John Owen was a scholar, pastor, dissenter, and faithful follower of Christ in a tumultuous time. He gave himself to the study of Scripture out of an abiding love for the glory of God amongst the people of Christ. John Owen's works have greatly influenced Western Christendom in the centuries that have passed, and his concern for the true church shines powerfully forth from his writings. The aim of the book is to examine John Owen's view of the biblical role of a pastor with regards to the ministry of preaching the word of God in the life of a local church. The goal is to understand and evaluate John Owen's thought, from Holy Scripture, with regards to pastoral preaching. This book seeks to unearth from John Owen's writings the various aspects that affect pastoral preaching, his understanding of a True Gospel Church, preaching as the priority for a pastor, and what exactly constituted faithful biblical preaching. Furthermore, this book will seek to make conclusions concerning John Owen's view of pastoral preaching and its faithfulness to Scripture.

John Owen on the Christian Life expounds Owen's teaching on the fundamental themes. It also stands on its own as a study in pastoral theology.

In five sections and thirty-nine chapters, Sinclair B Ferguson writes on pastor-teachers whose life and work have left an indelible mark on his own life, and then leads us in a series of chapters on the teaching of John Calvin, John Owen and the seventeenth century Puritans. This is followed by studies of Scripture, the ministry of the Spirit, the nature of Biblical Theology, the work of Christ, adoption, the nature of the Christian life and other important doctrines. The final section discusses various aspects of preaching, including preaching Christ from the Old Testament, the importance of theology, reaching the heart, and concludes with a decalogue for preachers. All this, as the epilogue makes clear, is set within the context and goal of doxology.

The authors of The Pastor: His Call, Character, and Work were all men closely associated, either as students, professors, or in one case a director, of Princeton Theological Seminary, which was established in 1812 by the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America. It was founded as a 'nursery of vital piety as well as of sound theological learning...to train up persons for the ministry who shall be lovers as well as defenders of the truth as it is in Jesus, friends of revivals of religion, and a blessing to the church of God.' A sample of the Princeton view of the ministry is contained in this little volume. Taken together its chapters form a small instruction manual on the key elements in the work of a minister of the gospel in any age and place. These pages combine theological acumen, a high sense of purpose, a vision of the privileges of serving Christ, and a recalibration of our whole vision for ministry. The chapters in this book have been selected from the two-volume Princeton and the Work of the Christian Ministry, also published by the Banner of Truth.

Owen was a renowned theologian in his day and this work is a piece of theological brilliance in the reformed and protestant tradition. The death of Christ had a wide range of implications on the fate of humanity and the cause of redemption that Christ came to give to us all. This work goes over all the arguments that have been set up against the reality of Christ's death and Owen brilliantly rebukes these arguments and settles it all.