pp. 53−77.
J. I. Packer, ‘A Strategic Priority’ (unpublished memorandum, December 1958), p. 1.
For background, see Eric James, A Life of Bishop John A.T. Robinson (London: Collins, 1987). For an analysis of the reaction, see David L. Edwards (ed.), The Honest to God Debate: Some Reactions to the Book ‘Honest to God’ (London: SCM Press, 1963).
J. I. Packer, Keep Yourselves from Idols: A Discussion of ‘Honest to God’ by John A. T. Robinson (London: Church Book Room Press, 1963).
John A. T. Robinson, Honest to God (London: SCM Press, 1963), p. 67.
Packer, Keep Yourselves from Idols, p. 5.
Robinson, Honest to God, p. 7.
Robinson, Honest to God, p. 114.
Packer, Keep Yourselves from Idols, p. 17.
Packer, Keep Yourselves from Idols, p. 17.
Cited in Edwards (ed.), The Honest to God Debate, p. 93.
For the complexities underlying the situation, and the difficulties in describing the various forms of evangelicalism which were regnant at that time, see the excellent collection of papers assembled in Andrew Atherstone and John G. Maiden (eds), Evangelicalism and the Church of England in the Twentieth Century (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2014).
For a good account, see Diarmaid MacCulloch, Thomas Cranmer: A Life (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996).
J. I. Packer and R. T. Beckwith, The Thirty-Nine Articles: Their Place and Use Today (Oxford: Latimer House, 1984), pp. 51−2.
J. I. Packer, The Thirty-Nine Articles (London: Church Pastoral Aid Society, 1961).
Oliver O’Donovan, On the Thirty-Nine Articles: A Conversation with Tudor Christianity (Exeter: Paternoster Press, 1986), p.115.
For a good example of this approach at the time, see Geoffrey W. Bromiley, ‘The Purpose and Function of the Thirty-Nine Articles’, The Churchman, 73, 2 (1959), pp. 60−5.
Alister Chapman, ‘Secularisation and the Ministry of John R. W. Stott at All Souls, Langham Place, 1950−1970’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 56 (2005), pp. 496−513. See also Alister Chapman, ‘The International Context of Secularization in England: The End of Empire, Immigration, and the Decline of Christian National Identity, 1945−1970’, Journal of British Studies (2015), pp. 163−89.
Peter Webster, Archbishop Ramsey: The Shape of the Church (Farnham: Ashgate, 2015), p. 47.
For an account, see Iain H. Murray, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The Fight of Faith, 1939−1981 (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1990), pp. 501−6.
Details with primary sources in Murray, Lloyd-Jones, pp. 528−32.
The ‘Statement of Principles’ is reprinted in Murray, Lloyd-Jones,pp. 536−7. Note especially the fifth principle (‘Those who are at present in denominations linked with the World Council of Churches are agreed that separation from such denominations is inevitable’).
J. I. Packer, The Evangelical Anglican Identity Problem: An Analysis, Latimer Study No. 1 (Oxford: Latimer House, 1978); Packer, A Kind of Noah’s Ark? For Packer’s earlier views on the nature of the Church, see J. I. Packer, ‘The Nature of the Church’, in C. F. H. Henry (ed.), Basic Christian Doctrines (New York: Rinehard & Winston, 1962), pp. 214−17.
Packer, A Kind of Noah’s Ark?, p. 10.
Packer, A Kind of Noah’s Ark?, p. 36.
A report on this conference was presented at the Latimer House Council meeting on 31 March 1966.
‘Latimer House Study Groups General Report No. 1’, November 1967.
For some helpful reflections, see Andrew Atherstone, ‘The Keele Congress of 1967: A Paradigm Shift in Anglican Evangelical Attitudes’, Journal of Anglican Studies, 9, 2 (2011), pp. 175−97.
‘Face to Face with Dr J. I. Packer’, Tyndale Hall Topic (1967), pp. 1−4; relevant material at p. 4.
Jim Packer to Colin Brown, 12 February 1969.
32Letter to J. Stafford Wright, 30 October 1968.
‘Face to Face with Dr J. I. Packer’, p. 4.
See Colin Buchanan, St John’s College Nottingham: From Northwood to Nottingham (Nottingham: St John’s College, 2013).
Green and Packer would, however, serve together later as members of the faculty of Regent College, Vancouver, from 1987 to 1992.
Three names were suggested by Council members, and it was agreed that they would be invited to the next meeting to be held at All Souls, Langham Place, London on 22 October. In December, the position was finally offered to John Wenham.
Chapter 8
For details, see Alister E. McGrath, Thomas F. Torrance: An Intellectual Biography (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1999).
As examples of such works, I particularly note ‘What did the Cross Achieve? The Logic of Penal Substitution’, Tyndale Bulletin, 25 (1974), pp. 3−45; and ‘On from Orr: The Cultural Crisis, Rational Realism, and Incarnational Ontology’, Crux, 32, 3 (1996), pp. 12−26.
Kate Crehan, Gramsci’s Common Sense: Inequality and its Narratives (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016), pp. 3−41.
See, for example, the substantial study of Glenn T. Miller, Piety and Intellect: The Aims and Purposes of Ante-Bellum Theological Education (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990).
Edward Farley, Theologia: The Fragmentation and Unity of Theological Education (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983), pp. x, 7. Farley returned to develop this theme five years later: The Fragility of Knowledge: Theological Education in the Church and University (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988).
See especially his later articles ‘An Introduction to Systematic Spirituality’, Crux, 26, 1 (1990), pp. 2−8; and ‘Evangelical Foundations for Spirituality’, pp. 149−62.
For an excellent critical study, see Donald J. Payne, The Theology of the Christian Life in J. I. Packer’s Thought: Theological Anthropology, Theological Method, and the Doctrine of Sanctification (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2006). As Payne notes (p. 11), Packer tends to use the terms ‘piety’, ‘spirituality’, ‘holiness’ and ‘godliness’ interchangeably.
I here draw on Packer’s articles ‘An Introduction to Systematic Spirituality’ and ‘Evangelical Foundations for Spirituality’, which both offer a lucid account of his concept of theology.
Packer, ‘An Introduction to Systematic Spirituality’.
Packer, ‘Evangelical Foundations for Spirituality’.
Packer, Puritan Portraits, p. 81.
Packer, ‘Evangelical Foundations for Spirituality’.
Packer’s analysis does not answer all the questions that might be raised at this point. See, for example, the concerns put forward by Payne, The Theology of the Christian Life in J. I. Packer’s Thought.
J. I. Packer, ‘The Nature of the Church’, p. 217.
Packer, ‘Evangelical Foundations for Spirituality’.
Packer, Concise Theology, pp. 35−7.
Packer, ‘On from Orr.’
James Orr, The Christian View of God and the World as Centring in the Incarnation (Edinburgh: Andrew Elliot, 1893) pp. 263−4.
Chapter 9
I document these complex developments in detail in A. McGrath, To Know and Serve God: A Biography of James I. Packer (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1998).
Richard James to Alec Moyter, 26 October 1969.
Leslie Paul, The Deployment and Payment of the Clergy: A Report (London: Church Information Office, 1964).
See further Andrew Atherstone, ‘Rescued from the Brink: The Collapse and Resurgence of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford’, Studies in Church History, 44 (2008), pp. 354−64.
For detailed documentation of these complex developments, see McGrath, To Know and Serve God.
Chapter 10
Chapman, Godly Ambition, pp. 85−6.
Edward England, An Unfading Vision: The Adventure of Books (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1982) pp. 152−3.
Packer, ‘An Introduction to Systematic Spirituality’, pp. 2−8.
Packer, ‘An Introduction to Systematic Spirituality’, p. 6.
J. I. Packer, ‘On Knowing God’, Tenth: An Evangelical Quarterly (July 1975), pp. 11−25.
‘Pellucid’ comes from the Latin verb perlucere – to shine through or to allow something to be clearly seen.
J. I. Packer, Knowing God (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1975), p. 45.
See Mary Morrissey, ‘Scripture, Style and Persuasion in Seventeenth-Century English Theories of Preaching’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 53, 4 (2002), pp. 686−706.
John Henry Newman, The Idea of a University (London: Longmans, Green, & Co, 1852), p. 224.
Packer, Knowing God, p. 7.
John A. Mackay, A Preface to Christian Theology (London: Nisbet, 1941), pp. 29−54. For my own use of Mackay’s approach, see Alister McGrath, The Landscape of Faith: An Explorer’s Guide to the Christian Faith (London: SPCK, 2018), pp. 42−4.
William Leathem, ‘Renewing the Local Church’, in J. I. Packer (ed.), Guidelines: Anglican Evangelicals Face the Future (London: Falcon, 1967.), pp. 183−209; quote at pp. 198−9.
Packer, Knowing God, pp. 7−8.
See, for example, the overwhelmingly rationalist approach in John Woodhouse, ‘Experiencing Confusion’, The Briefing, 18 February 1992.
Packer, Knowing God, p. 42.
Packer, Knowing God, p. 43.
Chapter 11
Packer, ‘What did the Cross achieve? The Logic of Penal Substitution’, pp. 3−45.
Citation from photocopied handout for lecture 12, ‘Notes on Biblical Inerrancy’.
J. I. Packer, ‘Battling for the Bible’, Regent College Bulletin, 9, 4 (Fall, 1979).
P. E. Hughes, ‘Editorial’, The Churchman, 76 (1962): pp. 131−5. This editorial was reprinted in pamphlet form and is estimated to have sold some 39,000 copies.
The four were John Collins, Michael Harper, David MacInnes and David Watson – each of whom would become a major figure in the English charismatic movement as it subsequently developed.
See Packer’s early article: J. I. Packer, ‘The Holy Spirit and the Local Congregation’, The Churchman, 78 (1964), pp. 98−108.
Packer’s important work Keep in Step with the Spirit (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1984) can be seen as a ‘coming-of-age gift’ to the charismatic movement, both as a mark of appreciation and a suggestion for future reflection.
Chapman, Godly Ambition, pp. 101−3.
The Committee consisted of John Stott (Chairman); David Gillett (Secretary); Garth Grinham, Don Irving, Gavin Reid, Michael Saward and Raymond Turvey.
J. I. Packer, ‘Jesus Christ the Lord’, in J. R. W. Stott (ed.), Obeying Christ in a Changing World (London: Collins, 1977), pp. 32−60.
Packer, The Evangelical Identity Problem.
Teddy Saunders and Hugh Sansom, David Watson: A Biography (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1992), p. 186.
The Nottingham Statement (London: Falcon, 1977), p. 13.
Prominent among these were F. F. Bruce, E. Marshall Sheppard, James M. Houston, Ward Gasque and Carl E. Armerding.
For two important accounts of the background to Regent College, see Kenneth V. Botton, ‘Regent College: An Experiment in Theological Education’, PhD thesis, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2004; Charles E. Cotherman, ‘Awakening the Lay Evangelical Mind: Francis Schaeffer, James Houston, and the Christian Study Center Movement in North America’, PhD Thesis, University of Virginia, 2017, especially pp. 102−53. My own research on the oral history of the College suggests that there are divergent accounts of both the origin and precise focus of its vision.
Chapter 12
Roger Scruton, Conservatism: An Invitation to the Great Tradition (New York: St Martin’s Press, 2017), p. 127.
Jaroslav Pelikan, The Vindication of Tradition (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1984), p. 65.
Packer, ‘The Comfort of Conservatism’, pp. 283−99.
Packer, ‘The Comfort of Conservatism’, pp. 284−5.
Packer, ‘The Comfort of Conservatism’, p. 289.
Packer, ‘The Comfort of Conservatism’, p. 293.
Packer, ‘The Comfort of Conservatism’, pp. 288−9.
See further Stephen R. Holmes, Listening to the Past: The Place of Tradition in Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002); Daniel H. Williams, Evangelicals and Tradition: The Formative Influence of the Early Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005).
Packer, ‘Fundamentalism’ and the Word of God, p. 48.
J. I. Packer, Truth & Power: The Place of Scripture in the Christian Life (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), p. 110.
Packer, Truth & Power, pp. 116−18. See also Packer, ‘Comfort of Conservatism’, pp. 291−2.
For a similar argument, see Robert Wilken, ‘The Durability of Orthodoxy’, Word and World, 2 (1988), pp. 124−32.
For the details, see J. I. Packer, ‘Why I Walked: Sometimes Loving a Denomination Requires You to Fight’, Christianity Today, 1 January 2003.
J. I. Packer, ‘Let’s Stop Making Women Presbyters’, Christianity Today, 11 February 1991. By ‘presbyter’ Packer means ‘the person or persons (usually professional clergy) officially charged with the oversight of a local congregation’.
See, for example, Grace Ying May and Hyunhye Pokrifka Joe, ‘A Response to J. I. Packer’s Position on Women’s Ordination’, Priscilla Papers, 11, 1 (1997), pp. 1−10.
Russell Kirk, The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot, 3rd revised edn (Chicago: Regnery, 1960).
Scruton, Conservatism, pp. 127−55, especially pp. 143−4.
Henry Mintzberg, Bruce Ahlstrand and Joseph Lampel, Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour Through the Wilds of Strategic Management (New York: Free Press, 1998), p. 8.
Chapter 13
See Chris Armstrong, ‘The Rise, Frustration, and Revival of Evangelical Spiritual Ressourcement’, Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, 2, 1 (2009), pp. 113−21.
J. I. Parker, ‘The Problem of Universalism Today’, Theolog. Review: Australian Journal of the Theological Students Fellowship, 5/3 (November, 1969), pp. 16–24.
Philip E. Hughes, The True Image: The Origin and Destiny of Man in Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1988).
David L. Edwards with John R. W. Stott, Essentials (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1988), pp. 312−39; quote at p. 319. Stott later clarified his position, indicating that although he is inclined towards annihilationism, he ultimately remains agnostic on the issue.
John Wenham, Facing Hell: The Story of a Nobody. An Autobiography 1913–1996 (Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 1998), pp. 229−57.
J. W. Wenham, The Goodness of God (London: InterVarsity Press, 1974), p. 41.
J. I. Packer, The Problem of Eternal Punishment, Leon Morris Lecture, 1990 (Camberwell: Evangelical Alliance (Victoria), Inc., 1990).
I explore this question myself in Alister E. McGrath, Christianity’s Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution (San Franciso: HarperOne, 2007), pp. 199−213.
John Ankerberg and John Weldon, ‘Response to J. I. Packer’, in Kenneth S. Kantzer and Carl F. H. Henry, Evangelical Affirmations (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1990), pp.137−48.
J. I. Packer, ‘Crosscurrents among Evangelicals’, in Charles Colson and Richard J. Neuhaus (eds), Evangelicals and Catholics Together: Toward a Common Mission (Dallas: Word, 1995), pp. 147−74. See also Packer’s important essay ‘Why I Signed It’, Christianity Today, 12 December 1994, pp. 34−7.
C. S. Lewis, Christian Reflections (London: Bles, 1967), p. vii.
Richard Land and Larry Lewis withdrew their signatures to the statement in April 1995, following concern that their action had unintentionally created the impression that the Southern Baptist Convention had officially endorsed the document. At this stage, Land was serving on the Christian Life Commission of the Convention and Lewis was on its Home Mission Board. Both indicated their continuing personal endorsement of the document.
See the trenchant criticism (particularly directed against Packer) in R. C. Sproul, Faith Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1995), pp.183−92. The ‘Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals’, founded in April 1996, reflected similar concerns. See James Montgomery Boice and Benjamin E. Sasse, Here We Stand: A Call from Confessing Evangelicals (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1996).
Packer and James Houston were honoured with the title of ‘Board of Governors Professor’ on their respective retirements, rather than the more customary title of ‘Professor Emeritus’.
The best source for Packer’s activities from 1996 onwards is Ryken, J. I. Packer.
For Packer’s involvement in this project, see Ryken, J. I. Packer, pp. 258−62.
J. I. Packer, Taking God Seriously: Vital Things We Need to Know (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2013), p. 11.
J. I. Packer, I Want to be a Christian (Eastbourne: Kingsway Publications, 1977).
See here Joel Scandrett, ‘ “To Be a Christian”: J. I. Packer and the Renewal of Evangelical Catechesis’, Crux, 52, 1 (2016), pp. 4−12.
J. I. Packer and Gary A. Parrett, ‘The Lost Art of Catechesis’, Christianity Today, 12 March 2010. For a fuller treatment of the theme, see J. I. Packer and Gary A. Parrett, Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2010).
For my own contribution to that event, see Alister McGrath, Mere Discipleship: On Growing in Wisdom and Hope (London: SPCK, 2018), pp. 112−20.
J. I. Packer, Weakness Is the Way: Life with Christ Our Strength (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2013); and Finishing Our Course with Joy: Guidance from God for Engaging with Our Aging (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2014).
Packer, Weakness Is the Way, pp. 89−90. This work takes the form of a series of meditations on 2 Corinthians. Packer refers to Williams simply as ‘Bill’ in this discussion.