Director
Tom Greggs, Director
Tom Greggs is the Director of the Center of Theological Inquiry. A globally renowned academic and speaker, Dr. Greggs is known as one of the leading voices in Systematic Theology today. His work is focused on Theology outside of the conditions of Christendom. He is interested in what new theological questions and insights this context raises and how to articulate Theology in a circumstance of secularism and pluralism.
Greggs grew up in a working-class family in Liverpool, England, and was the first member of his extended family to receive any education beyond the age of 16, and he originally studied Theology with the intention of becoming a Methodist minister. This upbringing determines that Greggs is particularly passionate about what Theology can mean for the world we live in and for the transformation of society. For him, the issue is how Theology matters and the ways it can contribute to the life of the academy, the church and society at large.
Greggs joined CTI as its Director having previously been Head (Dean) of Divinity at the University of Aberdeen where he was also the holder of the The Marischal Chair, the University’s first separated Divinity Chair founded in 1616. As Head of Divinity, Greggs steered the University of Aberdeen to be ranked first in the UK for research in Theology and Religious Studies in the Government’s qualitative, peer-based Research Excellence Framework (the basis on which funding is attributed to universities). Divinity at Aberdeen also came to comprise a quarter of the entire University’s post-graduate research student population, and received 100% satisfaction as a teaching institute.
Greggs sees his role at CTI as a vocational fulfilment, combining the kinds of institutional service and strategic leadership he is committed to with the highest levels of theological research which is his passion. “No other job in the world combines these aspects in this way: here, I can remain a theologian and researcher while still discerning the direction and oversight of an institution,” he said on his appointment.
Greggs’ published work spans Historical, Practical and Systematic Theology. A Protestant theologian with an evangelical background, Greggs’ publications include:
· New Perspectives for Evangelical Theology: Engaging God, Scripture and the World (Routledge, 2010).
· Theology Against Religion: Constructive Dialogues with Bonhoeffer and Barth (T&T Clark, 2011).
· The Church in a World of Religions: Working Papers in Theology (T&T Clark, 2022).
· Barth, Origen and Universal Salvation: Restoring Particularity (Oxford University Press, 2009).
Greggs has also recently completed three books: An Introduction to Theology (SPCK & Zondervan); Saving Systematic Theology (Baylor University, tbc); and Scriptural Reasoning (Blackwell, written with Maria Dekake and Steven Kepnes).
The principal focus of Greggs’ current work is a three-volume evangelical theology of the church outside of Christendom, published by Baker Academic. The first volume is already available as Dogmatic Ecclesiology 1: The Priestly Catholicity of the Church.
Greggs was educated at the Liverpool Blue Coat School (founded 1708). He went to Christ Church, University of Oxford as an Open Scholar to read Theology, graduating first in his year and receiving the Denyer and Johnson Prize (one of few people ever to do so as a first degree). He studied for his PhD at the University of Cambridge, and passed without corrections under the supervision of David Ford (then Regius Professor of Divinity). During his time at Cambridge, Greggs taught historical and systematic Theology, and was mentored by CTI’s first ever director, Professor Daniel W. Hardy. At the end of his time there, Greggs was invited to participate in a conference at CTI on The Future of Theology, an event marking the beginning of his predecessor’s (Dr. William Storrar) tenure as Director. Appointed to a full professorship aged 28, Greggs was at the time the youngest full professor in the UK and was the youngest full professor ever appointed by the University of Chester which elevated him to a chair.
Greggs has been a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia and a Visiting Fellow at St John’s College, Durham. He is a former Secretary of Society for the Study of Theology and former book awards jury chair of the American Academy of Religion. He is Honorary Professor of Divinity at the University of Aberdeen and Honorary Professor of Systematic Theology at St Mellitus College, London. He was a founding member of Young Academy of Scotland, and was elected in 2008 to be a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (Scotland’s national academy). He was awarded the higher (earned) doctoral degree of Doctor of Letters operis causa for “research that marks an original and substantial contribution to humane learning” by the University of Aberdeen in 2022.
A committed churchperson and preacher, Greggs is a member of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, and is a former theological advisor to the Archbishop of Canterbury. In 2002, he was recognized as a Preacher in the Methodist Church of Great Britain, and since then has preached and led services for local congregations most weeks.
Greggs is married to Heather (a former Headteacher and specialist teacher of deaf students) and they have two young daughters, Isabel and Lydia.
