Though theology is often regarded as dealing primarily with abstract issues of belief, the prolific 17th-century English Puritan John Owen focused much of his attention on the role of Christian faith in one’s everyday life. In his book An Introduction to John Owen: A Christian Vision for Every Stage of Life (Crossway, 2020), Owen biographer Crawford Gribben details his subject’s conception of the roles that belief and doctrine should play in the lives of Christians. As Gribben explains, this vision was a product not just of Owen’s interpretation of the Bible, but of his experiences over the course of his own life. From these triumphs and setbacks Owen drew lessons that informed the place of Christian faith in a person’s life from birth to death, which he detailed in his voluminous writings. Gribben shows how this vision had an impact long after Owen’s life, as his ideas informed the development of students such as John Locke and shaped the emergence of Evangelicalism in the 18th century as well.

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