This little phrase, for me, comes from the title of a Carl Trueman book about John Owen: John Owen: Reformed Catholic, Renaissance Man. In the video posted below, Trueman references Owen’s ‘catholicity.’
A few years ago I took a two-hour elective class on the writings of Owen. In that class, we were assigned to read about 1500 pages over the course of a semester. It changed my life. I draw nearly every day from what I have learned from Owen.
One of the things that struck me about Owen, especially as I began to read his book Biblical Theology, was the broad range of sources he cites in his work. He cites the church fathers and he cites pagan mythology; he cites his opponents and he cites his friends, and just about everything in between. And, yes, he was a Puritan. Trueman explains it well in the video. It sums up an idea of what modern Reformed Christians ought to be striving for, especially in this age of vast information and shallow thought.
…whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future–all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s (1 Cor. 3:22-23).
