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The Light of Grace: John Owen on the Authority of Scripture and Christian Faith

:	Andrew M. Leslie
:	The Light of Grace: John Owen on the Authority of Scripture and Christian Faith
:	Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht
:	9783647550909
:	Reformed Historical Theology
:	1
:	CHF 98.40
:

:	Christentum
:	English

:	300
:	Wasserzeichen/DRM
:	PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
:	PDF

Over the past several centuries, John Owen's writings on scripture have captured the attention of numerous interpreters across a relatively diverse range of disciplines. His own distinctive contribution to this doctrine was forged with a genuine fear for the on-going pre-eminence of scriptural authority in the English church firmly in view. In the face of various rival perspectives, Owen insists every Christian believer ought to be clear on the reason they believe scripture to be the word of God. Focussing on the treatise Reason of Faith (1677) in conversation with his wider theological corpus, Andrew M. Leslie studies Owen's approach to scriptural authority and Christian faith. He argues that Owen creatively drew upon an ecumenical dogmatic and metaphysical heritage to restate and refine the traditional Reformed position on scripture's divine authority, sensitive to developments in his own late seventeenth-century context. In particular, Leslie explores how Owen shares a growing concern to ground Christian faith in objective evidence, all-the-while ensuring that its ultimate foundation lies in the irresistible authority and truthfulness of God, mediated 'in and by' the inspired text of scripture. Leslie also draws out the broader significance Owen ascribes to scripture in shaping a believer's relationship with the Triune God, especially its vital role in their gradual transformation into the likeness or image of Christ.

Andrew M. Leslie, PhD, is Lecturer in Christian Doctrine at Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia.

	Cover	1
	Title Page	4
	Copyright	5
	Table of Contents	6
	Body	10
	Acknowledgements	10
	Abbreviations	12
	1. Introduction	14
	1.1 Prologue	14
	1.2 The evolving scripture “principle”: some issues	20
	1.3 Scope and shape of this study	32
	2. Reason of Faith (1677) and the problem of certainty	38
	2.1 Introduction	38
	2.2 “Certainty of adherence” and “certainty of evidence”	39
	2.3 “Infallible” versus “moral” certainty	43
	2.4 John Owen and certainty: Reason of Faith (1677)	50
	2.4.1 “Infallible faith” defined	52
	2.5 “Motives of Credibility” and the insufficiency of “Moral Certainty”	57
	2.6 Conclusion	65
	3. Implanted law and the light of nature	68
	3.1 Introduction	68
	3.2 “Natural light” and the exercise of reason	70
	3.2.1 Excursus: “Illumination” within the Christian cognitive tradition	72
	3.2.2 The “light of nature” and practical reasoning in seventeenth-century England	78
	3.3 Owen and the “law” and “light” of nature before the Fall	81
	3.3.1 The lex operationis	81
	3.3.1.1 The lex operationis and Adam's covenantal end	82
	3.3.1.2 The lex operationis and Adam's “light”	84
	3.3.2 Owen and the “light of nature”	86
	3.3.3 “Positive” commands	92
	3.3.4 Summary	95
	3.4 The “light of nature” after the Fall	96
	3.5 Conclusion	103
	4. The Habit of Grace	106
	4.1 Introduction	106
	4.2 “Supernatural illumination” and the light of grace	107
	4.2.1 The infused “habit of grace”	108
	4.2.2 Habitual grace, the Word of God and “special illumination”	116
	4.3 A new “spiritual sense”: habitual grace, the will, affections and the internal “testimony” of the Spirit	127
	4.4 Conclusion	133
	5. Scripture, evidence and the imago Dei	136
	5.1 Introduction	136
	5.2 Evidence and reason	137
	5.3 Evidence and faith	146
	5.3.1 Scripture's self-evidencing “light”	150
	5.3.2 Scripture's self-evidencing “power”	155
	5.4 A spiritual “intuition”	158
	5.5 The imago Dei and the authority of scripture	161
	5.6 Conclusion	175
	6. From Christ to scripture: the origin and inspiration of scripture	182
	6.1 Introduction	182
	6.2 Excursus: the problem of “inspiration” in the historiography of Early Modern Protestantism	183
	6.3 The origin of scripture	191
	6.4 The inspiration of scripture	204
	6.4.1 Prophecy	205
	6.4.1.1 Prophetic inspiration	206
	6.4.1.2 Divine concursus	210
	6.4.2 Scripture	210
	6.4.3 Summary and evaluation	213
	6.5 Conclusion	217
	7. From scripture to Christ: authority, perspicuity and the life of faith	220
	7.1 Introduction	220
	7.2 The perspicuity of scripture	220
	7.2.1 Illumination and the “unction” of the Spirit	221
	7.2.2 The “proper” object and motive of faith, love and obedience	226
	7.2.3 Spiritual unction and the church	230
	7.2.4 Summary	235
	7.3 The proper object of faith: a hermeneutical principle?	236
	7.4 The perspicuity of scripture and the use of “means”	241
	7.5 Conclusion	247
	8. Conclusion	250
	Appendix: Owen and the rudiments of cognition	258
	Bibliography	266
	1. Primary sources	266
	2. Secondary sources	271
	Names Index	294
	Subject Index	298