![]() At least it fired mine, and compelled me to turn aside to worship and to pray.”ĭr. Stott, reviewed Knowing God, saying “The truth he handles fires the heart. It was in North America that Knowing God would have its greatest impact, when IVP USA published it. Instead, Hodder and Stoughton UK published it. Intervarsity Press UK (IVP) passed up the chance to publish it, because they wanted Packer instead to write a book about charismatic renewal. Knowing God was originally written as a series of articles for the UK-based Evangelical Magazine. Packer’s Knowing God, published in 1973, is a popularization of his doctoral thesis on Baxter. Baxter (1615-1691) showed how to be a puritan without being puritanical in the negative sense. He even did his Oxford doctorate on Richard Baxter, who symbolized the best of the Puritans. George Whitefield (1714-1770), and the earlier John Owen (1616-1683), became significant mentors in Packer’s spiritual maturing. Reacting against the emotional excesses of the Keswick holiness movement, Packer turned to the historic, spiritual wisdom of the largely-forgotten Calvinist Puritans. Over 66 years, he has taken many courageous stands, drawing others back to the Lordship of Jesus and the authority of the Bible. Over the next few weeks of being discipled, Packer stopped viewing the Bible as just “a mixed bag of religious all-sorts, of which one could not accept more than the general outlines.” He was happy to realize that the Bible is the Word of God. On October 22, 1944, while attending an Oxford Christian Union meeting (IVCF), Packer was soundly converted singing Just as I Am: “I had given my life to Christ…When I went out of the church, I knew that I was a Christian.” He became one of the few left who attended Oxford University during that time. Lewis’ two books, said Packer, ‘brought me, not indeed to faith in the full sense, but to mainstream Christian beliefs about God, man, and Jesus Christ, so that I was halfway there.’ Because of his head injury, Packer was exempted from World War II military service. Lewis’ Mere Christianity and Screwtape Letters. ![]() While attending Crypt High School, he read C.S. Though raised Anglican, Packer did not know Christ personally. At age 15, he ‘went on strike’, refusing to wear the head plate any longer. When asked in his 80s about his strongest childhood memories, he replied, “Solitariness.” He was required to wear a black aluminum plate on his head, held in place by an elastic band. ![]() The medical diagnosis was ‘a depressed compound fracture of the frontal bone on the right-hand side of his forehead.’ĭuring his long recovery, the naturally-shy Packer read widely, typing his earliest essays. This caused a serious head injury, requiring him to have brain surgery at the age of seven. When chased by a schoolyard bully, he was struck by a passing bread van. He is known as a theological and spiritual giant.īorn on July 22, 1926, Packer was raised in humble circumstances in the village of Twyning, near Gloucester, in southwest England. ![]() ![]() Christianity Today readers named him one of the most influential theological writers of the last hundred years, second only to C.S. Packer wrote an unforgettable book, Knowing God, that has transformed and revived the hearts and minds of millions. ![]()
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