Stan Gundry Teaching Spring 2009 at GRTS
Nov 4, 2008
Stan Gundry, the senior vice president and editor-in-chief of the book group at Zondervan, will teach THE-789 Advanced Topics: The Story of American Evangelicalism, 1950-2008 beginning in January at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary.
“In my graduate work beyond seminary, I specialized in historical theology in general and American church history and theology in particular (my doctorate). So I have a professional interest in the topic,” said Gundry.
The new course will answer questions such as “What is ‘evangelicalism’?”
This course will take the descriptive approach as it focuses on the American evangelical stream over the past sixty years, a wide river with a variety of currents, cross-currents and eddies, according to Gundry.
Students will walk through a map of the complex and multi-faceted evangelical story under the rubric of a series of quests--such as, the quests for purity, credibility, converts, "something more," political influence and power, gender and racial equality, continuity with the past, community, unity, authority, engagement of the culture and authenticity.
“Our goal in understanding this story descriptively is that we would think critically about our identity--where we have been and seem to be going and where we should be going, so we can make appropriate course corrections,” said Gundry.
“I have not only been a ring-side-seat observer of evangelicalism, I have been a participant in much of what has happened during that time. I am not suggesting that I was a key player, but first as a pastor, then as a professor at two leading evangelical schools and as a leader in the Evangelical Theological Society, and then in key editorial management positions at Zondervan, I have a unique perspective on the last 50 or 60 years of the evangelical scene.”
