Colin Gunton
Encyclopedia
Colin Ewart Gunton was a British systematic theologian
. As a theologian he made contributions to the doctrine of Creation and the doctrine of the trinity
. He was Professor of Christian Doctrine at King's College London
from 1984 and co-founder with Christoph Schwoebel of the Research Institute for Systematic Theology in 1988. Gunton was actively involved in the United Reformed Church
in the United Kingdom
where he had been a minister since 1972.
at Hertford College, Oxford
and graduated with a B.A.
in 1966, the same year he was married. He then began his study of theology, and a year later received an M.A. from Mansfield College, Oxford
. He then began his doctoral work under the direction of Robert Jenson
, which took six years because he began teaching two years into his doctoral program as he became Lecturer in Philosophy of Religion at King's College London
in 1969. His dissertation was a study of the doctrine of God
in the thought of Charles Hartshorne
and Karl Barth
, which was completed in 1973. He became an Associate Minister of the Brentwood United Reformed Church in 1975, a position which he held until his passing.
Gunton was appointed Lecturer in Systematic Theology at King's College in 1980, and in 1984 became Professor of Christian Doctrine, later becoming the Dean of Faculty from 1988-1990. He also served as Head of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies from 1993-97. Gunton founded and directed the Research Institute in Systematic Theology which drew distinguished scholars and many graduate students from around the world. In 1992 he delivered the Bampton Lectures at the University of Oxford, (published as The One, the Three and the Many) and delivered the Warfield Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary
in 1993. He also co-founded the International Journal of Systematic Theology with John Bainbridge Webster
and Ralph del Colle in 1999.
Gunton was awarded honorary doctorates by the University of London
(1993), the University of Aberdeen
(1999), and shortly before his death, the University of Oxford
(2003). He was also made a Fellow of King's College.
s of Creation
and the Trinity
. One of his most important books is The One, the Three and the Many: God, Creation and the Culture of Modernity" (1993), and is "a profound analysis of the paradoxes and contradictions of Modernity." The One, the Three and the Many remains a "majestical survey of the western intellectual tradition and a penetrating analysis of the modern condition."
Systematic theology
In the context of Christianity, systematic theology is a discipline of Christian theology that attempts to formulate an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the Christian faith and beliefs...
. As a theologian he made contributions to the doctrine of Creation and the doctrine of the trinity
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...
. He was Professor of Christian Doctrine at King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
from 1984 and co-founder with Christoph Schwoebel of the Research Institute for Systematic Theology in 1988. Gunton was actively involved in the United Reformed Church
United Reformed Church
The United Reformed Church is a Christian church in the United Kingdom. It has approximately 68,000 members in 1,500 congregations with some 700 ministers.-Origins and history:...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
where he had been a minister since 1972.
Biography
Gunton grew up in Nottingham, England. He first studied the ClassicsClassics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
at Hertford College, Oxford
Hertford College, Oxford
Hertford College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is located in Catte Street, directly opposite the main entrance of the original Bodleian Library. As of 2006, the college had a financial endowment of £52m. There are 612 students , plus various visiting...
and graduated with a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1966, the same year he was married. He then began his study of theology, and a year later received an M.A. from Mansfield College, Oxford
Mansfield College, Oxford
Mansfield College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Of the colleges that accept both undergraduate and graduate students Mansfield College is one of the smallest, comprising approximately 210 undergraduates, 130 graduates, 35 visiting students and 50...
. He then began his doctoral work under the direction of Robert Jenson
Robert Jenson
Robert W. Jenson is a leading American Lutheran and ecumenical theologian.-Student years:Jenson studied classics and philosophy at Luther College in the late 1940s, before beginning theological studies at Luther Seminary in 1951. Due to a car accident he missed most of his first-year seminary...
, which took six years because he began teaching two years into his doctoral program as he became Lecturer in Philosophy of Religion at King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
in 1969. His dissertation was a study of the doctrine of God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
in the thought of Charles Hartshorne
Charles Hartshorne
Charles Hartshorne was a prominent American philosopher who concentrated primarily on the philosophy of religion and metaphysics. He developed the neoclassical idea of God and produced a modal proof of the existence of God that was a development of St. Anselm's Ontological Argument...
and Karl Barth
Karl Barth
Karl Barth was a Swiss Reformed theologian whom critics hold to be among the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century; Pope Pius XII described him as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas...
, which was completed in 1973. He became an Associate Minister of the Brentwood United Reformed Church in 1975, a position which he held until his passing.
Gunton was appointed Lecturer in Systematic Theology at King's College in 1980, and in 1984 became Professor of Christian Doctrine, later becoming the Dean of Faculty from 1988-1990. He also served as Head of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies from 1993-97. Gunton founded and directed the Research Institute in Systematic Theology which drew distinguished scholars and many graduate students from around the world. In 1992 he delivered the Bampton Lectures at the University of Oxford, (published as The One, the Three and the Many) and delivered the Warfield Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary is a theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church located in the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey in the United States...
in 1993. He also co-founded the International Journal of Systematic Theology with John Bainbridge Webster
John Bainbridge Webster
Professor John B. Webster, MA, PhD, DD, FRSE is a notable contemporary British theologian of the Anglican communion writing in the area of systematic, historical and moral theology...
and Ralph del Colle in 1999.
Gunton was awarded honorary doctorates by the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
(1993), the University of Aberdeen
University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen, an ancient university founded in 1495, in Aberdeen, Scotland, is a British university. It is the third oldest university in Scotland, and the fifth oldest in the United Kingdom and wider English-speaking world...
(1999), and shortly before his death, the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
(2003). He was also made a Fellow of King's College.
Writings
Gunton's most influential work was on the doctrineDoctrine
Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system...
s of Creation
Creationism
Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...
and the Trinity
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...
. One of his most important books is The One, the Three and the Many: God, Creation and the Culture of Modernity" (1993), and is "a profound analysis of the paradoxes and contradictions of Modernity." The One, the Three and the Many remains a "majestical survey of the western intellectual tradition and a penetrating analysis of the modern condition."
Major works
- Becoming and Being: The Doctrine of God in Charles Hartshorne and Karl Barth (1978, 2nd Ed. 2001)
- Yesterday and Today: A Study of Continuities in Christology (1983, 2nd Ed. 1997)
- Enlightenment and Alienation: An Essay Towards a Trinitarian Theology (1985)
- Actuality of Atonement: A Study of Metaphor, Rationality and the Christian Tradition (1988) ISBN 0-567-29220-7
- The Promise of Trinitarian Theology (1991, 2nd Ed. 1997) ISBN 0-567-08100-1
- Christ and Creation (1992) ISBN 0-8028-0579-5 | ISBN 0-85364-527-2
- The One, the Three and the Many: God, Creation and the Culture of Modernity (1993) ISBN 0-521-42184-5
- A Brief Theology of Revelation (1995) ISBN 0-567-09726-9 | ISBN 0-567-29293-2
- Theology Through the Theologians: Essays 1972-1995 (1996)
- The Triune Creator: A Historical and Systematic Study (1998) ISBN 0-8028-4575-4
- Intellect and Action (2000, T & T Clark))
- Theology Through Preaching (2001, T & T Clark)
- The Christian Faith: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine (2002) ISBN 0-631-21182-9
- Act and Being: Toward A Theology of the Divine Attributes (2002)
- Father, Son and Holy Spirit: Toward A Fully Trinitarian Theology (2003)
- Theologian as Preacher: Further Sermons from Colin Gunton (2007, T & T Clark)
- The Barth Lectures (2007, T & T Clark)
Edited Works
- On Being the Church (1988)
- Persons, Divine and Human (1991)
- God and Freedom: Essays in Historical and Systematic Theology (1995)
- The Doctrine of Creation (1997)
- The Cambridge Companion to Christian Doctrine (1997)
- Time, Trinity and Church: A Response to the theology of Robert Jenson (2000)
- The Practice of Theology: A Reader (2002) edited with Murray Rae and Stephen Holmes
- The Theology of Reconciliation (2003)
Secondary Bibliography
- Lincoln Harvey, ed. The Theology of Colin Gunton (London and New York: T&T Clark, 2010)
- Bradley G. Green, Colin Gunton and the Failure of Augustine: The Theology of Colin Gunton in Light of Augustine (Eugene, OR, 2011) (Distinguished Dissertations in Christian Theology).
External links
- Guardian Obituary by Stephen Holmes
- Society for the Study of Theology
- Profile: Colin E. Gunton, by Graham McFarlane
- Colin Gunton (1941 sic - 2003), by Robert JensonRobert JensonRobert W. Jenson is a leading American Lutheran and ecumenical theologian.-Student years:Jenson studied classics and philosophy at Luther College in the late 1940s, before beginning theological studies at Luther Seminary in 1951. Due to a car accident he missed most of his first-year seminary...