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James Innell Packer, known to friends as Jim and to millions as J.I. Packer, died July 17 at the age of 93. A highly respected theologian and prolific writer, he authored more than 165 works, including one of the all-time bestselling Christian books, Knowing God (1973). To Marcus Avery, he was a gift used by the Holy Spirit to salvage his life. For over 15 years, Avery read daily in select books about the doctrine of God, books by A.W. Tozer, Arthur Pink, Stephen Charnock, and, of course, Packer. A once “wayward son without Christ as first love,” he said,...

James Innell Packer, better known to many as J. I. Packer, was one of the most famous and influential evangelical leaders of our time. He died Friday, July 17, at age 93. J. I. Packer was born in a village outside of Gloucester, England, on July 22, 1926. He came from humble stock, being born into a family that he called lower middle class. The religious climate at home and church was that of nominal Anglicanism rather than evangelical belief in Christ as Savior (something that Packer was not taught in his home church). Packer’s life-changing childhood experience came at...

LATROBE, PA: Anglican Patriarch J.I. Packer Still Going Strong at 87 An exclusive interview with the Rev. Dr. J.I. Packer. By David W. Virtue www.virtueonline.org June 28, 2014 The Rev. Dr. James I. Packer is the Anglican Communion’s most widely known, most respected evangelical Anglican author, theologian, churchman and scholar. He was a speaker at the recent Anglican Church of North America’s 2nd Annual Assembly meeting at St. Vincent Archabbey and College in Latrobe, PA, on the occasion of the induction of a new archbishop of the ACNA and a farewell to the Most Rev. Robert Duncan, the ACNA’s first...

J.I. Packer, one of the world's most renowned evangelical theologians, left the Anglican Church of Canada, citing "poisonous liberalism" in the church body. Packer, 81, who was named one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in the world by Time magazine in 2005, quit the Canadian arm of the global Anglican Communion with 10 other B.C. Anglican clergy last week, he said, according to The Vancouver Sun. They joined the more conservative and orthodox Province of the Southern Cone in South America. The Oxford-trained theologian said he can no longer serve under Vancouver-area Bishop Michael Ingham, arguing that he "appears...

One of the world's most famous evangelical theologians quit the Anglican Church of Canada this week because he believes many of its bishops are "arguably heretical" for adhering to "poisonous liberalism." James (J.I.) Packer, whom Time magazine recently named as one of the planet's 25 most influential evangelicals, said he hesitated before using the harsh terms to describe the Anglican bishops, but believed he must do so in the name of truth. Vancouver-based Packer, who has sold more than four million copies of his many books, said he and 10 other B.C. Anglican clergy left the national denomination this week...