My first encounter with the thought of John Owen was in 2005 and I still recall the reverential awe with which a fellow student of strongly reformed convictions spoke of him. Since then, Owen has been a recurring figure, never far from the foreground of events, in my own research into Puritanism. It was therefore with great interest that I came to this work by Crawford Gribben, published in the four-hundredth anniversary year of Owen's birth. Gribben's intention in this book is to present the reader with a more detailed, holistic picture of the man who, Gribben concurs, may well have been ‘Puritanism's theological Everest’ (p. 8).

There has been a great deal of scholarship on Owen over the years, which Gribben reviews in helpful breadth and satisfying depth, and he acknowledges that he is pursuing a line of enquiry reflected in Tim Cooper's John Owen, Richard Baxter, and the formation of Nonconformity (Farnham 2011). Gribben, however, goes into significantly greater depth as he elucidates Owen's inner life and character from his actions as well as his writings. He draws upon an impressive range of primary sources, including Owen's published works, auditors’ sermon notes and letters in order to elucidate these; the latter illustrating the historian of Puritanism's ongoing debt of gratitude to the editorial labours of scholars such as Peter Toon. Amongst these are a number of important sources previously neglected by scholars which Gribben employs adeptly to expound Owen's developing thought: a significant and highly valuable contribution made by this work. Rather than accepting Owen's thought as monolithic ab origine or analysing his mature thought in order to explore underlying influences (as has been ably undertaken by others), Gribben traces Owen's theological development throughout the varied experiences, roles and opportunities of his lifetime.

Fundamental to Gribben's study of Owen, then, is to establish the contexts in which his works were published, sermons preached or letters penned. Indeed, he gives a highly detailed analysis of each of these contexts to which Owen was responding and which were shaping him personally and as a theologian, including his various pastoral charges, military chaplaincies and experiences at Oxford University, whether as student, dean or vice-chancellor. Gribben is exemplary in the way in which he accomplishes this, as also in his exploration of Owen's writings intertextually with contemporary theological debates. Owen's place within the political upheavals of the 1640s through the maelstrom of the Commonwealth and Protectorate, and in nonconformity under the Restoration are explored in detail and similarly shed light upon Owen as a man and a theologian. Indeed, Gribben's assessment of these momentous years is insightful, particularly with respect to Owen's developing ecclesiology as reflective of wider discussions. Indeed, as Gribben intends, through studying Owen one gains an insight into the events of the day as his ‘changing fortunes reflected broader changes in the political landscape’ (p. 169).

Moreover, despite the challenge presented by the limited autobiographical material, Gribben places Owen convincingly within his immediate social context of interpersonal relationships, both as a family man and as part of that nexus of relationships that made up the community of the godly. Through this he offers additional insights into Owen as well as some of those with whom he was associated, such as Josselin, Baxter and Caryl. Most striking is Gribben's juxtaposing of Owen's pastoral ministry and writings alongside the personal tragedies of bereavement, including the loss of his children. His friendships are also explored in some depth, including some highly significant – and unexpected – associations under the Restoration. Through all of these, one gains a better understanding and appreciation of Owen as a man, in terms of his significance and his inner thought and emotional life.

As well as an interesting analysis of Owen as a political animal during the tumultuous years of the mid- to late seventeenth century, Gribben also contributes to our understanding of Owen's theology: the primary focus, as he notes, of most work on Owen to date. In particular, Gribben discusses Owen's Trinitarianism, his apocalyptic interpretation of prophetic scriptural texts, his providentialism and his theology of the atonement. Where Gribben makes the greatest contribution to the study of Owen's thought is in his common-sense assertion that his theology developed over time, through his ministry and experiences, and within specific contexts. Indeed, Gribben asserts, Owen's thinking was never static. He therefore discusses his theology and the writings in which it is expounded chronologically and within contextual settings; whether polemical in the face of Arminian or Socinian challenges or political against the backdrop of the ‘Puritan revolution’. Indeed, Owen's association with the latter is explored in fascinating detail as Gribben seeks to clarify Owen's attitudes and motives as well as his significance. Here, Gribben also contributes to scholarly discussions about toleration under the Protectorate. Owen's preaching is likewise set within the context of his ministries and the specific congregations to which he preached. To this, Gribben adds a thought-provoking analysis of Owen's rhetorical and literary style and its development, as well as the influence – or lack of influence at times – that he was able to exert upon those around him.

If one were to be critical, there are points where Gribben seems overly negative about Owen's own assessment of his achievements, emphasising his experience of defeat – the particular thread with which Gribben ties together his study. Indeed, Gribben suggests that Owen felt an ‘enduring sense of failure’ in the 1670s (p. 271). His own assessment of Owen's significance is nevertheless both balanced and well-grounded. Gribben has contributed another outstandingly erudite volume to Oxford's Studies in Historical Theology, extending scholarly and lay understanding of Puritanism and the environment in which it was nurtured through a detailed study of one of the godly. Instead of the other-worldly Owen venerated by certain elements of Reformed Christianity, Gribben presents the reader with a man of his time; far more human, yet all the more admirable and fascinating for it.