Professor Tom Greggs

Professor Tom Greggs
Professor Tom Greggs
Professor Tom Greggs

M.A. (Oxon.), Ph.D. (Cantab.), D. Litt., P.G.C.E. (Dist.), F.R.S.E., F.H.E.A.

The Marischal Chair

Accepting PhDs

About
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
  • REF steering committee
External Memberships
  • 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

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.

Email Me

Divinity

Supervising
Accepting PhDs

Current Research

I have three principal writing commitments:

  1. Dogmatic Ecclesiology Volume 2: The Prophetic Apostolicity of the Church (Baker)
  2. An Introduction to Systematic Theology (SPCK/Zondervan)
  3. 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

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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  • Response to Reviews of Dogmatic Ecclesiology Volume 1: The Priestly Catholicity of the Church

    Greggs, T.
    International Journal of Systematic Theology, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 315-323
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Barth and Bonhoeffer as Contributors to a Post-Liberal Ecclesiology: Essays of Hope for a Fallen and Complex World

    Greggs, T., Heimburger, R. (ed.)
    Bloomsbury T&T Clark, London. 240 pages
    Books and Reports: Books
  • The Christology of Prayer: Praying in Christ Who is Priest, Prophet and King

    Greggs, T.
    T and T Clark Handbook of Christian Prayer. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., pp. 177-190, 14 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • The Breadth of Salvation: Rediscovering the Fullness of God's Saving Work

    Greggs, T.
    Baker Academic. 144 pages
    Books and Reports: Books
  • Dogmatic Ecclesiology: The Priestly Catholicity of the Church

    Greggs, T.
    Vol. One, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, MI. 560 pages
    Books and Reports: Books
  • Five Views on the Extent of the Atonement

    Greggs, T., Louth, A., Levering, M., Horton, M., Sanders, F.
    Zondervan Academic. 256 pages
    Books and Reports: Books
  • The Call to Focus on God: A Review of Webster's God without Measure

    Greggs, T.
    Modern Theology, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 657-663
    Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and Articles
  • On the Nature, Task and Method of Theology: A Very Methodist Account

    Greggs, T.
    International Journal of Systematic Theology, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 309-334
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • The Catholic Spirit of Protestantism: A Very Methodist Take on the Third Article, Visible Unity, and Ecumenism

    Greggs, T.
    Pro Ecclesia, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 353-372
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • In gratitude for grace: praise, worship and the sanctified life

    Greggs, T.
    Scottish Journal of Theology, vol. 70, no. 2, pp. 147-165
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Glorifying in God’s Glory: A Contemporary Account of Divine Glorification from a Methodist Theologian

    Greggs, T.
    Revista Teologica, no. 2, pp. 47-63
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Karl Barth on Salvation

    Greggs, T. W.
    Christian Theologies of Salvation: A Comparative Introduction. Holcomb, J. (ed.). New York University Press, pp. 300-317, 18 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • Universalism

    Greggs, T.
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Entries for Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
  • Bearing sin in the Church: The Ecclesial Hamartiology of Bonhoeffer

    Greggs, T.
    Christ, Church and World: New Studies in Bonhoeffer's Theology and Ethics. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., pp. 77-99, 23 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • Sola Scriptura, the community of the church and a pluralist age: A Methodist theologian seeking to read Scripture in and for the world

    Greggs, T.
    Theologians on Scripture. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., pp. 79-92, 14 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • Bearing Sin in the Church : The Ecclesial Harmartiology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

    Greggs, T. W.
    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 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • Communio Ecclesiology: The Spirit’s Work of Salvation in the Life of the Church

    Greggs, T. W.
    Third Article Theology: A Pneumatological Dogmatics. Habets, M. (ed.). Minneapolis Fortress Press, pp. 347-66, 20 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • Sola Scriptura, the community of the church and a pluralist age

    Greggs, T. W.
    Theologians on Scripture. Paddison, A. (ed.). T&T Clark, pp. 79-92, 14 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • The Influence of Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Karl Barth

    Greggs, T. W.
    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 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • The Order and Movement of Eternity: Karl Barth on the Eternity of God and Creaturely Time

    Greggs, T. W.
    Eternal God, Eternal Life: Theological Investigations into the Concept of Immortality. Ziegler, P. G. (ed.). T&T Clark, pp. 1-26, 26 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • The Priesthood of No Believer: On the Priesthood of Christ and His Church

    Greggs, T.
    International Journal of Systematic Theology, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 374-398
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Proportion and Topography in Ecclesiology: A working paper on the dogmatic location of the doctrine of the church

    Greggs, T. W.
    Theological Theology: Essays in Honour of John Webster. Nelson, R. D., Sarisky, D., Stratis, J. (eds.). Bloomsbury T&T Clark, pp. 89-106, 18 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • Ecclesial Priestly Mediation in the Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

    Greggs, T.
    Theology Today, vol. 71, no. 1, pp. 81-91
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Christian Doctrine and The Impact Agenda

    Greggs, T. W., Higton, M.
    Durham University Press
    Books and Reports: Commissioned Reports
  • The Church and Sacraments

    Greggs, T. W.
    Sanctified by Grace: A Theology of the Christian Life. Eilers, K., Strobel, K. (eds.). T&T Clark, pp. 157-170, 13 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • Biblical Hermeneutics and Relational Responsibility

    Greggs, T.
    The Future of Biblical Interpretation: Responsible Plurality in Biblical Hermeneutics. Porter, Jr., S. E., Malcolm, M. R. (eds.). InterVarsity Press, pp. 93-105, 13 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • A strangely warmed heart in a strange and complex world: on assurance and generous hope

    Greggs, T.
    Generous Ecclesiology: Church, World and Kingdom of God. Gittoes, J., Green, B., Heard, J. (eds.). SCM Press, pp. 120-138, 19 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • Reading Scripture in a Pluralist Society

    Greggs, T. W.
    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 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • Being a Wise Apprentice to the Communion of Modern Saints: On the Need for Conversation with a Plurality of Theological Interlocutors

    Greggs, T.
    The Vocation of Theology Today: A Festschrift for David Ford. Greggs, T., Muers, R., Zahl, S. (eds.). Cascade Books, pp. 21-34, 14 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • Introduction

    Greggs, T., Muers, R., Zahl, S.
    The Vocation of Theology Today: A Festschrift for David Ford. Greggs, T., Muers, R., Zahl, S. (eds.). Cascade Books, pp. 1-18, 18 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • The Vocation of Theology Today: A Festschrift for David Ford

    Greggs, T., Muers, R., Zahl, S.
    Cascade Books. 424 pages
    Books and Reports: Books
  • Review of 'Eccentric Existence: A Theological Anthropology' by David Kelsey

    Greggs, T.
    Scottish Journal of Theology, vol. 65, no. 4, pp. 449-463
    Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and Articles
  • Peoples of the Covenants: Evangelical Theology and the Plurality of the Covenants in Scripture

    Greggs, T.
    Journal of Scriptural Reasoning, vol. 11, no. 1
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • The Confessions of Stanley: Accounting for a Human Life Lived before God

    Greggs, T.
    Modern Theology, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 315-319
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Theology against Religion: constructive dialogues with Bonhoeffer and Barth

    Greggs, T. W.
    T&T Clark, London. 242 pages
    Books and Reports: Books
  • Pessimistic universalism: rethinking the wider hope with Bonhoeffer and Barth

    Greggs, T.
    Modern Theology, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 495-510
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Editorial: International Journal of Systematic Theology

    Greggs, T.
    International Journal of Systematic Theology, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 1-3
    Contributions to Journals: Editorials
  • Legitimizing and necessitating inter-faith dialogue: the dynamics of inter-faith for individual faith communities

    Greggs, T.
    International Journal of Public Theology, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 194-211
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Religionless Christianity and the Political Implications of Theological Speech: What Bonhoeffer's Theology Yields to a World of Fundamentalisms

    Greggs, T.
    International Journal of Systematic Theology, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 293-308
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Barth, Origen, and Universal Salvation: Restoring Particularity

    Greggs, T.
    Oxford University Press, Oxford. 272 pages
    Books and Reports: Books
  • New perspectives for evangelical theology: engaging with God, scripture and the world

    Greggs, T.
    Routledge, Abingdon. 239 pages
    Books and Reports: Books
  • Bringing Barth’s Critique of Religion to the Inter‐faith Table

    Greggs, T.
    The Journal of Religion, vol. 88, no. 1, pp. 75-94
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Religionless Christianity in a Complexly Religious and Secular World: Thinking Through and Beyond Bonhoeffer

    Greggs, T.
    Religion, Religionlessness and Contemporary Western Culture: Explorations in Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Theology. Wüstenberg, R. W., Plant, S. J. (eds.). Peter Lang, pp. 111-125
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • Exclusivist or Universalist? Origen “The Wise Steward of the Word” (CommRom. V.1.7) and the Issue of Genre

    Greggs, T.
    International Journal of Systematic Theology, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 315-327
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • 'Jesus is Victor':: Passing the Impasse of Barth on Universalism

    Greggs, T.
    Scottish Journal of Theology, vol. 60, no. 2, pp. 196-212
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Why Does the Church Need Academic Theology?

    Greggs, T.
    Epworth Review, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 27-37
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

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