Write Like J.I. Packer

Write Like J.I. Packer

by Timothy Stanton Introduction By 2001, J.I. Packer’s books had sold over three-million copies.1 Serving the church predominantly as a writer, scholars recognize Packer as one of the most influential figures in the shaping of contemporary evangelicalism.2 It is unlikely that these facts surprise the reader; however, what is surprising about the Packer’s influence is that it was intended. That is, although J.I Packer did not pursue his writing ministry to receive applause from the evangelical masses, he did plan to produce a specific change in the lives of individual evangelicals. Packer had a vision of writing as a pastoral calling.3 Packer’s vision of writing as a pastoral calling changed the way he wrote; Packer wrote Ad Hoc to a specific audience. The modern-day Puritan was practical and made concrete applications, but his pastoral heart also altered the way that he wrote line by line. Packer, throughout his writing career, deliberately created flow by a range of techniques, but most notably he varied his sentence length; using both the short and long sentence effectively.

Sentence Length The flow of sentences and punctuation line by line is the real test of whether or not a particular author is readable. Good writers master punctuation. Noah Lukeman, in his work

1

J.I. Packer and Wendy Murray Zoba, J.I. Packer Answers Questions for Today (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001), 120.

In particular see Mark A. Noll, “J.I. Packer and the Shaping of American Evangelicalism,” in Doing Theology for the People of God: Studies in Honor of J.I. Packer, ed. Donald Lewis and Alister McGrath (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996); and Timothy George ed. J.I. Packer and the Evangelical Future: The Impact of His Life and Thought (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009).

2

3

Leeland Ryken, J.I. Packer: An Evangelical Life (Wheaton: Crossway, 2015), 281.

A Dash of Style: The Art and Mastery of Punctuation, analyses the effect of sentence length in writing. By using a complex sentence, which is Packer's forte, the author gives the impression that his thoughts are "a stream of consciousness."4 This "stream of consciousness" effect gives the author transparency—the reader hears, as he or she reads the words on the page, the voice of a living, caring person, rather than typewriter clattering away. But Lukeman notes that “[short sentences] deliver a “bang” that long sentences cannot.”5 The short sentence allows the author to make an emphatic point. However, as Lukeman points out the trick to sentence length is context.6 He provides a useful illustration: “Punctuation marks themselves are like colors on a palate: it is only through the collective that they become all they were meant to be.”7 It is when short and long sentences are used together that they are most potent.

Packer is a sentence surgeon. In seeking to be sensitive to the readers of his works he used the long sentence to develop paragraphs that flowed like a conversation followed by a deliberate short sentence to drive a point home and give his readers a chance to catch up and catch their breath. At one point in Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, he uses a compound sentence of fifty-five words (A) followed by a sentence of ten words (B): When this remark is made, however, what is usually being suggested is that doctrinal instruction is dispensable in evangelistic preaching, and that all the evangelist need to do is paint a vivid word-picture of the man of Galilee who went about doing good and then assures the hearers that this Jesus is still alive to help them in their troubles. But such a message could hardly be called the gospel.8

4 Noah Lukeman, A Dash of Style: Mastering the Art of Punctuation (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2007), 29.

5

Lukeman, Dash of Style, 22.

6

Ibid, 35.

7

Ibid, 192-193.

8

Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 72-73.

or, (A) When this remark is made, however, what is usually being suggested is that doctrinal instruction is dispensable in evangelistic preaching, and that all the evangelist need to do is paint a vivid word-picture of the man of Galilee who went about doing good and then assures the hearers that this Jesus is still alive to help them in their troubles.

(B) But such a message could hardly be called the gospel.9 In the first, complex, sentence Packer uses “the stream of consciousness” tone of the long sentence to demonstrate in a nuanced way that his opponents are missing the point. Then in a short sentence, Packer emphatically disagrees with his opponents. By structuring his paragraphs with this mix of short and long sentences he allows his readers to grasp his arguments and creates a dynamic flow in each paragraph.

In a Christianity Today article he wrote after the success of his first book Packer included developing flow as one of his “four rules of writing.”10 Packer was a scholar of brilliance. He had an English grammar school upbringing and an Oxford doctorate that more than qualified him to speak over others’ heads, but instead, he sought to talk to people, to laity.

The way that Packer writes is down-to-earth and simple. As a pastor-writer, he communicated clearly and, thus, compellingly. Following his example, you can, too.

9

Packer, Evangelism, 72-73.

J.I. Packer, “An Accidental Writer,” Christianity Today, 15 May 1987, 11.

10