J.I. Packer
British-born theologian whose book Knowing God helped millions of Christians move from knowing about God to truly knowing Him through Scripture.
Key Works
Knowing God(1973)
A classic exploration of God's attributes — His majesty, wisdom, love, wrath, and grace — drawn from across the whole of Scripture and written for ordinary Christians.
Concise Theology(1993)
A brief, accessible guide to the essential doctrines of the Christian faith, covering every major topic in a few pages each.
God Has Spoken(1979)
A robust defense and explanation of biblical authority — what it means to say that God has spoken through Scripture.
Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God(1961)
A short, influential work showing how the sovereignty of God and the call to evangelize are not in tension but reinforce each other.
James Innell Packer was a British-born theologian who spent the second half of his career in Canada and became one of the most respected evangelical voices of the twentieth century. His masterwork Knowing God has sold over 1.5 million copies and is widely regarded as one of the most important Christian books of the modern era. Packer's great gift was taking the deep truths of Reformed theology and making them accessible, warm, and practical — always rooted in the breadth of Scripture.
His Story
Packer grew up in Gloucester, England, and was converted as a student at Oxford through the ministry of the Inter-Varsity Fellowship. He was profoundly influenced by reading the Puritans — especially John Owen and Richard Baxter — and spent his career recovering their theological depth for a modern audience. He was also deeply shaped by the writings of John Calvin.
After teaching at several British institutions, Packer moved to Regent College in Vancouver, Canada, where he taught systematic and historical theology for over three decades. Despite being one of the most learned theologians of his generation, he was known for his humility, accessibility, and genuine concern for the spiritual life of ordinary Christians. He once said, "I am a voice, not a face."
His Contribution to the Big Picture of Scripture
Packer's Knowing God is not a book about theology in the abstract — it is a book about encountering the living God through the whole of Scripture. He wrote: "Knowing about God is crucially important for the living of our lives... But the activity of knowing God is bigger and more basic than knowing about Him." The book moves through the attributes of God — His unchangeableness, His wisdom, His love, His wrath, His grace — drawing on texts from Genesis to Revelation, showing that the whole Bible is a progressive revelation of who God is.
In God Has Spoken, Packer laid out a compelling case for the authority and sufficiency of Scripture: "God's Word is meant to be studied, meditated upon, applied, and obeyed. It is food for the soul, light for the path, and the sword of the Spirit." He insisted that the Bible is not merely a book of information but a means of personal encounter with the God who inspired it.
Packer was also instrumental in recovering the Puritan heritage for modern evangelicals, editing and introducing many Puritan works. He saw the Puritans as models of how to read the Bible comprehensively — attending to doctrine, experience, and practice in equal measure. As he wrote, "The Puritans were great souls serving a great God."
Why Read Packer Today?
In an age of theological shallowness, Packer calls Christians back to depth — to knowing God, not merely knowing about Him. Knowing God remains one of the best books to give to any Christian who wants to grow in their understanding of who God is as revealed across the whole sweep of Scripture. Concise Theology is an invaluable reference for anyone who wants a clear summary of what Christians believe and why. Packer's writing is rigorous but never dry, scholarly but always pastoral. As he wrote, "Turn your eyes upon the greatness of God. The real basis for confidence about the future is not that we are clever enough to find the right answers, but that God is great enough to give them."