![Professor Tom Greggs Professor Tom Greggs](/img/200x200/staffpages/uploads/div449/greggs_photo_july.jpg)
M.A. (Oxon.), Ph.D. (Cantab.), D. Litt., P.G.C.E. (Dist.), F.R.S.E., F.H.E.A.
The Marischal Chair
- About
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- Email Address
- t.greggs@abdn.ac.uk
- Telephone Number
- +44 (0)1224 272388
- Office Address
Office: KCF10 (King's College) Postal Address: School of Divinity, History and Philosophy,University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3UB, United Kingdom.
- School/Department
- School of Divinity, History, Philosophy & Art History
Biography
Tom Greggs holds the Marischal Chair of Divinity (the oldest separated Divinity chair, established in 1616), and is a founding co-director of the Aberdeen Centre for Protestant Theology. He was Head of Divinity from 2018-22. In 2019, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Tom's principal publications include: Barth and Bonhoeffer as Contributors to a Postliberal Ecclesiology (T&T Clark, 2021); The Church in a world of Religions (T&T Clark, 2021); The Breadth of Salvation (Baker, 2020); Dogmatic Ecclesiology: Vol. 1 -- The Priestly Catholicity of the Church (Baker, 2019); Theology against Religion (T&T Clark, 2011); Barth, Origen, and Universal Salvation (OUP, 2009). With Maria Dekake and Steven Kepnes, he has recently completed A Handbook for Scriptural Reasoning, and is in the final stages of writing a book provisionally entitled Saving Systematic Theology in Church and Academy. Tom is also working on a new introduction to Systematic Theology for SPCK and Zondervan to be completed by January 2024. He continues work on his ecclesiology volume 2. He serves as a member of the editorial boards of International Journal of Systematic Theology and Holiness.
Tom served on the last Research Excellence Framework panel for Theology and Religious Studies. He is currently Patron of the Independent Schools Religious Studies Association. Tom is a member of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and was involved in 2017 in a review of the Crown Nominations Commission. He is a Preacher in the British Methodist Connexion, and has given sermons around the world. He regularly leads Continuing Professional Development for clergy, speaks at large church conferences, and appears on the radio.
Tom's own theological training took place at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. He was awarded an open scholarship and graduated with the highest first class honours in his year at Oxford, and studied for his PhD at Cambridge under David Ford.
Memberships and Affiliations
- Internal Memberships
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- REF steering committee
- External Memberships
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- Member of the World Council of Churches Faith and Order Panel
- Member of the Faith and Order Commission of the Methodist Church
- Steering Committee Member, Duke University Theology, Modernity and the Arts
- Member of Methodist Church's Faith and Order Committee
- External Examiner: Durham University (PGT) and Cliff College
- Former External Examiner: University of Aberdeen (undergrad and PGT), University of Cambridge (tripos, MPhil and diploma), University of Edinburgh (PGT), Heythrop College (PGT), and University of St Andrews (undergrad and PGT)
- PhD External Examiner: Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, London (King's College), St Andrews, Edinburgh, Belfast (Queen's), Wales, Chester
Prizes and Awards
Principal's Prize for Outstanding Impact from Research
Principal's Prize for Best Post-graduate Supervisor
- Research
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Research Overview
There are five main areas of my research, and I would be interested in receiving applicants from post-graduates in each of these areas:
1. My major focus currently is a three volume Protestant ecclesiology: volume 1 - participating in the priestly catholicity of the church; volume 2 - encountering the prophetic apostolicity of the church; and volume 3 - being transformed into the kingly holiness of the church. The three volumes are entitled A Dogmatic Ecclesiology, and are under contract to be published by Baker Academic over the next ten years. The first volume was publsihed in 2019. I would welcome applicants from students on any area relating to ecclesiology, or to homiletics.
2. I am interested in major doctrinal loci, especially in relation to patristic theology, protestant theology (Reformation, nineteenth century and modern), 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, the last things and the Holy Spirit; however, I am happy to supervise more broadly. I am interested in historical approaches to doctrines and theologians for the sake of constructive theological reflection, and systematic theological method.
3. As a Methodist Theologian who sits on Faith and Order of the Methodist Church and serves as a Methodist on the World Council of Churches Faith and Order Commission, I am interested in the history and theology of the Methodist Churches and traditions. I have a particular interest in the theology and preaching of John Wesley and in methodological questions of appropriating Wesley for contrustive theology, in Methodism as a form of Protestantism (and its relation to Reformation figures), Methodism and Evangelical Theology, and Methodist use of the Patrisitc traditions. I am also interested in radical Methodist traditions and in significant Methodist preachers, as well as the relationship between Methodist and Pentecostal / charismatic theology and Methodist ecumenism.
4. 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.
5. Alongside these areas, I am also working, with Steven Kepnes of Colgate University and Maria Dekake of George Mason University on A Handbook to Scriptural Reasoning (the inter-faith practice of Muslims, Jews and Christians reading scripture together), and have led a project with Mike Higton (University of Cambridge) on the nature of impact for theology in a post-Christendom Society. I would be interested receiving applications from students who wish to study theologies of the religions and inter-faith work, as well as the nature and impact of doctrine.
Research Areas
Accepting PhDs
I am currently accepting PhDs in Divinity.
Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.
Current Research
I have three principal writing commitments:
- Dogmatic Ecclesiology Volume 2: The Prophetic Apostolicity of the Church (Baker)
- An Introduction to Systematic Theology (SPCK/Zondervan)
- Saving Systematic Theology in Church and Academy (provisionally entitled)
Plus I am working on essays on illumination, the class system and theology, and teaching theology.
Past Research
RECENT EXTERNALLY FUNDED PROJECTS:
British Academy Mid-Career Research Project: Ecclesiology after Christendom
AHRC Networking Project: The Impact of Doctrine after Christendom
ECLAS Templeton Project: Science in Seminaries
RECENTLY COMPLETED PHDs
Dr Yacob Godebo (now Dean of Addis Abbaba Lutheran 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
Dr Nathan Paylor (University of Chester): Reformed Theological Hermeneutics
Dr John McCabe (University of Chester): Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Theology of Work
Dr Aaron Edwards (Lecturer in Systematic Theology, Cliff College): Dialectic and Preaching
Dr Rory MacLoed (DMin): The contemporary church and pneumatology
Dr Roderick Grahame (DMin): Does the Round ower Topple?
Dr Petre Maican: Theology of the Image
Dr Chris Dodson: Bonhoeffer's Religionless Christianity and the Sacraments
Dr Matthew Burdette: Jenson and Cone's Revolutionary Theology
Dr DJ Konz: Father, child and missio dei (with reference to Barth)
Dr David Emerton: Ecclesiology in Bonhoeffer
Dr Ross Hallbach: Dietrich Bonhoeffer's contribution to Race and Gentrification Discourse
Dr Kenneth Laing: The Rule of Faith in Irenaeus
Dr Sean McGever: A theology of conversion in Wesley and Whitfield
Dr Jonathan Lynch: Bonhoeffer on a Weakness of Faith
Dr TJ Tims:Berger's Plausibility Structures as applie to St John's Gospel
Dr Cole Jodon: Bonhoeffer's Ecumenical Theology
Dr Keir Shreeves: Bonhoeffer's Homiletics
Dr HuynJoo Kim: Bonhoeffer's Doctrine of Sin in dialogue with Augustine
Dr Troy Onsager: Karl Barth on the Confessions of the Church
Dr Emmanuel Gergis: Coptic Theology and T F Torrance
Dr Brent Johnstone: Tillich and Bonhoeffer's religionless method
Dr Ben Kim: Bonhoeffer and Missiology
Dr Tim Dunn: Reformed Ecclesiology and the Minus Triplex
Dr Porter Taylor: Liturgical Theology and Theological Method
Dr Daniel Cameron: T. F. Torrance's Ecclesiology
Dr Andy Nelson: Hyper-Grace
Dr Marty Phillips: John Wesley's Doctrines of Sin and Sanctification
Dr Jack Driver-Szekely: Barth and Post-modernism
Funding and Grants
Recent Grants include:
AHRC Network Grant (with Professor Mike Higton): Doctrine after Christendom (complete): £35,000
British Academy Mid-Career Research Grant (2017): £122,000
- Teaching
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Teaching Responsibilities
My usual teaching areas include:
- Global Issues / Global Religion (Level 1, Sixth Century Course): course co-ordinator
- An Introduction to Christian Theology (Level 1)
- From Jesus to Calvin: The History of Christian Thought (Level 2): course co-ordinator
- Philosophy of Religion (Level 2)
- Dissertations (undergraduate and postgraduate)
- The Doctrine of God (postgraduate)
- Publications
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Page 1 of 1 Results 1 to 47 of 47
Response to Reviews of Dogmatic Ecclesiology Volume 1: The Priestly Catholicity of the Church
International Journal of Systematic Theology, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 315-323Contributions to Journals: ArticlesBarth and Bonhoeffer as Contributors to a Post-Liberal Ecclesiology: Essays of Hope for a Fallen and Complex World
Bloomsbury T&T Clark, London. 240 pagesBooks and Reports: Books- [ONLINE] Publisher's website
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
The Christology of Prayer: Praying in Christ Who is Priest, Prophet and King
T and T Clark Handbook of Christian Prayer. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., pp. 177-190, 14 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersThe Breadth of Salvation: Rediscovering the Fullness of God's Saving Work
Baker Academic. 144 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksDogmatic Ecclesiology: The Priestly Catholicity of the Church
Vol. One, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, MI. 560 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksFive Views on the Extent of the Atonement
Zondervan Academic. 256 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksThe Call to Focus on God: A Review of Webster's God without Measure
Modern Theology, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 657-663Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and ArticlesOn the Nature, Task and Method of Theology: A Very Methodist Account
International Journal of Systematic Theology, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 309-334Contributions to Journals: ArticlesThe Catholic Spirit of Protestantism: A Very Methodist Take on the Third Article, Visible Unity, and Ecumenism
Pro Ecclesia, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 353-372Contributions to Journals: ArticlesIn gratitude for grace: praise, worship and the sanctified life
Scottish Journal of Theology, vol. 70, no. 2, pp. 147-165Contributions to Journals: ArticlesGlorifying in God’s Glory: A Contemporary Account of Divine Glorification from a Methodist Theologian
Revista Teologica, no. 2, pp. 47-63Contributions to Journals: ArticlesKarl Barth on Salvation
Christian Theologies of Salvation: A Comparative Introduction. Holcomb, J. (ed.). New York University Press, pp. 300-317, 18 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersUniversalism
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Entries for Encyclopedias and DictionariesBearing sin in the Church: The Ecclesial Hamartiology of Bonhoeffer
Christ, Church and World: New Studies in Bonhoeffer's Theology and Ethics. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., pp. 77-99, 23 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Communio ecclesiology: The spirit's work of salvation in the life of the church
Third Article Theology: A Pneumatological Dogmatics. Minneapolis Fortress Press, pp. 347-365, 19 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Sola Scriptura, the community of the church and a pluralist age: A Methodist theologian seeking to read Scripture in and for the world
Theologians on Scripture. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., pp. 79-92, 14 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Bearing Sin in the Church : The Ecclesial Harmartiology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Christ, Church and World: New Studies in Bonhoeffer’s Theology and Ethics. Mawson, M., Ziegler, P. G. (eds.). T&T Clark, pp. 77-100, 24 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersCommunio Ecclesiology: The Spirit’s Work of Salvation in the Life of the Church
Third Article Theology: A Pneumatological Dogmatics. Habets, M. (ed.). Minneapolis Fortress Press, pp. 347-66, 20 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersSola Scriptura, the community of the church and a pluralist age
Theologians on Scripture. Paddison, A. (ed.). T&T Clark, pp. 79-92, 14 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersThe Influence of Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Karl Barth
Engaging Bonhoeffer: The Impact and Influence and Impact of Bonhoeffer’s Life and Thought. Kirkpatrick, M. D. (ed.). Minneapolis Fortress Press, pp. 45-64, 19 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersThe Order and Movement of Eternity: Karl Barth on the Eternity of God and Creaturely Time
Eternal God, Eternal Life: Theological Investigations into the Concept of Immortality. Ziegler, P. G. (ed.). T&T Clark, pp. 1-26, 26 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersThe Priesthood of No Believer: On the Priesthood of Christ and His Church
International Journal of Systematic Theology, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 374-398Contributions to Journals: ArticlesProportion and Topography in Ecclesiology: A working paper on the dogmatic location of the doctrine of the church
Theological Theology: Essays in Honour of John Webster. Nelson, R. D., Sarisky, D., Stratis, J. (eds.). Bloomsbury T&T Clark, pp. 89-106, 18 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersEcclesial Priestly Mediation in the Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Theology Today, vol. 71, no. 1, pp. 81-91Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0040573613518642
Christian Doctrine and The Impact Agenda
Durham University PressBooks and Reports: Commissioned ReportsThe Church and Sacraments
Sanctified by Grace: A Theology of the Christian Life. Eilers, K., Strobel, K. (eds.). T&T Clark, pp. 157-170, 13 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersBiblical Hermeneutics and Relational Responsibility
The Future of Biblical Interpretation: Responsible Plurality in Biblical Hermeneutics. Porter, Jr., S. E., Malcolm, M. R. (eds.). InterVarsity Press, pp. 93-105, 13 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersA strangely warmed heart in a strange and complex world: on assurance and generous hope
Generous Ecclesiology: Church, World and Kingdom of God. Gittoes, J., Green, B., Heard, J. (eds.). SCM Press, pp. 120-138, 19 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersReading Scripture in a Pluralist Society
Horizons in Hermeneutics: A Festschrift in Honor of Anthony C. Thiselton. Porter, S. E., Malcolm, M. R. (eds.). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, pp. 201-216, 16 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersBeing a Wise Apprentice to the Communion of Modern Saints: On the Need for Conversation with a Plurality of Theological Interlocutors
The Vocation of Theology Today: A Festschrift for David Ford. Greggs, T., Muers, R., Zahl, S. (eds.). Cascade Books, pp. 21-34, 14 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersIntroduction
The Vocation of Theology Today: A Festschrift for David Ford. Greggs, T., Muers, R., Zahl, S. (eds.). Cascade Books, pp. 1-18, 18 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersThe Vocation of Theology Today: A Festschrift for David Ford
Cascade Books. 424 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksReview of 'Eccentric Existence: A Theological Anthropology' by David Kelsey
Scottish Journal of Theology, vol. 65, no. 4, pp. 449-463Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S003693061200021X
Peoples of the Covenants: Evangelical Theology and the Plurality of the Covenants in Scripture
Journal of Scriptural Reasoning, vol. 11, no. 1Contributions to Journals: ArticlesThe Confessions of Stanley: Accounting for a Human Life Lived before God
Modern Theology, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 315-319Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0025.2012.01743.x
Theology against Religion: constructive dialogues with Bonhoeffer and Barth
T&T Clark, London. 242 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksPessimistic universalism: rethinking the wider hope with Bonhoeffer and Barth
Modern Theology, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 495-510Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0025.2010.01630.x
Editorial: International Journal of Systematic Theology
International Journal of Systematic Theology, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 1-3Contributions to Journals: EditorialsLegitimizing and necessitating inter-faith dialogue: the dynamics of inter-faith for individual faith communities
International Journal of Public Theology, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 194-211Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/156973210X491868
Religionless Christianity and the Political Implications of Theological Speech: What Bonhoeffer's Theology Yields to a World of Fundamentalisms
International Journal of Systematic Theology, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 293-308Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2400.2009.00450.x
Barth, Origen, and Universal Salvation: Restoring Particularity
Oxford University Press, Oxford. 272 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksNew perspectives for evangelical theology: engaging with God, scripture and the world
Routledge, Abingdon. 239 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksBringing Barth’s Critique of Religion to the Inter‐faith Table
The Journal of Religion, vol. 88, no. 1, pp. 75-94Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/522280
Religionless Christianity in a Complexly Religious and Secular World: Thinking Through and Beyond Bonhoeffer
Religion, Religionlessness and Contemporary Western Culture: Explorations in Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Theology. Wüstenberg, R. W., Plant, S. J. (eds.). Peter Lang, pp. 111-125Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersExclusivist or Universalist? Origen “The Wise Steward of the Word” (CommRom. V.1.7) and the Issue of Genre
International Journal of Systematic Theology, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 315-327Contributions to Journals: Articles'Jesus is Victor':: Passing the Impasse of Barth on Universalism
Scottish Journal of Theology, vol. 60, no. 2, pp. 196-212Contributions to Journals: ArticlesWhy Does the Church Need Academic Theology?
Epworth Review, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 27-37Contributions to Journals: Articles