A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life

 

Originally copyrighted in 1990 this book is no new book hot off the press, and for many of you puritan lovers I imagine that this book is no stranger to your shelves or at least your wish list. Certainly the author J.I. Packer is known to you all. But for those of you unfamiliar with this title or you have yet to pick it up, it is my privilege to introduce to you "A Quest for Godliness the Puritan Vision of the Christian Life"

 
  From the author of Knowing God and Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God comes this great work by J.I. Packer. Packer introduces the book by listing seven ways the puritans affected his christian life. Packer down plays the reasons to the reader by saying "any reader whom this personal stuff wearies may skip it (the explanation of their affect); I do not claim for it any intrinsic importance" Packer is clearly being humble for he says earlier that the thrust of the chapters that follow may be better understood if the reasons are read. The affects in my opinion are important to this review because they reveal a great example of the usefulness of this book on the christian life for the one interested in reading it.I list them here below

1. John Owen led Packer to see the importance of mortification of sin in the Christian Life
2. Owen again enabled Packer to see "how consistent and unambiguous is the biblical witness to the sovereignty and particularity of Christ's redeeming love"
3. Richard Baxter convinced him of the importance of assiduous meditation and to pray in the imitation of the psalmist speaking to God about our thoughts and turning our learning into praise
4. Baxter's Reformed Pastor taught Packer to not take lightly his decision to become a shepherd of God's people

5. The puritans taught him to "feel the transitoriness of this life" In other words to keep hold of this life with an open hand and to focus his eyes on the world to come.

6. They shaped his "churchly identity, by imparting to me their vision of the wholeness of the work of God". Some worry about evangelism and others about the importance of church liturgy, and yet others about the conversion and sanctification of the church's youth and etc, all these concerns are worthy and there are many more but standing alone they will fall. The puritans gave Packer a concern for them all "together, as all sustaining each other, and all bearing on the honour and glory of God in his church"

7. The puritans taught that the theology we teach is not just head knowledge but heart knowledge and "if our theology does not quicken the conscience and soften the heart, it actually hardens both"

 The influence of the puritans on J.I. Packer is clear and his love for them is evident in this Ode to the Puritans. This passion for these "nonconformist" has inspired the pages he wrote but there is a greater aim than to simply lift up the puritans as men worthy to be praised, Packer writes each chapter teaching the life and views of these men with the reader's sanctification in mind and hoping that the effect that their teaching had on him would likewise effect those who read this book . The men of this book walked in the light of Christ and J.I. Packer directs us to their beaten path.

 The chapters are organized into sections about how the puritans relate to each subject
The Puritans in Profile, The Puritans and the Bible, The Puritans and the Gospel, The Puritans and the Holy Spirit, The Puritan Christian Life, The Puritans in Ministry. Packer devotes four chapters to the puritan divine John Owen. he calls Owen "the greatest of English theologians. In an age of giants, he over topped them all" and calls him "closer than anyone else to being the hero of this book". My favorite chapter might be The Puritans as Interpreters of Scripture. I felt it worth including a passage from this outstanding chapter below. 

"To the puritan the bible was in truth the most precious possession that this world affords.  His deepest conviction was that reverence for God means reverence for Scripture, and serving God means obeying Scripture. To his mind,  therefore,  no greater insult could be offered to the Creator than to neglect his written word; and conversely, there could be no truer act of homage to him than to prize it and pore over it, and then to live it out and give out its teaching"

  My only warning for this book is that it is a weighty book filled with quotes from men who lived over 300 years ago. As a new christian inspired towards the puritans by a pastor friend I purchased this book in hopes of jumping right into it. I had read Packer's work on Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God and loved it. I started eagerly into this piece and was too overwhelmed, I had to put it down until a couple years later when I tried again and it has since become one of the best books I've ever read. 

At the time of his writing this book Packer was just beginning to see a reviving of the puritan writings within the church and by God's grace we saw that quickening expand more with publishers like Banner of Truth. There are many new works published today on the puritans but this book still stands among them as one of the greatest.

 I highly recommend this work by J.I. Packer, the endless positive reviews attached to this book after being around for 24 years testifies to my recommendation. My prayer is that you would include this book in your library and if it is sitting their collecting dust I would tell you to pick it up and enjoy. May God richly bless you as you enter into "A Quest for Godliness"