Huw Parri Owen was a Welsh theologian, writer and academic.

Life

Owen was born on 30 December 1926 in Cardiff and was educated at Cardiff High School

Cardiff High School

Cardiff High School is a comprehensive school in the Cyncoed area of Cardiff, Wales. Cardiff High School is two miles from the city centre, serving a neighbourhood of privately-owned houses. According to the 2007 ESTYN Report, "Cardiff High School is a very good school with many outstanding...

 and Jesus College, Oxford

Jesus College, Oxford

Jesus College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship Street, Cornmarket Street and Market Street...

, where he studied Literae Humaniores

Literae Humaniores

Literae Humaniores is the name given to an undergraduate course focused on Classics at Oxford and some other universities.The Latin name means literally "more humane letters", but is perhaps better rendered as "Advanced Studies", since humaniores has the sense of "more refined" or "more learned",...

 and Theology. He was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church of Wales

Presbyterian Church of Wales

The Presbyterian Church of Wales , also known as The Calvinistic Methodist Church , is a denomination of Protestant Christianity. It was born out of the Welsh Methodist revival and the preaching of Hywel Harris Howell Harris in the 18th century and seceded from the Church of England in 1811...

 in 1949 and was soon appointed as a member of staff at the United Theological College Aberystwyth

United Theological College Aberystwyth

The United Theological College located in Aberystwyth, in the county of Ceredigion in mid Wales was the ministerial training college of the Presbyterian Church of Wales and an associate college of the University of Wales...

 before moving to Bangor

Bangor, Gwynedd

Bangor is a city in Gwynedd, north west Wales, and one of the smallest cities in Britain. It is a university city with a population of 13,725 at the 2001 census, not including around 10,000 students at Bangor University. Including nearby Menai Bridge on Anglesey, which does not however form part of...

 as Lecturer in New Testament Studies at the University College of North Wales. His first book, Revelation and Existence, was published in 1957 whilst at Bangor. Hywel Lewis

Hywel Lewis

Hywel David Lewis was a Welsh theologian and philosopher.-Life:Lewis was born in Llandudno, Wales and educated at Caernarfon grammar school, the University College of North Wales, Bangor and Jesus College, Oxford...

, who had been a professor at Bangor, had moved to King's College London

King's College London

King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...

 in 1955 and, through his influence, Owen was appointed as a lecturer in the philosophy of religion there in 1962; he became Reader

Reader (academic rank)

The title of Reader in the United Kingdom and some universities in the Commonwealth nations like Australia and New Zealand denotes an appointment for a senior academic with a distinguished international reputation in research or scholarship...

in 1963. Theological issues became his main interest, with a concern for traditional theistic belief lasting throughout his life and writings. He was appointed Professor of Christian Doctrine at King's College in 1971, a post he held until 1983. He was regarded as a distinguished theologian, who wrote and spoke with clarity. He died in Cardiff on 26 October 1996.

Works

Owen's publications include:

• Revelation and Existence (1957)
• The Moral Argument for Christian Theism (1965)
• The Christian Knowledge of God (1969)
• Concepts of Deity (1971)
• Christian Theism: a study in its basic principles (1984)