J. I. Packer

Packer was born on 22 July 1926 in Twyning, Gloucestershire, England, to James and Dorothy Packer. His sister, Margaret, was born in 1929. After college, he spent a brief time teaching Greek and Latin at Oak Hill College in London. He obtained his Master of philosophy degree in 1954, and Doctor of Philosophy in 1954. He became editor of the Evangelical Quarterly in the 1960s, and eventually published a series of articles he wrote in the journal into a book, Knowing God. Packer was associated with St. John's Shaughnessy Anglican Church, which in February 2008 voted to leave the Anglican Church of Canada over the issue of same-sex blessings. The departing church, St. John's Vancouver, joined the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC). Packer, on 23 April, handed in his licence from the Bishop of New Westminster. (ANiC eventually co-founded and joined the Anglican Church in North America in 2009.) In December 2008, Packer was appointed an honorary clerical canon of St Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney in recognition of his long and distinguished ministry as a faithful teacher of biblical theology. Packer had been the theologian emeritus of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) since its creation in 2009, being one of the nine members of the task force who wrote on a trial basis Texts for Common Prayer, released in 2013, and general editor of the task force who wrote for trial use To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism, approved on 8 January 2014 by the College of Bishops of the church. He was awarded the St. Cuthbert's Cross at the Provincial Assembly of ACNA on 27 June 2014 by retiring Archbishop Robert Duncan for his "unparalleled contribution to Anglican and global Christianity". In 2016, Packer's eyesight deteriorated due to macular degeneration to a point where he could no longer read or write, consequently concluding his public ministry. Packer died on 17 July 2020, five days before his 94th birthday. ==Theological views==

An Evangelical, Reformed Anglican, Packer held a soteriological position described as Calvinist. Packer had signed the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, affirming the conservative evangelical position on biblical inerrancy. Packer endorsed and supported books that have advocated for theistic evolution, but also expressed caution towards the validity of evolution. In recent years, he had supported the ecumenical movement, which drew criticism from other evangelicals. Specifically, Packer's involvement in the book Evangelicals and Catholics Together: Toward a Common Mission (ECT) was sharply criticised, but he defended ECT by arguing that believers should set aside denominational differences for the sake of winning converts to Christianity. Packer took the side of evangelical ecumenism in opposition to Martyn Lloyd-Jones in 1966, then co-authored a work with two Anglo-Catholics in 1970 (Growing into Union) that many evangelicals felt conceded too much biblical ground on critical doctrinal issues. The publication of that work led to the formal break between Lloyd-Jones and Packer, bringing an end to the Puritan Conferences. == Works ==

• Fundamentalism and the Word of God (1958; reprinted 1984) • Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (1961 by Inter-Varsity Fellowship) (reprinted 1991) • ''Our Lord's Understanding of the Law of God'' (1962) • The Church of England and the Methodist Church: Ten Essays (1963) • God Speaks To Man: Revelation and the Bible (1965) • ''Tomorrow's Worship'' (1966) • Guidelines: Anglican Evangelicals Face the Future (1967) • Knowing God (1973, reprinted 1993) • What did the Cross Achieve? The Logic of Penal Substitution (1974) • I Want To Be A Christian (1977) • The Ten Commandments (1977) • The Evangelical Anglican Identity Problem: An Analysis (1978) • The New Man (1978) • ''For Man's Sake!'' (1978) • Knowing Man (1979) • God Has Spoken (1979) • Beyond the Battle for the Bible (1980) • Freedom and Authority (1981: International Council on Biblical Inerrancy) • ''A Kind of Noah's Ark? : The Anglican Commitment to Comprehensiveness'' (1981) • ''God's Words: Studies of Key Bible Themes'' (1981) • Freedom, Authority and Scripture (1982) • Keep In Step With The Spirit: Finding Fullness In Our Walk With God (1984, reprinted 2005) • The Thirty-Nine Articles: Their Place and Use Today (1984) • Through the Year with J. I. Packer (1986) • Hot Tub Religion (1987) • Laid-back Religion?: A penetrating look at Christianity today (1989) ISBN 978-0-8511-0799-8 • A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (1990) • ''Among God's Giants: Aspects of Puritan Christianity'' (1991) • A Passion for Holiness (1992) • Rediscovering Holiness (1992) • Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs (1993) • Knowing Christianity (1995) • A Passion for Faithfulness: Wisdom from the Book of Nehemiah (1995) • ''Decisions – Finding God's Will: 6 Studies for Individuals or Groups'' (1996) • Truth & Power: The Place of Scripture in the Christian Life (1996) • Life in the Spirit (1996) • Meeting God (2001) • ''God's Plans for You'' (2001) • Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility (2002) • Faithfulness and Holiness: The Witness of J. C. Ryle (2002) • The Redemption and Restoration of Man in the Thought of Richard Baxter (2003, based on his 1954 Oxford dissertation) • Knowing God Through The Year (2004) • 18 Words: The Most Important Words You Will Ever Know (2007) • ''Praying the Lord's Prayer'' (2007) • ''Affirming the Apostles' Creed (2008) '' • Weakness Is the Way: Life with Christ Our Strength (2013) • Finishing Our Course With Joy (2014) In the Anglican Agenda series • Taking Faith Seriously (2006) • Taking Doctrine Seriously (2007) • Taking Repentance Seriously (2007) • Taking Christian Unity Seriously (2007) Collections • The J. I. Packer Collection, edited by Alister McGrath (1999) • Collected Shorter Writings of J. I. Packer • Volume 1: Celebrating the Saving Work of God (1998) • Volume 2: Serving the People of God (1998) • Volume 3: Honouring the Written Word of God (1999) • Volume 4: Honouring the People of God (1999) Co-authored • ''The Spirit Within You: The Church's Neglected Possession'' with Alan Stibbs (1979) • The Bible Almanac with Merrill C. Tenney and William White (1980) • Christianity: The True Humanism with Thomas Howard (1985) • New Dictionary of Theology with Sinclair B Ferguson and David F Wright (1988) • Knowing and Doing the Will of God with LaVonne Neff (1995) • Great Power with Beth Feia (1997) • Great Grace with Beth Feia (1997) • Great Joy with Beth Feia (1999) • Never Beyond Hope: How God Touches and Uses Imperfect People with Carolyn Nystrom (2000) • Knowing God Journal with Carolyn Nystrom (2000) • J. I. Packer Answers Questions for Today with Wendy Murray Zoba (2001) • ''Hope, Never Beyond Hope: Six Studies for Individuals or Groups with Leader's Notes'' with Carolyn Nystrom (2003) • One Faith: The Evangelical Consensus with Thomas Oden (2004) • Battle for the Soul of Canada: Raising up the Emerging Generation of Leaders (2006) • Praying: Finding Our Way Through Duty To Delight with Carolyn Nystrom (2006) • ''Guard Us, Guide Us: Divine Leading in Life's Decisions'' with Carolyn Nystrom (2008) • In My Place Condemned He Stood: Celebrating the Glory of the Atonement with Mark Dever (2008) ==Notes==