He was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church of Wales in 1949 in order to take up an appointment as Professor of New Testament at the United Theological College Aberystwyth (1949–53) before moving to Bangor as Lecturer in New Testament Studies at the University College of North Wales.
Though he was at first a biblical scholar, who published several articles on New Testament subjects in journals,[1] Owen's interests rapidly turned to more philosophical themes.
His first book, Revelation and Existence: A Study in the Theology of Rudolf Bultmann, was published in 1957 whilst at Bangor.
Hywel Lewis, who had been a professor at Bangor, had moved to King's College London in 1955 and, through his influence, Owen was appointed as a lecturer in the philosophy of religion there in 1962; he became Reader in 1963.
[2] Though Owen's books published in his lifetime all treated of broad issues in theism such as the concept of God, knowledge of God, and arguments for his existence, a more specific study on the subject of prayer was published posthumously (see list of books below).