Created for Community is Stanley Grenz’s theological project in brief. First published in 1996, Created for Community was a distillation of his systematic thinking to that point in time, most thoroughly delineated in his Theology for the Community of God (1994). Interestingly, Grenz’s thought from this point on was not altered substantially but rather intricately refined. Thus, this slim volume contains the essence of Grenz’s entire theological project.
Indeed, Grenz’s project at his untimely passing, the massive Matrix of Christian Theology series, was designed to investigate further the concepts first generated in his earlier theological work. The first two (and only) volumes in the series, The Social God and the Relational Self: A Trinitarian Theology of the Imago Dei (2001) and The Named God and the Question of Being: A Trinitarian Theo-ontology (2005), further Grenz’s own unique perspective on the doctrine of the Trinity, its relationship to humankind, and the nature of “being.”
To more fully understand Grenz, even in this early work, one must understand his commitment to his Baptist and evangelical roots. Born the son of a German Baptist pastor, Grenz’s life was marked by the spiritual piety and scriptural commitment such a family upbringing would engender. Following Donald Dayton, Grenz characterized this spiritual predisposition as “convertive piety,” and it would mark his work to the end, though at the time of his final publication he would call it “trinitarian participation.” This spiritual predisposition colored his vocational trajectory as a scholar and a teacher. His pietistic, German Baptist theological orientation also dictated that the Bible hold a place of prominence in his scholarship. Thus, his time at Denver Seminary in the 1970s was marked by a strong commitment to a high view of Scripture, detailed exegetical training, and a coherent, relevant systematization of theological doctrine.
Following this Baptist context and evangelical orientation, Grenz was shaped by his study with Wolfhart Pannenberg in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His relationship with Pannenberg—his Doktorvater—would indelibly color and transform his theological perspective. Pannenberg’s understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity, Christology, pneumatology, and history and eschatology is evident in the whole of Grenz’s work. Yet Grenz’s appropriation of Pannenberg’s thought is not uncritical; it is incorporated judiciously into his preexisting Baptist and evangelical matrix. This unique synthesis of Pannenberg’s thought produces a distinctive and inviting theological perspective.
Finally, Grenz’s theological project is shaped within a decidedly postmodern context. After his study with Pannenberg and initial theological work, in the mid- to late 1990s Grenz invested his intellectual energy in the reformulation of evangelical theological method in a postmodern context. The project Grenz started with Revisioning Evangelical Theology (1993) is continued with A Primer on Postmodernism (1996), Renewing the Center: Evangelical Theology in a Post-Theological Era (2000), and, with John Franke, Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a Postmodern Context (2001). Grenz, then in his midforties and early fifties, was just nearing the peak of his theological powers. Surrounded in Vancouver, British Columbia, by the influence of postmodern culture and faced with the challenge of a Western church in serious decline, Grenz began to investigate the influence of the postmodern turn on the church and to formulate an informed and creative response. For Grenz, this response needed to respect the evangelical high view of Scripture and simultaneously address the epistemological issues surrounding the conflict between postmodern criticism and the neoevangelical epistemology inherent in his own theological training. His research resulted in the nuancing of the social analogy of the Trinity and the concomitant exaltation of the Holy Spirit’s role in the inspiration and authority of Scripture. For Grenz, the Baptist evangelical, the solution lay in prioritizing the Trinity in the epistemological process, with Christ and the Holy Spirit as the key. In the process, Grenz, with John Franke, laid the groundwork for a renewed approach to evangelical epistemology within a postmodern culture. The shock waves from the publication of Renewing the Center and Beyond Foundationalism continue to this day.
Lest we become completely enamored by Grenz’s intellectual pursuits, we must not forget that you hold in your hands Created for Community—designed by a churchman for the church. Past his understanding of God the Trinity, Grenz’s passion was for the life and health of the church. He sang in the church choir and played his trumpet in worship services. He preached frequently in churches throughout North America. He led Bible studies and his “moral quest” was to share the love of God with both scholars and laypersons. He was, to quote his own designation, a “Pietist with a PhD.”
As is witnessed in Created for Community, he loved the comics section of the newspaper, especially Charles Schultz’s Peanuts and Doug Marlette’s Kudzu. Introduced to it by his son Joel, Grenz found great cultural insight in the various manifestations of the Star Trek television series. As a musician, Grenz was attuned to the popular music of his day, such as Canadian singer Alanis Morissette, and understood popular music to be a type of cultural barometer. Finally, practically every chapter in Created for Community utilizes a Christian hymn or contemporary Christian song as an illustrative device. This goes back to Grenz’s roots as a musician, for sure, but it also underscores Grenz’s understanding of the power of music for both doxology and theology. It is one of the great tragedies of Grenz’s early passing that he was unable to continue his work in the area of worship.
Use Created for Community as a starting point for your theological education, but do not let it end there. Read further into Grenz’s Renewing the Center and Theology for the Community of God. Digest Grenz and Franke’s Beyond Foundationalism, and then move into the two volumes of the Matrix of Christian Theology series: The Social God and the Relational Self and The Named God and the Question of Being. Grenz’s commitment to a healthy understanding of the Trinity, the success of the church in a challenging culture, and the formation of a healthy spirituality for every reader will jump off every page.
Dr. Jay T. Smith
President and Bridger Professor of Theology and Ethics
Yellowstone Theological Institute