Reason of Faith

John Owen wrote The Reason of Faith in 1677 as a philosophical defense of Christian belief against the rising tide of rationalist skepticism that characterized late seventeenth-century intellectual life. The work emerged from Owen's concern that rational doubt was undermining the foundations of faith among educated believers, particularly those influenced by the empirical philosophy of John Locke and the mechanistic worldview gaining prominence in English universities.

Owen argues that faith and reason operate in distinct but complementary spheres, neither contradicting nor supplanting each other. He contends that human reason, while corrupted by sin, retains sufficient capacity to recognize the credibility of divine revelation when properly exercised. The treatise systematically demonstrates how Scripture's internal evidence—its moral excellence, prophetic accuracy, and transformative power—provides rational grounds for belief that exceed purely philosophical demonstration. Owen distinguishes between the assent of natural reason to Scripture's credibility and the supernatural illumination of the Holy Spirit that produces saving faith, arguing that the latter builds upon rather than bypasses the former. He addresses specific objections raised by contemporary skeptics about biblical authority, miraculous claims, and the relationship between divine sovereignty and human knowledge.

The work has endured as a sophisticated example of Reformed epistemology, influencing later theologians wrestling with faith and reason from Jonathan Edwards to contemporary philosophers like Alvin Plantinga. Owen's careful distinction between rational grounds for belief and the spiritual apprehension of truth anticipated many modern discussions about religious knowledge and justified belief. Who should read this: serious students of Reformed theology and Christian apologetics who want to engage substantive philosophical theology rather than popular-level defenses of faith, and those studying the historical development of Protestant responses to Enlightenment rationalism.