Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry (1662-1714) continues to be highly-valued by contemporary preachers and Bible users around the world. However most will be unaware of who the man was and how he lived, so here Allan Harman, a respected theologian offers us a fascinating insight into the life of Matthew Henry from his life-long interest in the man and his writings. Matthew Henry's father, Philip Henry was a Puritan pastor who had been silenced by the government of the day. Nevertheless he reared his family on Christian principles and Matthew followed the Lord from an early age. Later government opposition was beginning to relax and Matthew became a Presbyterian pastor in Chester in 1687 and then in London from 1712. It is particularly astonishing to note the amount of preaching and writing that he accomplished despite suffering from ill-health and knowing intense sorrow in his family life.

Allan Harman has had a life-time interest in exposition of the biblical text, and also in the history of interpretation. He is Research Professor of Old Testament at the Presbyterian Theological College in Melbourne, Australia. He has lectured and preached in many countries, and he served as the senior editor of the Reformed Theological Review, Australia's oldest theological journal until he retired at the end of 2013.