author
John Owen
1766–1822
An Anglican clergyman, essayist, and reform-minded writer, he is best remembered for helping shape the early British and Foreign Bible Society and for writing lively books that ranged from religious controversy to sharp observations on polite society.
2 Audiobooks
About the author
Born in 1766, he was educated at St Paul's School in London and at Cambridge, where he became a fellow of Corpus Christi College. He later served as an Anglican priest and held several church posts, building a reputation as an energetic religious writer and public speaker.
He played an important part in the founding years of the British and Foreign Bible Society, serving as one of its early secretaries and writing a history of its first decade. Alongside this religious work, he also published books such as The Fashionable World Displayed, showing that his writing could be moral, observant, and accessible rather than narrowly theological.
He died on September 26, 1822. Today he is remembered both for his role in evangelical religious life in early 19th-century Britain and for the variety of his published work.