"I love pregnant brevity, and some of my material is, I know, packed tight (Packer by name, packer by nature)." So says James Innell Packer about his writing style, to which he adds this apology: "I ask my readers' pardon if they find obscurity due to my over-indulging this love of mine" (God's Word: Studies of Key Bible Themes, 1981).

He need not worry. Packer's ability to address immensely important subjects in crisp, succinct sentences is one of the reasons why, as both author and speaker, he has played such an important role among American evangelicals for four decades.

It is not easy to assess the exact nature of his impact on American evangelicals or the reasons for it. For one thing, Packer has never lived in the United States. Since 1958, his books and essays have been widely read in the States, and he has traveled extensively to address American audiences; yet his activity has proceeded from outside the United States-first from a variety of posts in England, and since 1979 from his position as professor of theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Further, his wide-ranging labor has aimed directly at the shadowy intersection between popular and academic concerns. He is a scholar who found his vocation in popular communication, a popular communicator who never abandoned scholarship.

Complex as it is to assess the impact of this multi-gifted contemporary, the effort is worthwhile. Learning about him may assist us in learning something about ourselves. And making such an effort may even illuminate the cause of Christian truth to which Packer has devoted his adult life.

The making of the wordsmith

J. I. Packer was born in Gloucestershire, England, 70 years ago this past July. At Oxford University ...