Packer rejected a merely scientific approach to theological study, arguing that cool and clinical detachment when studying doctrine was intolerable. He instead proposed a marriage in which systematic theology would be taught as an element of a student’s spirituality and spirituality taught as an expression of systematic theology. He believed systematic theology should be a devotional discipline, a means of relating to God. 

Spiritual formation may be popular, but it’s not new.

Trevin Wax recently noted that church-attending college students are pursuing spiritual formation with new interest. What stands out is their commitment to Christ’s lordship and their reworking of personal habits and spiritual disciplines. Authors like Justin Whitmel Earley and John Mark Comer now reach wide audiences, guiding their readers to renew traditional practices of Christian spirituality.

Kyle Strobel is also encouraged that a new generation is “awakening to the very questions that helped start this conversation 45 years ago.” Strobel serves as a professor in the Institute for Spiritual Formation at Talbot School of Theology. He argues, “What is needed today is not merely a discussion of practices, but a real spiritual theology fueled by a distinctively Protestant and evangelical vision of the Christian life.”

Enter J. I. Packer. I’d argue that theological institutions and their students can find the Protestant and evangelical vision they need by looking back to truths about Christian spirituality Packer emphasized in 1989.

Packer’s Spiritual Emphasis

That year, Packer was appointed Sangwoo Youtong Chee professor of theology at Regent College. In his introductory lecture, he argued any study of theology is, and indeed should be, educational work in spirituality. He explained that he felt at home in his new position because Regent emphasized spirituality and was committed to the idea that no theology should ever be taught to enrich the head while impoverishing the heart. 

Packer rejected a merely scientific approach to theological study, arguing that cool and clinical detachment when studying doctrine was intolerable. He instead proposed a marriage in which systematic theology would be taught as an element of a student’s spirituality and spirituality taught as an expression of systematic theology. He believed systematic theology should be a devotional discipline, a means of relating to God. Packer aptly said, “Given the marriage, both our theologizing and our devotional explorations will become systematic spirituality, exercises in (allow me to say it) knowing God, and we shall all be the richer as a result.”

Packer’s view was long-held and deeply personal. While a student at Oxford in the 1940s, he encountered Keswick theology, an approach to Christianity often captured by the phrase “victorious living” or the slogan “let go and let God.” The central teaching of this theology was surrender to Christ, trusting entirely in his ability to defeat sin and produce spiritual fruit. Active obedience was seen as mere legalism and dangerous to spirituality. Should believers not experience life to its fullest, or should they struggle with sin, they were said to lack “total surrender” to Christ. Packer was acutely disturbed by this teaching. He couldn’t achieve “total surrender” and still battled sin.

Where did Packer turn? He discovered the English Puritans, chiefly John Owen, and found spiritual relief. As his biographer Alister McGrath summarized, “Here was a writer who spoke to Packer’s condition, and offered a realistic solution to his concerns. . . . The discovery of Owen must be regarded as a turning point in Packer’s Christian life.”

Packer’s Distinctive Approach

Because Packer’s concern for theological clarity on sanctification and spirituality began early in his education, he later aimed his own students toward the study of spirituality in their theological study as well.

1. He argued against a specialized separation of theology and spirituality.

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