The Complete Works of John Owen - 40 Volumes

[greenbaggins]

As I understand things so far (having talked with Ryan McGraw about this some), the following features are relevant: 1. There is a fair amount of material not published in the Goold version that will be published in this version, and not just a badly needed update of the Biblical Theology volume (which I understand is a fairly atrocious bungling); 2. All foreign-language material will be translated, with the original language material in the footnote, English translation in the text. Owen used a fair bit of Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin in his works, most of which is not translated in the Goold version. 3. New typeset will make things easier to read; 4. One thing that should be corrected in Crossway's marketing is that Owen's language is NOT being modernized. I heard from the RHB representative that it was, but Ryan McGraw says no. In fact, they are going back to original punctuation and italics (though not spelling). 5. Volumes will be published in the order in which they are edited.

 

[Polanus1561]

I don't like this type of release pattern.

About 10 years ago I signed on to the IVP release if the Reformation Scripture Commentary series. Was promoted as a new volume quarterly. It started off that way. Now it is one, maybe two a year. The last release was May 2022, and the next scheduled release is now July 2023.

This is frustrating. When I started buying them, I never thought this would string out so long and be so unfulfilling. Just the opposite result promoted and expected.

If you have Owen already, I don't see why you would want to commit to this. But there will be a new generation of people who will embark on reading Owen over the years and do not have BoT Owen

 

[Regi Addictissimus]

What I would really be interested in acquiring is the new translation of THEOLOGOMENA PANTODAPA (the Soli Deo Gloria translation is entitled, Biblical Theology). Other than that new translation, I am not sure what else there is to add to the existing set of John Owen's Works. Perhaps some manuscript letters or sermon outlines have been uncovered, but it is news to me.

My pastor and a highly respected Latinist, Dr. David Noe is translating that particular work for Crossway. It is a cause for celebration.

I am happy to answer questions on this release. Ive had volume seven for a few weeks now.

 

[Regi Addictissimus]

If you have Owen already, I don't see why you would want to commit to this. But there will be a new generation of people who will embark on reading Owen over the years and do not have BoT Owen

I can think of a few reasons:

• This is a beautifully typeset edition that is highly readable.
• For those that can't read Latin, Hebrew, and Greek, this new effort is a welcome addition.
• Each volume has introductions by modern theologians and footnotes
• Not to mention, it is a stunning book to hold in ones hands and read. That matters to some, myself included.

From Crossway:

• Edited and Formatted for Modern Readers: Presents Owen’s original work, newly typeset with outlines, text breaks, headings, and footnotes
• Informative New Introductions: Provide historical, theological, and personal context
• Supporting Resources Enhance Reading: Include extensive annotations with sources, definitions, and translations of ancient languages
• Part of the Complete Works of John Owen Collection: Will release 40 hardcover volumes through 2028
• Perfect for Churches and Schools: Ideal for students, pastors, theologians, and those interested in the Holy Spirit and the Puritans

I am not sure why anyone would protest such a monumental project. Owen has needed this treatment. As he is in my top three theologians, I cannot be more excited for this.

 

[Polanus1561]

I can think of a few reasons:

• This is a beautifully typeset edition that is highly readable.
• For those that can't read Latin, Hebrew, and Greek, this new effort is a welcome addition.
• Each volume has introductions by modern theologians and footnotes
• Not to mention, it is a stunning book to hold in ones hands and read. That matters to some, myself included.

From Crossway:

• Edited and Formatted for Modern Readers: Presents Owen’s original work, newly typeset with outlines, text breaks, headings, and footnotes
• Informative New Introductions: Provide historical, theological, and personal context
• Supporting Resources Enhance Reading: Include extensive annotations with sources, definitions, and translations of ancient languages
• Part of the Complete Works of John Owen Collection: Will release 40 hardcover volumes through 2028
• Perfect for Churches and Schools: Ideal for students, pastors, theologians, and those interested in the Holy Spirit and the Puritans

I am not sure why anyone would protest such a monumental project. Owen has needed this treatment. As he is in my top three theologians, I cannot be more excited for this.

Ah, the support for the Latin and Hebrew indeed would be enticing for some.

Btw I wasn’t protesting the project, I got my Crossway Charnock and love it

 

[TheInquirer]

I will be buying and trying this first volume from RHB. The Charnock update was extremely helpful for me and only having Owen in digital, I appreciate a physical book.

Personally, I don't think of this in terms of needing to buy the full set but a volume here and there, especially at RHB prices, seems like a no brainer.

I mean, John Owen vs most modern drivel sold around $20 - or a couple of fast food meals - the eternal value for the soul is very high.

 

[jwithnell]

I'm reading Crossway's release of Communion with the Triune God right now for a seminar in January. It's not identified as a volume in a series. I'm liking it very much though I unexpectedly ended up with the PDF.

Archaic English doesn't bother me much, but breaking clauses into sentences and other ways of structuring Mr. Owen's thoughts has been quite helpful. I have a notation system for digesting longer thought processes, but Mr. Owen in his original form has previously been rather daunting.

 

[Regi Addictissimus]

Ah, the support for the Latin and Hebrew indeed would be enticing for some.

Btw I wasn’t protesting the project, I got my Crossway Charnock and love it

That comment wasn't directed toward you. I have seen some protest elsewhere. My apologies for not nuancing that statement and including it in my response to you.

 

[ForrestTheManc]

Here you go - the first volume is out now:

www.crossway.org/books/the-holy-spirit-hccase/

From now through 2028, Crossway will publish 40 volumes of Owen's complete works (including some stuff never before published). Foreign-language quotations translated, text lightly edited for easier reading. They're doing it up big time.

But be sure to get them through Reformation Heritage Books instead.

This will be another one of those that I constantly look at online, and yet will never be able to justify purchasing. I have two of his books I grabbed from Ligonier's website, "Communion with God" and "Overcoming Sin and Temptation", both are brilliant.

 

[ForrestTheManc]

I'm reading Crossway's release of Communion with the Triune God right now for a seminar in January. It's not identified as a volume in a series. I'm liking it very much though I unexpectedly ended up with the PDF.

Archaic English doesn't bother me much, but breaking clauses into sentences and other ways of structuring Mr. Owen's thoughts has been quite helpful. I have a notation system for digesting longer thought processes, but Mr. Owen in his original form has previously been rather daunting.

Agree about the structuring, I have the Christian Focus Publications version and they also did a great job on this front. Brilliant read.

"The mutual love of God and the saints agrees in this—that the way of communicating the issues and fruits of these loves is only in Christ. The Father communicates no issue of His love to us but through Christ; and we make no return of love to Him but through Christ. He is the treasury in which the Father disposes all the riches of His grace, taken from the bottomless mine of His eternal love; and He is the Priest into Whose hand we put all the offerings that we return to the Father. Thence He is first, and by way of eminency, said to love the Son; not only as His eternal Son—as He was the delight of His soul before the foundation of the world (Proverbs 8:30)—but also as our mediator, and the means of conveying His love to us. And we are said through Him to believe in and to have access to God."

- John Owen ‘Communion With God’

 

[jwithnell]

Agree about the structuring, I have the Christian Focus Publications version and they also did a great job on this front. Brilliant read.

I'm wondering if Crossway stopped distribution on this single volume to roll it into the series discussed in this thread. When I ordered from Westminster, I ended up with the PDF and while trying to find the hardcopy it didn't appear to be available. This title has me excited about getting additional volumes. I like learning more about God, but more importantly, being guided in my love for him.

 

[JimmyH]

That comment wasn't directed toward you. I have seen some protest elsewhere. My apologies for not nuancing that statement and including it in my response to you.

Truth be told I was critical in a thread announcing the recent Crossway 'updated' edition of Charnock's The Existence And Attributes Of God. I had only seen the details in the thread and I am fond of facsimile editions, unedited Puritan texts. So I mentioned that. I don't flatter myself that I've been occupying rent free space in your head since that unfortunate statement, but one way or another, here is an update.

In spite of my negative supposition on the update I was intrigued. I had read of Charnock in Beeke's Meet the Puritans, seen him mentioned quite a bit elsewhere, but had never read anything by him. So I did a bit of searching and found that the only sermon he had published in his lifetime was in the Morning Exercises At Cripplegate set which I have. (Puritan Sermons 1659-1689)

It is sermon XIX in volume two,'The Sinfulness and Cure of Thoughts.' It is 34 pages of fine print, and a difficult chore to get through with my 74 year old eyes, but it is one of the most important (to me) sermons I've ever read. Suffice to say reading it firmed my resolve and I ordered the Crossway Charnock set.

I really appreciate the size of the type, the updating is beneficial to the reader, especially the translation of Greek, and Hebrew. Explanatory footnotes of obscure points are very helpful. Suffice to say that I have changed my opinion and value the work that editor Mark Jones has done. I'm sure the Owen set will be equally well done, and a better reading experience than the BOT set which also suffers from the fine print. BTW, I did get my Charnock from RHB.

 

[greenbaggins]

I'm reading Crossway's release of Communion with the Triune God right now for a seminar in January. It's not identified as a volume in a series. I'm liking it very much though I unexpectedly ended up with the PDF.

Archaic English doesn't bother me much, but breaking clauses into sentences and other ways of structuring Mr. Owen's thoughts has been quite helpful. I have a notation system for digesting longer thought processes, but Mr. Owen in his original form has previously been rather daunting.

Owen, in my opinion, is the second most challenging Puritan to read (Goodwin being the most challenging). The key to reading Owen is to know who his targets are (Roman Catholicism, Arminianism, and Socinianism), and to understand that his sentence structure is classical, with periodical flourishes, and the poor verb to the very last position in the sentence exiled.

 

[ForrestTheManc]

Owen, in my opinion, is the second most challenging Puritan to read (Goodwin being the most challenging). The key to reading Owen is to know who his targets are (Roman Catholicism, Arminianism, and Socinianism), and to understand that his sentence structure is classical, with periodical flourishes, and the poor verb to the very last position in the sentence exiled.

It’s interesting, I think Owen is one of those right brain vs left brain type of things because before I ever read him I had seen that even Arthur Pink had said Owen was wearisome, and so naturally I thought if Pink has this to say then I am in for a war. But everything I’ve read of Owen’s, “On Arminianism”, “Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers” and “Communion with God” I have found hardly a bump in the road. I am by no means an elite intellect, however, so I’m convinced it’s a case by case situation haha.

 

[RamistThomist]

I would have thought The Glory of Christ (Vol. 1) was an excellent place to start. Just my .

I second that. It's actually not that difficult. Either that or Communion with God (vol. 2, I think).

 

[alexanderjames]

That is interesting. With Amazon pushing so hard on digital books right now, they've really got to come up with something better than the Kindle.

I may have just purchased a Kindle...
Why are you not a fan?

 

[TheInquirer]

I may have just purchased a Kindle...
Why are you not a fan?

I like it fine for casual reading but for some reason more academic books with lots of headings, subheadings, numbering etc. I get lost due to the small screen size and digital format - I can't always recognize where I am in the flow of thought. It is also harder to leave the page you are on and flip backwards and forwards and then back again to where you were. Its just a preference and I guess the way my mind works.

 

[Polanus1561]

I like it fine for casual reading but for some reason more academic books with lots of headings, subheadings, numbering etc. I get lost due to the small screen size and digital format - I can't always recognize where I am in the flow of thought. It is also harder to leave the page you are on and flip backwards and forwards and then back again to where you were. Its just a preference and I guess the way my mind works.

There’s a Amazon Fire or you can use kindle app on any other tablet

 

[Reformed Covenanter]

I purchased the PDF version of the volume linked in the OP. It includes a list of the contents of all the forthcoming volumes. Volume 38 is the one that I really want to see, as it is a new translation of THEOLOGOMENA PANTODAPA. I wonder if volume 39 has anything that has previously been unpublished?

 

[greenbaggins]

Daniel, according to Ryan McGraw, there will be several things that have never been published before that will be included in this set, including many sermons. I don't know about vol 39, in particular.

 

[ZackF]

Here you go - the first volume is out now:

www.crossway.org/books/the-holy-spirit-hccase/

From now through 2028, Crossway will publish 40 volumes of Owen's complete works (including some stuff never before published). Foreign-language quotations translated, text lightly edited for easier reading. They're doing it up big time.

But be sure to get them through Reformation Heritage Books instead.

Just wait until January 2029 to get the whole set for $120.

 

[retroGRAD3]

Just wait until January 2029 to get the whole set for $120.

Do you really think it will be discounted that much?

 

[ZackF]

Do you really think it will be discounted that much?

$2.99/volume!

 

[retroGRAD3]

$2.99/volume!

Ah you mean the ebooks.

 

[Reformed Covenanter]

Just wait until January 2029 to get the whole set for $120.

I really hope that volume 38 comes out much sooner than 2029.

 

[alexandermsmith]

My pastor and a highly respected Latinist, Dr. David Noe is translating that particular work for Crossway. It is a cause for celebration.

I am happy to answer questions on this release. Ive had volume seven for a few weeks now.

I will be buying and trying this first volume from RHB. The Charnock update was extremely helpful for me and only having Owen in digital, I appreciate a physical book.

Personally, I don't think of this in terms of needing to buy the full set but a volume here and there, especially at RHB prices, seems like a no brainer.

I mean, John Owen vs most modern drivel sold around $20 - or a couple of fast food meals - the eternal value for the soul is very high.

Which Bible translation is used in these new editions, or are they the authors' own translations?

 

[Polanus1561]

Which Bible translation is used in these new editions, or are they the authors' own translations?

From the sample

And there may be a supernatural knowledge of natural things (1 Kings 4:31–34; Ex. 31:2–6). But unto this supernatural illumination it is required both that its object be things only supernatu- rally revealed, or as supernaturally revealed (1 Cor. 2:9–10), and that it be wrought in us by a supernatural efficiency, or the immediate efficacy of ,גל עינ ,the Spirit of God (Eph. 1:17–19; 2 Cor. 4:6). This David prays for “Reveal,” or “uncover mine eyes,” bring light and spiritual understanding into my mind, “that I may behold (ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώπω, ‘with open face,’ or as in the Syriac, באפא גליחא, ‘with a revealed or uncovered face,’ the veil being taken away [2 Cor. 3:18]) wondrous things out of thy law” (Ps. 119:18).


compared with the original

There is a natural knowledge of supernatural things, and that both theoretical and practical, Rom. 1:19, 2:14, 15; and there may be a supernatural knowledge of natural things, 1 Kings 4:31–34; Exod. 31:2–6. But unto this supernatural illumination it is required both that its object be things only supernaturally revealed, or p 8 as supernaturally revealed, 1 Cor. 2:9, 10, and that it be wrought in us by a supernatural efficiency, or the immediate efficacy of the Spirit of God, Eph. 1:17–19; 2 Cor. 4:6. This David prays for, Ps. 119:18, נַּל־עֵינַי, “ ‘Reveal,’ or uncover mine eyes, bring light and spiritual understanding into my mind, ‘that I may behold’ (ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώπῳ, “with open face,” or as in the Syriac, באפא נליחא, “with a revealed or uncovered face,” the veil being taken away, 2 Cor. 3:18) ‘wondrous things out of thy law.’ ”