Remembering J. I. Packer - 1926-2020

July 20, 2020

With the news that J. I. Packer has gone home, we share a few tributes, resources and memories of this giant of evangelicalism.

J. I. Packer has finished his course with joy, and went to be with the Lord he loved on Friday the 17th of July, at the age of 93. 

Among his many contributions to evanglical thought was to the recent update of the New Dictionary of Theology: Historical and Systematic. As well as writing articles on Baptism in the Spirit, Richard Baxter, The Chicago Statement, Austin Marsden Farrer, and the Theology of Revival; he also had his own extensive entry, written by Derek Thomas. For those who never met him, or perhaps have not heard of him, this sketch offers a sense of the man and his influence: 

J. I. Packer (born in Gloucester, England) is an esteemed theologian in the Anglican Calvinistic tradition. He most recently served as the Board of Governors’ Professor of Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The son of a clerk for the Great Western Railway, Packer won a scholarship to Oxford University where he studied at Corpus Christi College, gaining his BA in 1948, later gaining his MA (1952) and PhD (1955). In 1949 he entered Wycliffe Hall, Oxford to study for his doctoral thesis on the life and theology of the Puritan theologian, Richard *Baxter of Kidderminster. His work was published in 2003 under the title The Redemption and Restoration of Man in the Thought of Richard Baxter.

J. I. Packer was ordained as a deacon in the Church of England in 1952 and as a priest in 1953. He became an Assistant Curate of Harborne Heath in Birmingham 1952–4, lecturer at Tyndale Hall, Bristol 1955–61, librarian of Latimer House, Oxford 1961–2, and Principal 1962–9. In 1970 he became Principal of Tyndale Hall, Bristol and from 1971 until 1979 he was Associate Principal of Trinity College, Bristol, formed by the amalgamation of Tyndale Hall with Clifton College and Dalton House-St. Michael’s. In 1979 Packer moved to Regent College, Vancouver as the Sangwoo Youtong Chee Professor of Theology, a position he held until his retirement.

A prolific writer and co-signer of the *Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, Packer was named as ‘One of the 25 most Influential Evangelicals in America’ by Time magazine (Feb. 2005). He is best known as the author of Knowing God (1973), and Fundamentalism and the Word of God (1958), the former having sold over a million copies. He has been a frequent contributor and an executive editor of Christianity Today.

Packer has devoted much of his life to Anglican and *Puritan studies, especially the latter’s relevance to contemporary Christian spirituality. Controversially, Dr Packer has been an advocate of dialogue with Roman Catholics (see Evangelicals and Catholics Together: Toward a Common Mission, 1994, eds. C. Colson and R. J. Neuhaus).

Packer served as a general editor of the Bible translation English Standard Version, an evangelical revision of the Revised Standard Version.

Our friends at Crossway in the USA have produced a beautiful video, 'J. I. Packer in his own words'

J. I. Packer: In His Own Words from Crossway on Vimeo.

The Gospel Coalition has a number of reflections, including this one by Don Carson.

Christianity Today remembers his final lesson for the church, 'Glorify Christ every way', as well as reflections from '20 Evangelical Thought-Leaders'.