The John Owen Centre
London Theological Seminary (LTS) has announced that Dr Garry Williams will become the first full-time director of its John Owen Centre (JOC) on 1 July.
Dr Williams studied theology at Oxford and then worked as a school teacher. Since 1999 he has served as Tutor in Church History and Doctrine at Oak Hill Theological College, London. He has published popular and academic works on subjects ranging from The Da Vinci Code to the doctrine of the atonement.
The JOC was established by LTS to help UK evangelical churches address contemporary theological issues. The centre provides high-level theological teaching for gospel ministers and other church leaders, and opportunities for in-depth study.
The JOC is distinctively Reformed in theology, nonconformist in identity, and international in its connections. It offers demanding formal academic programmes and more easily accessed shorter blocks of teaching and study.
The centre also offers a two-year part-time Master’s programme in Historical and Systematic Theology, from Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia).
It runs a theological study group, as well as advanced classes in Hebrew and Greek, and organises conferences on significant theological issues.
Westminster faculty
Dr Williams will continue these activities and develop new ones, including guided study-leave periods for ministers and study days on theological topics. Guidance will be given on reading programmes supported by one-to-one or small group tutorials. Study days will involve intensive lectures and small group seminars.
Robert Strivens, LTS principal, comments: ‘This is a very exciting development for the JOC. We have for some time wanted to find a full-time director for the centre, to lead and develop the work to its full potential.
‘We are delighted that Garry will be taking up this post in the summer. His learning and experience make him admirably qualified for the role and we look forward enormously to his joining the team here’.
Garry Williams comments: ‘I am hugely excited about directing and developing the already excellent work of the JOC. The role of the Westminster faculty in teaching the ThM places its formal academic programme among the best in the world’.
Oak Hill have also announced that Carl Trueman and Peter O’Brien will join their faculty as visiting lecturers during 2009/2010. Carl Trueman is Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia; and Peter O’Brien, Senior Research Fellow in New Testament at Moore College, Sydney.
