Professor TOM GREGGS

Professor TOM GREGGS The University of Aberdeen School of Divinity, History & Philosophy Chair in Historical & Doctrinal Theoloy work +44 (0)1224 272388 pref t.greggs@abdn.ac.uk pref Office: KCS 14 (King's College) Postal Address: School of Divinity, History and Philosophy,University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3UB, United Kingdom.

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Biography

Tom Greggs is Professor of Historical and Doctrinal Theology at the University of Aberdeen. He was previously Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Chester, and has also taught at the University of Cambridge. Tom is the author of (among others) Theology against Religion: Constructive Dialogues with Bonhoeffer and Barth (T&T Clark, 2011) and Barth, Origen, and Universal Salvation: Restoring Particularity (OUP, 2009); and is the editor of New Perspectives for Evangelical Theology (Routledge, 2010) and The Vocation of Theology Today (Cascade, 2013, with Rachel Muers and Simeon Zahl). He has been Secretary of Society for the Study of Theology (2010-2013; acting secretary 2008-10); and has served as co-chair of the Scriptural Reasoning Panel at the American Academy of Religion. Tom was recently elected a founding member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Young Academy of Scotland. Tom is a member of the editorial board of The Journal for Scriptural Reasoning and a consultant editor for Stanford University Press's 'Encountering Traditions' series. His essays have appeared in such journals as International Journal of Systematic Theology, Modern Theology, Journal of Religion, Scottish Journal of Theology, International Journal of Public Theology, Theology, and Epworth Review, as well as in a number of volumes of collected essays. At the invitation of the Bishop of London and the Bishop of Chelmsford, Tom was recently made a Visiting Professor in Theology at St Mellitus College, London.

Tom was an open scholar at Christ Church, University of Oxford, graduating with the highest first class honours in his year, for which was awarded the Denyer and Johnson Prize. Following time as a teacher of Religion and Philosophy at the Manchester Grammar School (and a PGCE in secondary education), Tom took a PhD in Systematic Theology at the University of Cambridge, supervised by Professor David Ford (Regius Professor of Divinity). He has been a visiting research fellow at St John's College, Durham, and College of Arts and Sciences International Visiting Scholar and Visiting Professor in Religion at the University of Virginia.

Tom is a Local Preacher in the Methodist Church, and has given sermons around the world. He has preached at Canterbury Cathedral, and was a regular preacher at Easter People. Tom regularly leads Continuing Professional Development for clergy, and sits on the Ecumenism and Inter-faith Panel of the Methodist Church's Faith and Order Committee. He has appeared regularly on the radio. A scouser born and bred, Tom remains a foundation guardian at his old school, the Liverpool Blue Coat. Outside of Theology, his interests include politics, crime novels, cooking, wine, theatre and jazz.

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Research Interests

There are three main areas of my research, and I would be interested in receiving applicants from post-graduates in each of these areas:

1. I am interested in major doctrinal loci, especially in relation to patristic theology and modern theology. Within this broad area, I am particularly interested in the figures of Origen, Barth and Bonhoeffer; and in the doctrines of God, the Trinity, salvation and the Holy Spirit; however, I am happy to supervise more broadly. Methodologically, I am interested in historical approaches to doctrines and theologians for the sake of constructive theological reflection.

2. A large part of my work concerns how to articulate theology outwith the conditions of Christendom. This involves both theological reflection on the conditions of post-Christendom, and on issues that the conditions of post-Christendom raise. This aspect of my research has included reflection on such issues as how to think theologically about church-state relations, theo-politics, pluralism, secularism/secularity, political liberalism, contemporary evangelicalism, and salvation and the non-Christian. I am particularly interested in the ways in which classical doctrine and public theology relate.

3. My major focus in the coming years will be a three volume Protestant ecclesiology, arranged around the priestly catholicity of the church; the prophetic apostolicity of the church; and the kingly holiness of the church. It is provisionally entitled Ecclesiology after Christendom. I would welcome applicants from students on any area relating to ecclesiology, or to homiletics.

Alongside these areas, I am also planning, with Steven Kepnes of Colgate University, an Introduction to Scriptural Reasoning (the inter-faith practice of Muslims, Jews and Christians reading scripture together), and am working on a project with Mike Higton (University of Cambridge) on the nature of impact for theology in a post-Christendom Society.

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Teaching Responsibilities

  In 2012-13, I am co-ordinating and teaching the following courses:

• The Christian Doctrine of God (DR501C) / These Three are One (DR4061)
• Major Christian Thinkers (DR2057)

I am also contributing to the following:

• The Theology of Karl Barth (DR4069)

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External Responsibilities

• Secretary of the Society for the Study of Theology
• American Academy of Religion, co-chair for Scriptural Reasoning
• Doctrine After Christendom Seminar Convenor
• External Examiner in Theology at St Andrews University
• External Examiner for the MA programme in Christianity and Interreligious Relations, Heythrop College, University of London
• Member of Ecumenism and Inter-faith Panel, Methodist Faith and Order

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Admin Responsibilities

• REF Impact
• D.Min. programme leader
• Recruitment

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Select Bibliography

Books:

• The Vocation of Theology Today: A Festscrift for David Ford, editor with Rachel Muers and Simeon Zahl (Eugene, Or.: Cascade, 2013), xiv + 409pp., ISBN: 978-1-61097-625-1. 
• Theology against Religion: constructive dialogues with Bonhoeffer and Barth (London: T&T Clark, 2011), 256pp., ISBN: 9780567104236.
• New Perspectives for Evangelical Theology: Engaging God, Scripture and the World, editor (Abingdon: Routledge, 2010), xvi + 223pp., ISBN: 978-0-415-47733-8 (paperback); 978-0-415-44356-2 (hardback).
• Barth, Origen, and Universal Salvation: Restoring Particularity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), xxiv + 272pp., ISBN: 978-0-199-56048-6.
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Real Theologian (Liverpool: CTT, 2003), ii + 24pp., ISBN:189-7-705-247.

Books in preparation / under contract:

• A Handbook to Scriptural Reasoning, with Steve Kepnes.
• Ecclesiology After Christendom (3 vols.)

Select Academic Articles and Book Chapters:

• “Why does the Church need academic theology?” Epworth Review 33, no. 3 (April 2006): 27-37.
• “‘Jesus is Victor’: Passing the Impasse of Barth on Universalism.” Scottish Journal of Theology 60, no.2 (May 2007): 196-212.
• “Exclusivist or universalist? Origen ‘the wise steward of the word’ (CommRom. V.1.7) and the issue of genre.” International Journal of Systematic Theology 9, no.3 (July 2007): 315-327.
• “Religionless Christianity in a Complexly Religious and Secular World: Thinking through and beyond Bonhoeffer” in Ralf K. Wüstenberg & Stephen J. Plant (eds), Religion, Religionlessness and Contemporary Western Culture. International Bonhoeffer Interpretations Vol.1 (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2008): 111-125.
• “Bringing Barth on religion to the inter-faith table.” The Journal of Religion 88, no.1 (January 2008): 75-94.
• “The many names of Christ in Wisdom: reading Scripture with Origen for a diverse world.” in “Spreading Rumours of Wisdom: Essays in honour of David Ford” The Journal for Scriptural Reasoning (January 2008). (4,185 words)
• “Religionless Christianity and the Political Implications of Theological Speech: What Bonhoeffer’s Theology yields to a World of Fundamentalisms.” International Journal of Systematic Theology 11, no. 3 (June 2009), 293-308.
• “Preaching Inter-faith: finding hints about the religious other from the Good Samaritan.” Epworth Review 36, no.3 (December 2009), 60-70.
• “Beyond the binary: Forming evangelical eschatology” in Tom Greggs (ed.), New Perspectives for Evangelical Theology, (Abingdon: Routledge, 2010), 153-167.
• “Introduction - Opening Evangelicalism: Towards a post-critical and formative theology,” in Tom Greggs (ed.), New Perspectives for Evangelical Theology, (Abingdon: Routledge, 2010), 1-13.
• “Editorial.” International Journal of Systematic Theology 12, no. 1, (January 2010) 1-3. (Guest editor of an edition on “Trinitarian Theology”).
• “Legitimizing and Necessitating Inter-faith Dialogue: The Dynamics of Inter-faith for Individual Faith Communities.” International Journal of Public Theology 4, no. 2 (2010), 194-211.
• “The Eschatological Tension of Theological Method: Some reflections after reading Daniel W. Hardy’s ‘Creation and Eschatology’.” Theology, CXIII, no. 875 (2010), 339-47.
• “Inter-faith Pedagogy for Muslims and Christians: Scriptural Reasoning and Christian and Muslim Youth Work.” Discourse 9, no. 2 (2010), 201-26. 
• “Pessimistic Universalism: Rethinking the Wider Hope with Bonhoeffer and Barth.” Modern Theology, 26, no. 4 (2010), 495-510.
• “Particularist Universalism in Origen of Alexandria,” in Gregory MacDonald (ed.), “All Shall Be Well”: Explorations in Universal Salvation and Christian Theology from Origen to Moltmann (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2010), 29-46.
• “The Lord of All: Rediscovering the Christian Doctrine of Providence for a Pluralist Society,” in Hannah Bacon & Wayne Morris (eds), Theology, Religion and Exclusion: Towards Transformation (London: T&T Clark, 2011), 44-62. 
• “Motifs in Pneumatology in the Twenty-first century,” in Jane Williams (ed.), The Holy Spirit and the World Today (London: SPTC Books, 2011), 175-88.
• “The Confessions of Stanley: Accounting for a Human Life Lived Before God.” Modern Theology, 28, no. 2 (2012), 315-319.
• “Review article of David Kelsey, Eccentric Existence.” Scottish Journal of Theology, 65, no. 4 (2012), 449-463.
• “Peoples of the Covenants: Evangelical Theology and the Plurality of the Covenants in Scripture.” Journal for Scriptural Reasoning, 11, no. 1 (2012), online.
• “Reading Scripture in a Pluralist Society” in Stanley E. Porter & Matthew Malcolm (eds), Hermeneutics, Paul, and Theology: A Festschrift for Professor Anthony C. Thiselton (Grand Rapids: Eerdmanns, forthcoming 2012), in press. 
• “Being a wise apprentice to the communion of modern saints: on the need for conversation with a plurality of theological interlocutors,” in The Vocation of Theology Today (Eugene, Or.: Cascade, forthcoming Jan 2013).
  “Introduction,” (with Muers and Zahl) in The Vocation of Theology Today(Eugene, Or.: Cascade , forthcoming Jan 2013).
• “Relational Responsibility in Biblical Hermeneutics: Towards a Protestant Account of the Authority of Creeds for Scriptural Interpretation,” in Stanley E. Porter & Matthew Malcolm (eds), Responsible Plurality in Biblical Hermeneutics (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, forthcoming), in press.
• “The Church and Sacraments” in Kent Eilers & Kyle Strobel (eds), Sanctified by Grace: A Theology of the Christian Life (London: T&T Clark, forthcoming), in press. 
• “A strangely warmed heart in a strange and complex world: on assurance and generous hope” in Julie Gittoes (ed.), A Generous Ecclesiology (London: SCM, forthcoming), in press.
• “The Influence of Bonhoeffer on Karl Barth,” in Matthew Kirkpatrick (ed.), Engaging Bonhoeffer: The Influence and Impact of Bonhoeffer’s Life and Thought (Minneapolis: Fortress, forthcoming 2013), in preparation.
• “Karl Barth on Salvation,” in Justin Holcomb, Christian Theologies of Salvation (New York: New York University Press, forthcoming 2013), in preparation.
• “On the Priesthood of All Believers: Reflections on the Priesthood of Christ and His Church,” in preparation.
• “From one Dimensional Quadrilateral to Multidimensional Hexadecagon: Method in Methodist Theology,” in preparation.

Select Academic Reviews:

• "Academic News: X. International Bonhoeffer Congress: Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Theology in Today's World ? A Way between Fundamentalism and Secularism, 22-27 July, 2008, Agricultural University, Prague, Czech Republic." Sino-Christian Studies: An International Journal of Bible, Theology & Philosophy, vol. 6, December 2008: 199-203.
• Numerous book reviews in the following journals: Scottish Journal of Theology, Expository Times, Journal of Reformed Theology, Theology, Epworth Review, Modern Theology, Studies in Christian Ethics and Modern Believing.

Popularizing Works:

• "Irenaeus and Augustine on the Problem of Evil Reconsidered." New Theologian, Spring 2004: 22-4.
• "The Future of God," Emerging Culture, Summer 2006: 25.
• "Tolerance isn't enough!" Emerging Culture, Spring 2007: 12-13.
• "A Giant of Theology," in "Supplement on Calvin," The Methodist Recorder, January 2009 (1,004 words).

Select Media:

• Panelist on Radio 4, Beyond Belief.
• "Faith and Reason," Educational Videos for VI form students.
• "Dietrich Bonhoeffer," St John's, Nottingham, Theological Timeline Project.

Select Public Lectures / Sermon Series:

• Studies on II Corintians, Easter People, 2005, 5 talks. Filmed and recorded by Reel Life.
• Studies on II Timothy, Easter People, 2006, 5 talks, with Charles Price. Filmed and Recorded by Reel Life.
• Reconceiving Repentance, Convocation of the Diaconal Order of the Methodist Church, 2007, 4 lectures.
• "I desire mercy not sacrifice," sermon at Matins at Canterbury Cathedral, 2008.
• "Can there be Theology after Darwin? The Dawkins Delusion," Centre for Religion and the Biosciences Public Lecture, University of Chester, 2008.?
• "Respondent to David Ford, Rowan Williams, Miroslav Volf and Juergen Moltmann," The Holy Spirit and the World Today, St Paul's Theological Centre, London, May 2010.
• "The Holy Spirit and engaging with other religions," St Paul's Theological Centre, London, May 2010.
• "Why wisdom is greater than knowledge," The Paton Lecture, Manchester, July 2010.
• "The Church after Christendom," The Sutcliffe Lecture, The Methodist Church, July 2010.
• "Church and Theology in the Spirit: Theological Reflections on Acts 2," Holy Trinity Brompton, May 2011.
• "Thinkers Theological," Faith and Order Lecture, The Methodist Church, September 2012.
• Reflections on the Cross, Good Friday, Holy Trinity Brompton, March 2013.

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Recent Research Students (select)

RECENTLY COMPLETED:

Dr Yacob Godebo (now Principal of Hosanna Theological Seminary, Ethiopia):
The Charismatic Movement and Lutheran Theology

Dr Chris Burkett (now Diocesan Director of Ministry):
Homiletics and Collective Memory

Dr James Holt (now Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies Education):
A Latter-Day Saint Theology of the Religions

Dr Joan Evans (retired):
The Mystical Immanence of Matthew Fox

Dr John Tyers (retired):
A history of the Anglican Retreat Movement

CURRENT STUDENTS:

Nathan Paylor (University of Chester):
Reformed Theological Hermeneutics

John McCabe (University of Chester):
Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Theology of Work

Petre Maican:
Theology of the Image

Aaron Edwards:
Dialectic and Preaching

Jennifer LoPresti:
Mystery in Barth and T.F. Torrance

Doy Daniels:
Community in Bonhoeffer and Millbank

Ian Hall:
Bonhoeffer, Barth and 'Theological Imperialism'

Matthew Burdette:
Jenson and Cone on the church and politics

DJ Konz:
Father, child and missio dei (with reference to Barth) 

John (Trey) Brennan:
Barth and phenomenology

Current DMin Students:

Rory MacLoed:
The contemporary church and pneumatology

Greg Amen:
Ecclesial Unity

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Membership of Scholarly Societies

• Society for the Study of Theology
• American Academy of Religion
• Society for Scriptural Reasoning
• International Dietrich Bonhoeffer Society
• Scriptural Reasoning in the University
• Karl Barth Society of North America
• International Bonhoeffer Colloquium

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