We had a great conference at the Evangelical Library last Monday. This year is the 400th anniversary of the birth of the great John Owen and I and others thought it would be good to have a conference specifically on reading John Owen's voluminous writings.
I was able to persuade Nigel Graham to give an autobiographical introduction (masterfully done and with time to spare) and Jeremy Walker, Robert Strivens, Guy Davies and myself to make four presentations covering the 16 volumes of Owen's Works as published by the Banner of Truth. (It was only at the conference that I noticed I'd chosen all Baptists, which was rather unthought through). I thought that everyone (perhaps excepting myself) got on remarkably well. The men were able to pick out individual works and interesting theme and present them in a useful and interesting way. In a more pedestrian manner I simply worked my way through commenting on the larger and more minor works in in Volumes 9-12.
Of course, the question all along has been whether anyone wanted to part with their money and come listen. In the end I think we were around the 25 mark and people seem to have felt it worthwhile. We had a good discussion at the end of the day on various things including the pros and cons of abridgements. I was under the impression that R K Law who has made several abridgements was no longer with us but that appears to be wrong.
So a big thank you to the men who spoke, those who came, the Library staff who provided hot drinks and especially to Dr Ian Densham who kindly recorded the whole thing in audio and video. Do contact the Library for details of these recordings and their availability.
I would also like to publish the papers in written form so do watch this space.
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