Brian Harris (a former lecturer of mine and one who shares the same PhD supervisors) has an article in the latest Princeton Theological Review. That issue of the journal is dedicated to evangelical Baptist theologian Stanley Grenz and Brian reflects upon his influence “downunder”.
See Brian Harris, “Straddling the Tasman: The Relevance of Grenz’s Revisioned Evangelical Theology in the Australasian Context”, The Princeton Theological ReviewVolume XII, Number 1 – Issue 34 – Spring 2006.
From the paper,
In an article published in 1992, Stanley Grenz suggests that by adopting “community” as the integrative motif for theology, “North American evangelical theology will also discover that it is being linked to insights that lie at the center of theological expressions of the gospel found in other regions of the one world we share in common.” To what extent was Grenz correct? Do his theological method and motifs interact meaningfully with expressions of evangelicalism found outside of the North American context within which his theology was birthed? Are Grenz’s insights helpful in plotting a path for evangelicalism outside of his own setting? In this paper, I explore the helpfulness of Grenz’s approach within the context of Australasian evangelicalism, focusing particularly on evangelical theology and expression in both New Zealand and Australia.