Dr. Vernon Carl Grounds (July 19, 1914 – September 12, 2010) was an American theologian, Christian educator, Chancellor of Denver Seminary, and one of the founders of American
evangelicalism
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...
.
Early life and education
Grounds was born July 19, 1914, in
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark. the youngest of three children born to John and Bertha Grounds. He earned his B.A. (1937) from Rutgers University. He went on to join the inaugural class of Faith Theological Seminary in Wilmington, Delaware, earning his B.D., and becoming part of a group that included notable evangelical leaders such as
Arthur Glasser
Arthur F. Glasser (September 10, 1914 – December 8, 2009) was a missiologist and missionary who taught at Fuller Theological Seminary, last serving as Dean Emeritus of the School of Intercultural Studies. He also completed five years of missi ...
,
Kenneth Kantzer
Kenneth S. Kantzer (March 29, 1917 – June 20, 2002) was an American theologian and educator in the evangelical Christian tradition.
Life and career
He was born Detroit, Michigan, United States.
Kantzer, having studied at Faith Theological ...
,
Joseph Bayly Joseph Tate Bayly (5 April 1920 – 16 July 1986) was an American author and publishing executive.
Born in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Bayly earned his BA at Wheaton College, Illinois, in 1940, and then entered Faith Theological Semi ...
, and
Francis Schaeffer
Francis August Schaeffer (January 30, 1912 – May 15, 1984) was an American evangelical theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor. He co-founded the L'Abri community in Switzerland with his wife Edith Schaeffer, , a prolific author ...
. On June 17, 1939, Grounds married Ann Barton, with whom he has one child, a daughter, as well as three grandchildren. He went on to earn his Ph.D. (1960) from Drew University.
Academic career
While pursuing his degrees, Grounds served as pastor at the Gospel Tabernacle in
Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Wayne, New Jersey, the Hawthorne Evening Bible School, and
King's College King's College or The King's College refers to two higher education institutions in the United Kingdom:
*King's College, Cambridge, a constituent of the University of Cambridge
*King's College London, a constituent of the University of London
It ca ...
(then in Belmar, New Jersey). His full-time teaching career began in 1945, when he became dean and professor of theology and apologetics at
Baptist Bible College & Seminary
Clarks Summit University is a private Baptist Bible college in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania. It offers on-campus and online degrees at the undergraduate and graduate levels. These include a high-school dual enrollment option, as well as associa ...
in Johnson City, New York. He served there until 1951, when he moved to Denver to become academic dean at the Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary. He later served as president from 1956 until retiring in 1979. Grounds continued in a teaching and counseling role as president emeritus, and was named chancellor in 1993, where he actively served until his death.
Stanley Grenz
Stanley James Grenz (1950–2005) was an American Christian theologian and ethicist in the Baptist tradition.
Early years
Grenz was born on 7 January 1950 in Alpena, Michigan. Grenz graduated from the University of Colorado in 1973. He then earn ...
and Kenneth Wozniak, was published in 1986. His biography, titled ''Transformed by Love: The Vernon Grounds Story'', written by Bruce L. Shelley was published in 2003. Grounds was also awarded honorary degrees from
Wheaton College Wheaton College may refer to:
* Wheaton College (Illinois), a private Christian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois
* Wheaton College (Massachusetts)
Wheaton College is a private liberal arts college in Norton, Massachus ...
and
Gordon College Gordon College may refer to:
* Gordon State College, a public college in Barnesville, Georgia
* Gordon College (Massachusetts), a Christian college in Wenham, Massachusetts
* Government Gordon College, a Christian college in Rawalpindi, Pakistan
* ...
Roger E. Olson
Roger Eugene Olson (born 1952) is an American Baptist theologian and Professor of Christian Theology of Ethics at the Baylor University.
Biography Personal life
Olson was born on February 2, 1952, in Des Moines, Iowa. He is married and he and ...
memorialized Grounds as "a model post-fundamentalist, centrist evangelical".
Publications
Grounds was the author of five books, including:
*''The Reason for Our Hope'' (1945)
*''Evangelicalism and Social Responsibility'' (1969)
*''Revolution and the Christian Faith: An Evangelical Perspective'' (1971)
*''Emotional Problems and the Gospel'' (1976)
*''Radical commitment: getting serious about Christian growth'' (1984) ; later republished as ''YBH - Yes, but how?'' (1998)
Grounds was also a contributing editor for ''
Christianity Today
''Christianity Today'' is an evangelical Christian media magazine founded in 1956 by Billy Graham. It is published by Christianity Today International based in Carol Stream, Illinois. ''The Washington Post'' calls ''Christianity Today'' "evange ...
'' and wrote more than 500 articles for '' Our Daily Bread'' from 1993 until 2009.