In honor of the 30th anniversary of his work Grace, Faith, and Holiness—the first major theological work published by the denomination—Dr. Tim Gaines will host a conversation with Dunning in Wakefield Auditorium from 3-4 pm.
Dr. Dunning has authored over 30 books. Several have been translated into Portuguese, Spanish and Korean. For a full list of titles authored by H. Ray Dunning click here
Biography
Dr. H. Ray Dunning is a Nazarene theologian and long-time educator in the Church of the Nazarene who served on the Trevecca religion faculty from 1964 until 1995, a thirty-one year span. Although Dr. Dunning is notable for his many accomplishments, he is being celebrated today for writing the 1988 Church of the Nazarene-sanctioned systematic theology, Grace, Faith & Holiness. Dr. Tim Green, dean of the School of Theology and Christian Ministry, observed, “Although at least one other work has been published since [1988], there has not yet been a systematic theology to ‘replace’ Dr. Dunning’s systematic theology in the eyes of most persons in the denomination.”
Dr. Dunning was born in 1926 in Slayden, Tennessee but moved to Clarksville when he was six months old. In 1942, Dr. Dunning was converted and joined the Church of the Nazarene. In 1944, Dunning enrolled at Trevecca Nazarene College. One significant memory Dunning recalls from his years as an undergraduate was the final oral exam required by the religion department. Dunning declared, “I sometimes say with tongue and cheek that was the time when you had to know something to graduate from this institution.”
Dr. Dunning graduated from Trevecca in 1948 and went on to earn a BD from Nazarene Theological Seminary and an MA from Vanderbilt University. He then enrolled in a PhD program in theology at Vanderbilt. In 1952, Dr. Dunning married his wife, Bettye. They have three children, including two sons and a daughter.
While working on his PhD, Dunning pastored churches in the local area but then had to withdraw from the PhD program when he and his family moved to East Tennessee and then to Arkansas to accept pastorate positions. After serving as a pastor for more than ten years, Dunning felt what he described as an “inward pressure” to return to the classroom. He stated, “People along the way when I was a pastor were saying to me, you know you are a better teacher than you are a preacher. Your approach is such that you should be teaching.” Dunning was readmitted to the Vanderbilt program, and he completed his PhD in 1969.
Dr. Dunning’s teaching career at Trevecca began in 1964 when he was hired as a faculty member in the religion department. During his tenure at Trevecca, Dr. Dunning served as the chairman of the department of religion and philosophy and as the director of the graduate religion program. Dr. Dunning was primarily responsible for teaching theology, but he also taught courses in philosophy and for a few years even taught a fishing course that counted as a P.E. credit. When asked how he became an avid fisherman, Dr. Dunning declared, “My wife claims that she taught me to fish.”
Dr. Dunning has distinguished himself as a speaker, writer, and holiness scholar. In addition to his numerous articles in journals, Dunning has authored more than twenty books, including Grace, Faith & Holiness. This systematic theology volume was commissioned by the Church of the Nazarene Book Committee and Board of General Superintendents and was published by Beacon Hill Press, the then-publishing house for the Church of the Nazarene. The completed volume took almost eight years to write and was first distributed in September 1988.
Grace, Faith & Holiness is a treatment of all the major Christian doctrines as seen from a Wesleyan understanding of the faith. In an article in the October 1988 issue of the Treveccan, Dunning stated, “The book’s title embodies the major doctrinal commitments of the Wesleyan tradition—grace, faith and holiness. These constitute the foundation of our faith.” To this day, Dunning’s volume is considered a work of monumental importance in the Church of the Nazarene and the volume as well as some of Dunning’s other books have been translated into several languages.
Early in his academic career, Dr. Dunning’s religious faith and teaching were heavily influenced by the theology of Paul Tillich and his friendship and mentoring relationship with Dr. William Greathouse, who served as a Trevecca President and General Superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene. Dr. Dunning declared, “My relationship with [Dr. Greathouse] was probably the reason that I chose to focus on theology.” As Dr. Dunning wrote each chapter of Grace, Faith & Holiness, he sent them to Dr. Greathouse to read and evaluate. Dr Greathouse wrote, “In this process, my own theological understanding was enriched, especially my insight into John Wesley’s doctrine of perfect love.”
Dr. Dunning is both well respected and well-loved in the Church of the Nazarene. Although retired for more than twenty years, he continues to be an active scholar and teacher. He currently holds the title of Professor Emeritus of Theology and Philosophy and serves as a Theologian in Residence and Sunday School teacher at Trevecca Community Church. Upon Dr. Dunning’s retirement from Trevecca, Dr. William Greathouse declared, “While Ray’s gifts as a teacher, scholar, and author are recognized and widely acclaimed, it is his unselfconscious Christlikeness which truly defines him.”
Partial list of publications authored by H. Ray Dunning
Books
---. Abraham: The Tests of Faith.
---. Becoming Christlike Disciples. Bloomington, IN: Westbow Press, 2010.
---. Biblical heights for today's valleys: Mountain-top revelations of Christian holiness. Aldersgate Press, 2015.
---. Biblical Resources for Holiness Preaching: from text to sermon. Kansas City, Mo: Beacon Hill Press, 1990.
---. A Community of Faith: Celebrating the Church of Jesus Christ and its mission to the world. Kansas City, Mo: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1997.
---. The Fruit of the Spirit. Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1982.
---. Grace, Faith, and Holiness: a Wesleyan systematic theology. Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1988.
---. Holy living in a pagan context: Studies in First and Second Peter. Charleston, SC: CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2016.
---. In Quest of a Holiness Ethic: A history of ethics in the Church of the Nazarene, the first 75 years. San Bernadino, CA: CreateSpace Independent Publishing,2017.
---. An Introduction to Wesleyan Theology written with Dr. William Greathouse. Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1989.
---. J.O. McClurkan: His Life, His Theology, and Selections from his Writing. Written with William J. Strickland. Vol. 2. Trevecca Centennial Collection. Nashville, Trevecca Press, 1998.
---. A Layman’s Guide to Sanctification. Kansas City, Mo: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1991.
---. A Layman’s Guide to the Apostles’ Creed. Kansas City, Mo: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1995.
---. Our standard of conduct. Kansas City, Mo: Beacon Hill Press, 1963.
---. Partakers of the divine nature: Holiness in the epistles of Peter. Salem, OH: Schmul Pub., 2006.
---. The Pastoral epistles [Home Bible study]. Kansas City, MO: Church of the Nazarene, 1962.
---. Pursuing the Divine Image: An Exegetically based Theology of Holiness.CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2016.
---. Reflecting the divine image: Christian ethics in Wesleyan perspective. Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 1998.
---. The Second Coming: a Wesleyan approach to the doctrine of last things. Kansas City, Mo: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1995.
---. The Superlative Christ : devotional studies in Hebrews. Kansas City, Mo: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 2001.
---. The whole Christ for the whole world: A Wesleyan perspective on the work of Christ. Eugene, Ore: Wipf and Stock, 2008.
Homecoming 2018: Celebrating Dr. H. Ray Dunning
Trevecca Blog, posted by Moira Kurtz on Oct 20, 2018 7:19:19 PM
At this year’s Homecoming celebration, Trevecca Nazarene University will be welcoming Dr. H. Ray Dunning back to campus. The former professor of theology will be recognized for his accomplishments at Trevecca, as well as celebrate the 30th anniversary of his book Grace, Faith, and Holiness. On November 2, Dr. Dunning will participate in an Author Talk session sponsored by Trevecca’s Ray and C.R. Thrasher Archives, as well as a book signing. Dr. Tim Gaines, professor of religion in Trevecca’s Millard Reed School of Theology and Christian Ministry, will guide the conversation at the Author Talk event. We asked Gaines a few questions about the event and Dunning’s influence on the University. Here’s what he had to say.
1. Who is Dr. H. Ray Dunning?
[He was a] long time professor of theology, and he was the chair of the department when he was here. He essentially educated a generation of Nazarene leaders. If you came through Trevecca, he was your theology professor, so most of the pastoral work that’s being done in the southeast United States right now in the Church of the Nazarene came through his classroom. There aren’t too many pastors in the Southeast or that came through Trevecca who didn’t have the marks of his influence on their lives … It’s fun to be in the place where so much shaping is going on, but also trying to help students recognize the legacy that he’s helped crafted here.”
2. What theological topics does Dr. Dunning address in his book Grace, Faith and Holiness?
This is called a systematic theology, which means it addresses every major doctrinal area in Christian belief…This is still an official systematic theology for the Church of the Nazarene. It addresses every topic from creation to theological anthropology [to] atonement… and it all has his touch on it. His influence is not just around the Southeast United States; this book is being used to train Wesleyan and Nazarene clergies around the world. It’s worldwide.
3. What questions and topics do you hope to discuss at the Author Talk event?
I want to ask about the story of development, and I would also like to know about angles and aspects of his work here that he thinks advanced the Wesleyan story… I would love to know, when it came out in 1988, what was the critical reception like? What needed to be done in this book that [he] thought would make the church more faithful? I really want to ask him about some of those aspects ... how it came to be, what major contributions it makes, what edges it wanted to push, and what he thinks its lasting legacy could be.”
4. What do you hope for the Trevecca community to take away from this experience?
I would love for Trevecca students and alumni to know that the theological legacy at Trevecca in particular, has been very important to the Church of the Nazarene overall. Dr. Dunning stands in a legacy that includes William Greathouse and Mildred Wynkoop, and those names have deeply shaped an entire generation of Nazarenes and that legacy still continues on in the current group of students that are at Trevecca right now… It is an honor to be associated with such a long legacy of service. I would be hard pressed to think of any other university that has had such a singular voice in shaping our theological heritage, and we are who we are today because of the people who have walked this campus. So for people coming to Homecoming to reconnect with that, I think would be a very powerful remembrance of the gift that God has given to Trevecca.”
Join us
On November 2 at 3 p.m., Dr. Tim Gaines and Dr. Dunning will discuss Grace, Faith and Holiness in Wakefield Auditorium. At 4 p.m., the University will dedicate Dunning Drive, formerly known as North Drive. Following the ceremony, Dr. Dunning will host a book signing. All events will take place in Wakefield Auditorium.
Forthcoming!
