Tom Greggs

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

is a British theologian and the Marischal Professor of Divinity at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

.University of Aberdeen (School of Divinity, History and Philosophy)
Faculty profile: Professor Tom Greggs
Retrieved 30 March 2016.

Early life and education

Greggs was born and raised in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, where he was educated at Liverpool Blue Coat School. During his time there, he was head of school and now serves as a foundation guardian.The Blue Coat School Old Blues
Stories: Professor Tom Greggs
Retrieved 30 March 2016. In 1999 he entered

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

, where he studied theology as an Open Scholar and graduated with the highest first class honours in his year for which he was awarded the Denyer and Johnson Prize. Before beginning his doctoral work, Greggs taught religion and philosophy at the Manchester Grammar School. He completed his PhD in Systematic Theology in 2007 at

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

under the supervision of David Ford. His doctoral dissertation served as the basis for his 2009 book ''Barth, Origen, and Universal Salvation: Restoring Particularity''.

Academic career

Greggs has taught at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, and served as senior lecturer in Christian Doctrine at the

University of Chester , mottoeng = "He that teacheth, on teaching" , former_names = , established = (gained university status in 2005) , type = Public , endowment = £395,000 (2018) , budget = £118.3 million , chancellor = Gyles Brandreth , vice_chancello ...

. At the age of 29, he became Chester University's youngest ever professor and was appointed to a chair in systematic theology. At that time, he was the youngest professor in the UK. He moved to the University of Aberdeen in 2011 to take the post of Professor in Historical and Doctrinal Theology. He was translated to the Marischal Chair in 2016. The Marischal Chair is the oldest separate Chair of Divinity at the University of Aberdeen and was founded in

Marischal College Marischal College ( ) is a large granite building on Broad Street in the centre of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland, and since 2011 has acted as the headquarters of Aberdeen City Council. However, the building was constructed for and is on long- ...

in 1616, although the Divinity School is now located in King's College in Old Aberdeen. He is also Honorary Professor of Theology at St Mellitus College, London, and a founding member to the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

Young Academy of Scotland. In 2019 he was elected a Fellow of the

. During his career, Greggs has also served as a visiting research fellow at St John's College, Durham, and as the College of Arts and Sciences International Visiting Scholar and Visiting Professor in Religion at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. He has served as secretary of

Society for the Study of Theology The Society for the Study of Theology (SST) is the leading British organization for theologians in academy, church, and society, which held its first conference in 1952. Mission The Society is the leading scholarly society for the study of theolo ...

, and as co-chair of the Scriptural Reasoning panel for the

American Academy of Religion The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the world's largest association of scholarly method, scholars in the List of academic disciplines, field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association, serving as a profes ...

. He is the editor of

Brill Brill may refer to: Places * Brielle (sometimes "Den Briel"), a town in the western Netherlands * Brill, Buckinghamshire, a village in England * Brill, Cornwall, a small village to the west of Constantine, Cornwall, UK * Brill, Wisconsin, an un ...

's ''Companions to Modern Theology'' series and co-editor of the Edinburgh University Press ''Critical History of Theology'' series. He is also on the editorial board of ''The Journal of Scriptural Reasoning'' (University of Virginia) and a consulting editor for the ''Encountering Traditions'' series published by Stanford University.

Ecclesiastical work

Greggs is a local preacher in the

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

and has also preached internationally as well as appearing on radio. He was the 2014 Fernley-Hartley Lecturer for the Methodist Church, and gave the 2014 Conference Lecture for the Methodist Church on the impact of doctrine on the life and ministry of the church. He serves on the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most juri ...

Faith and Order Commission and convenes the subgroup considering religious pluralism for Faith and Order. He also serves on the Faith and Order Commission of the Methodist Church.

Research and publications

Greggs's research and writing has focused on salvation, the doctrine of God, evangelical theology, theologies of the religions, and inter-faith issues. He has published over 50 essays in theology journals including ''International Journal of Systematic Theology'', ''

Modern Theology ''Modern Theology'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Wiley. It publishes articles, review articles, and book reviews in the area of theology, with an ecumenical editorial policy. Abstracting and indexing The journal is abstracted ...

'', ''

Journal of Religion ''The Journal of Religion'' is an academic journal published by the University of Chicago Press founded in 1897 as ''The American Journal of Theology''. The journal "embraces all areas of theology (biblical, historical, ethical, and constructive) ...

'', ''Scottish Journal of Theology'', ''International Journal of Public Theology'', ''

Theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

'', and ''Epworth Review''. His books include: *Widdicombe, Peter (April 2010)
"Review of ''Barth, Origen, and Universal Salvation: Restoring Particularity'' by Tom Greggs"
pp. 455–456. ''

The Journal of Theological Studies ''The Journal of Theological Studies'' is an academic journal established in 1899 and now published by Oxford University Press in April and October each year. It publishes theological research, scholarship, and interpretation, and hitherto unpubli ...

'', Vol. 61, No. 1. Retrieved 30 March 2016 via

JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...

. * * *)McDonald, Robert (Winter 2015)
"Review: Tom Greggs, Rachel Muers, and Simeon Zahl, eds., ''The Vocation of Theology Today: A Festschrift for David Ford''"
''

Anglican Theological Review The ''Anglican Theological Review'' is the "unofficial journal of the seminaries of the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada." Issues include peer-reviewed articles, poetry submissions, and book reviews. The jo ...

'', Vol. 97, No. 1, pp. 146148. Retrieved 30 March 2016 .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greggs, Tom Academics of the University of Aberdeen Academics of the University of Chester English Christian theologians Methodist theologians 21st-century Protestant theologians Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Academics from Liverpool Living people 1980 births