bookslover
Puritan Board Doctor
I'm almost finished reading J. I. Packer: An Evangelical Life by Leland Ryken (Wheaton: Crossway, 2015). Here are a few nuggets:
1. Packer is an early-bird: he rises at 4 or 5 AM and is usually in bed by 10 PM. (Don't know if this is still true now that he's 89.)
2. He usually writes most of his books and articles at home, in the morning hours - on an old manual typewriter!
3. He has one sibling, a sister, Margaret, who is 3 years younger.
4. Packer and his wife, Kit, have 3 adopted children.
5. He is a meticulous and careful writer, and is not fond of editors "tinkering" with his work.
6. His first book, "Fundamentalism" and the Word of God (1958) sold 20,000 copies in its first year and has never been out of print.
7. He signed a contract with Tyndale House Publishers in about 1985 to write a systematic theology, and is finally getting around to it: "'I would like to survey the whole of Christian doctrine at what I call the 'higher catechism level' - the level at which one addresses thoughtful laypeople who are not technically educated in theology, but who want to know their faith accurately and to have a solid grounding in Christian basics.' Packer is, in fact, making progress on this book, which has 'reconceived itself in [his] mind' from when he first signed a contract for it [around 30 years ago now! - RZ]. His recent interest in catechism has 'given the project new life.'" (p. 351).
8. Ecclesiastes is his favorite book of the Bible.
9. He enjoys hot and spicy food - so hot or spicy that he has to wipe the sweat from his brow after eating it.
It's a very interesting bio, overall.
1. Packer is an early-bird: he rises at 4 or 5 AM and is usually in bed by 10 PM. (Don't know if this is still true now that he's 89.)
2. He usually writes most of his books and articles at home, in the morning hours - on an old manual typewriter!
3. He has one sibling, a sister, Margaret, who is 3 years younger.
4. Packer and his wife, Kit, have 3 adopted children.
5. He is a meticulous and careful writer, and is not fond of editors "tinkering" with his work.
6. His first book, "Fundamentalism" and the Word of God (1958) sold 20,000 copies in its first year and has never been out of print.
7. He signed a contract with Tyndale House Publishers in about 1985 to write a systematic theology, and is finally getting around to it: "'I would like to survey the whole of Christian doctrine at what I call the 'higher catechism level' - the level at which one addresses thoughtful laypeople who are not technically educated in theology, but who want to know their faith accurately and to have a solid grounding in Christian basics.' Packer is, in fact, making progress on this book, which has 'reconceived itself in [his] mind' from when he first signed a contract for it [around 30 years ago now! - RZ]. His recent interest in catechism has 'given the project new life.'" (p. 351).
8. Ecclesiastes is his favorite book of the Bible.
9. He enjoys hot and spicy food - so hot or spicy that he has to wipe the sweat from his brow after eating it.
It's a very interesting bio, overall.
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