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Matossian, Jason
James Owen and the Defense of Moderate Nonconformity

The period of Revolution and Toleration in England was filled with rapid change, political uncertainty, and ecclesiastical volatility. Still recovering from the strife of Civil War and a divisive Restoration, the relationship between the Church of England and Nonconformists remained deeply strained. Although Dissenters were granted the right to gather for worship under Toleration, their legitimacy was regularly challenged. Within this context, a variety of significant controversies arose in which James Owen, a Welsh Presbyterian minister, played a prominent role and was a leading voice for moderate Nonconformity. Along with a group of moderate Nonconformist friends like Edmund Calamy, Philip and Matthew Henry, and Francis Tallents, Owen defended a version of Protestant ecumenism. This was a theological conviction that (1) the unity of the Protestant Church was indispensable and (2) this unity was to be found in agreement on essential doctrines, not in sharing ecclesiastical structures. Owen, along with his associates, defended the Dissenters’ separation from the Church of England as biblically sanctioned and at the same time emphasized that such separation was not schismatic. Owen’s clear, biblically articulate, and historically informed writing made his contribution to the period of Toleration significant and influential. In this book Owen's life and intellectual contributions will be explored. Chapter 2 examines the historical setting into which Owen was born, the religious context in which he was nurtured, and the ecclesiastical and political environment in which he lived and wrote. In order to understand some of the personal influences in Owen's life, chapter 3 will consider a number of other moderate Dissenters with whom Owen had some connection and will investigate their particular versions of moderation. Chapter 4 will provide a basic outline of Owen's own theological methodology, focusing primarily on Owen's sources of authority. The two significant published debates in which Owen figured prominently will be taken up in chapters 5 and 6, beginning with the controversy over Presbyterian ordination, followed by the debate regarding occasional conformity. 166 Seiten, gebunden (Reformed Historical Theology; Volume 71/Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2022) leichte Lagerspuren/minor shelfwear