The collection of English books printed before 1801 in the University Library of the Vrije Universiteit at Amsterdam is one of the largest collections of such books outside the English-speaking world, and by far the largest in the Netherlands. The collection numbers 5,600 titles and covers all subjects, but is especially concentrated on (reformed) protestantism in Great Britain, the Netherlands and America, and the exchange of ideas between these countries. The collection of which the existence is practically unknown, contains many rare items from the 16th to the 18th century. It covers the periods of the well-known and widely used bibliographies of English printed books (STC, Wing, and ESTC); in a large number of cases the catalogue entries correct or supplement these bibliographies. The catalogue is aimed both at a general public of bibliographers, literary and book- historians working with books from the STC, Wing and ESTC periods, and at researchers in the Netherlands, Great Britain and elsewhere specialised in church history and the manifold historical and cultural relations between the British Isles and the Low Countries.
John Owen was one of the most significant figures in Reformed Orthodox theology during the Seventeenth Century, exerting considerable religious and political influence in the context of the British Civil War and Interregnum. Using Owen’s sermons from this period as a window into the mind of a self-proclaimed prophet, this book studies how his apocalyptic interpretation of contemporary events led to him making public calls for radical political and cultural change. Owen believed he was ministering at a unique moment in history, and so the historical context in which he writes must be equally considered alongside the theological lineage that he draws upon. Combining these elements, this book allows for a more nuanced interpretation of Owen’s ministry that encompasses his lofty spiritual thought as well as his passionate concerns with more corporeal events. This book represents part of a new historical turn in Owen Studies and will be of significant interest to scholars of theological history as well as Early Modern historians.