Theologian J.I. Packer shares thoughts on "Knowing God"

Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009
By SUE NOWICKI
McClatchy Newspapers

It's been a good year for J.I. Packer, one of the world's best-known theologians. In March, the Anglican pastor and Regent College professor won Bible of the Year and Book of the Year honors for editing the English Standard Version Study Bible. He also released two of his own books - "Praying: Finding Our Way Through Duty to Delight," in June, and a yearlong devotional using his seminal work, "Knowing God," due out later this month.

Packer, listed as one of Time magazine's "25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America" in 2005, sat down with The (Modesto) Bee at the Christian Book Expo in Dallas earlier this year to talk on a wide range of subjects, from growing up in England to C.S. Lewis' impact on his life to becoming embroiled in the Anglican/Episcopal dispute. Here's what he had to say:

Q: How old are you?

A: 82. You know, the Bible doesn't have the word "retirement" and it doesn't even have the words "slow down."

Q: When you were a young lad in England, what did you think you would be when you grew up?

A: A teacher. Not because I knew anything about the various professional possibilities, but because my mother had been a teacher and a very good one. I know now that if I'd been properly assessed in terms of potential - none of that was done in the 1930s and the early 1940s - I'm sure I should have been a lawyer. I think I could have practiced law quite efficiently and with sufficient interest to guarantee competence. But at age 18, I became a believer, and the Lord said something different that I had never thought about before.

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