When Christians Disagree: A Book Review

When Christians Disagree: Lessons from the Fractured Relationship of John Owen and Richard Baxter by Tim Cooper is a 167 page book (including 20 pages of end material) recently published by Crossway. The book is a fast read, easily read in two or three short sittings. The volume is attractive—a signature of Crossway—with a wonderful little introduction by Dr. Michael AG Haykin, one of my favorite Baptists and one of my former church history professors. 

Before discussing the value of the book, there are the two areas of pause with the book that I have considered. The first is there is a repetition of information and stories related to Owen and Baxter. Although most likely purposeful in highlighting Cooper’s thesis, it occasionally comes across like an editing problem. The second concern is the question of anachronism. As Cooper wrestles through the question of conflict and resolution (or lack thereof), was this on the minds of Owen and Baxter, or is this our concern? Is the larger question of reconciliation over doctrinal differences a matter that is more of a concern to us rather than to them? A worthy question for meditation. 

Puritan Giants 

When Christians Disagree introduces readers to an area of the life and ministries of Puritans John Owen and Richard Baxter. Both Owen and Baxter lived during a time of transition in England as the English Civil War raged on. Most of us know Owen and Baxter from their devotional material rather than for their interpersonal conflicts or disputes; much less their involvement in the English Civil War. Owen wrote Communion with God, The Holy Spirit, Mortification of Sin, The Glory of Christ, the Death of Death in the Death of Christ among many other theological and devotional works. Baxter is best known for his Directory, The Saints Everlasting Rest, The Reformed Pastor, and several other devotional works. Both Baxter and Owen stand on their own as theological and devotional giants as well as golden examples of the best of English Puritanism. But they had differences—and their differences were great—and worthy of discussing in writing. 

Differences and Disagreements

So what were the differences between Owen and Baxter in relationship to their disagreement and fractured relationship? Much of the disagreement between Baxter and Owen was related to their theological training and understanding, relationship to the English Civil War, personality and convictions concerning unity. 

Baxter was a largely self-taught pastor after attending “a few mediocre schools in his locality”  and sitting under private tutors. John Owen was given the best of university education available at the time, graduating with a Master of Arts from Queens College, Oxford and later with his Doctor of Divinity, also from Oxford. Owen’s greater understanding of nuances and theological precision largely led to difficulties between the two in their writings. 

Personality and relationship to the civil war led to further division between the two pastors. Owen saw the English Civil War as a “triumphant vindication of a glorious cause.” Cooper argued that he believed the “gospel had been rescued from its captivity, and a glorious national reformation seemed imminent.” Baxter, seeing thousands die in battle as the war was close to home, saw the war as “corruption and demise” as well as a “disaster for the gospel in England.”

Their personalities were also on display in the book. Baxter was a moderate who did not fail at sharing his opinion on matters, while Owen was a proud and politically savvy leader not afraid to seek influence and power. Cooper writes, “one thing is clear: [Owen] possessed an ability to advance his career.” Baxter on the other hand, “genuinely denied nothing more than to cultivate peace and unity, but his style and temperament regularly caused offense and generated conflict.” Baxter often came across as “magisterial, haughty, arrogant, impervious to correction, blind to his own weakness, incapable of self-doubt, and personally disdainful of others.” 

More on these differences in the conclusion. 

Theologically there were conflicts in regard to each man’s doctrine of salvation. Baxter, “initially sympathetic to many of the elements of antinomian theology” propounded error in his book Aphorisms of Justification. Owen’s Death of Death in the Death of Christ was not a satisfactory understanding of election, according to Baxter, accusing him of believing in eternal justification. These two books became central to their disagreements on important theological matters related to justification. 

Other theological views led to division as well—ideas of unity leading to disunity. Cooper unfolds these disagreements under the chapters of: 

Experience. 
Personality. 
Theology. 
Contact. 
Collision. 
Memory.

A narrative of the two meeting in the Jerusalem Chamber of Westminster Abbey was of interest as these men both sought to lay out a plan for the religious life of England—a plan that sought to unify parties and tamper divides. 

Even this fell apart. 

Value and Conclusion

I won’t disclose whether resolution occurred or not between these two men, I will leave that up to the reader to discover. But there are several worthy takeaways from the book. 

We live in divided times—we live in polarized times. There are reflections worthy of making in this fractured relationship between two Puritan giants. Are all matters worth dividing over? Were the issues that Owen and Baxter divided over worthy of division? Are your divisions with your reformed and evangelical brother worth dividing over? Again, I will not answer the question for you but it is worth reflecting on in relationship to disagreements. 

Cooper also leaves us with several reflective questions and bullet points for discussion. These help the reader move between the 17th and the 21st centuries as well as help the reader to avoid history without application. This is valuable—even for teaching readers how to unfold history’s lessons. 

And lastly—and strangely—there is a tale as old as time wrapped into the story of Owen and Baxter’s disagreements. A lesson that we must learn is the lesson of church unity and what is the basis of such unity. For Baxter the Reformed Confessions “had done little to restore the unity of what had been the Western church.” Baxter believed that confessions led to more disunity, not more unity. Baxter believed that the words of Scripture in confessions were sufficient in describing key theological terms. So how did Baxter desire to promote unity? “Baxter advocated practice, not statements of principle or belief.” As a moderate he sought to unify the church around what she did rather than what she confessed.  Owen, on the other hand, believed “the basis for church unity was principles, not practice…” Fundamentals expressed in a common confession is what would unify the church.

Now the tale-as-old-as-time is this: Owen was more stringent theologically, but kinder and larger-hearted in application. Baxter was more moderate theologically, but notably harsher when brothers disagreed with him. This is a curious case seen often in church history as the moderates are moderate primarily in profession, but not when one disagrees. This is worth meditating on. 

Cooper’s When Christians Disagree may not come to the same conclusions that you may upon reading it. It may bend some of the halos around two of your favorite Puritan writers. It may introduce you to disagreements that you did not know existed. Despite these results, it is worth an evening or two of reading and months of meditation and application. Can Christians disagree is a worthy question seeking answers. 

Nathan Eshelman
Orlando, FL