Patriarch

Religion | In his ninth decade, J.I. Packer still points a distracted evangelicalism toward the right path | Warren Cole Smith

Dr. J.I. Packer/Photo by Ron Storer/Genesis Photos

When theologian, teacher, and writer Dr. J.I. Packer reached his 80th birthday on July 22, 2006, his home church in Vancouver, British Columbia—St. John's Shaughnessy Anglican Church—honored him with a special celebration.

One after the other, friends from church and colleagues from nearby Regent College, where he has taught for three decades, spoke of Packer's impact on the evangelical movement and themselves. Several, referring to the great mentor in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, called Packer their own Gandalf.

But Packer, when it came his time to speak, gently protested. "I am no Gandalf," he said, his normally strong and clear voice choked with emotion. "I'm much closer to the lowly Sam."

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