This book elucidates T. F. Torrance’s reconstruction of natural theology as it appears within its intellectual context and broader Christological method. Irving argues that Torrance’s work on natural theology is an important affirmation of the priority of grace in theological method and knowledge alongside the integrity of human agency.
A collection of fifteen essays addressing the basic intellectual challenges to the contemporary Christian church. Professor Torrance deals with such topics as the centrality of Christology in scientific dogmatics, the Reformed and Roman Catholic doctrines of grace, theological education, the relation of theological statements to scientific methodology, the contemporary significance of some past theological giants, and the nature and significance of the Holy Spirit and of the church.
This book provides an important study of the theology of Thomas F. Torrance, who is generally considered to have been one of the most significant theologians writing in English during the twentieth century, with a view toward showing how his theological method and all his major doctrinal views were shaped by his understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity. Torrance pursued a theology that was realist because he attempted to think in accordance with the unique nature of the object that is known. In holding to such a methodology, he drew an analogy between theology and natural science. This book demonstrates how, for Torrance, God relates with humanity within time and space so that creation finds its meaning in relation to God and not in itself; this enabled him to avoid many theological pitfalls such as agnosticism, subjectivism and dualism while explaining the positive implications of various Christian doctrines in a penetrating and compelling manner. This book offers an important resource for students of theology and for scholars who are interested in seeing how serious dogmatic theology shapes and should shape our understanding of the Christian life.
The futures seems to be full of promise and excitement. Certainly at no time for nearly a millenium and a half has the opportunity for genuine theology been greater, since the ground has been cleared in the remarkable way of the old dualist and atomistic modes of thought that have plagued theology for centuries. It is, therefore, up to us as theologians to develop theology on its own proper ground in this scientific context, if only because this is the kind of life and culture, and the kind of theology that can support the message of the Gospel to mankind, as, in touch with the advances of natural science, theology comes closer and closer to a real understanding of the creation as it came from the hand of God.
A fresh account of the development of Scottish theology - from the Reformation to the nineteenth century. T.F. Torrance discusses the theology of John Knox, the Reformers and their immediate successors, the Solemn League and Covenant, the politicisation of theology, the Federal Theology of the Westminster Calvinists, the rejection by the Kirk of its profoundest theologian John McLeod Campbell and the continuing tension between Reformation and Westminster theology until modern times. He explores the nature of Scottish theology and the Scottish Enlightenment through studies of 'Moderates' and 'Evangelicals' and their relationships, Episcopalian Calvinists such as Bishop Robert Leighton, and the rise of missions to heathen nations. Throughout the book, the central themes are the doctrine of God and the atoning death of Christ, and the nature of the Gospel and of faith. Professor Torrance suggests how the Churches can find the way behind their divisions to this faith and to their Biblical and Reformation roots. His call for is for theological healing and reconciliation - to which this book is dedicated. The Very Reverend Thomas F. Torrance is Emeritus Professor of Christian Dogmatics at the University of Edinburgh.
Torrance's vision of Theosis (deification/divinisation) is explored through his doctrine of creation and anthropology, his characterisation of the incarnation, his accounts of reconciliation and union with Christ, and his theology of church and sacraments. Myk Habets' study distinguishes Torrance's Reformed vision of theosis from other possible accounts of salvation as divinisation as they are found, for instance, within patristic thought and Eastern Orthodoxy. This book presents the first critique of the theology of T.F.Torrance to focus on theosis, and examines a model of theosis within the realm of reformed theology built upon Western theology.
This book provides a constructive analysis of Thomas F. Torrance's ecclesiology. Holding the doctrine of the Trinity to be the "ground and grammar of theology," Torrance viewed the doctrine of the Trinity as foundational for all ecclesiological reflection: What does it mean to be the people of the God whom Christians name as Father, Son, and Spirit? Tyler examines Torrance's development of the rich potential of the metaphor koinonia, involving both a vertical dimension--the Church's union with Christ through the Spirit--and a horizontal dimension--its visible existence in human history, lived out in space and time, and considers how the relationship between these two dimensions informs the structured forms of the Church's life, its ecumenical breadth, and its missional vision.
Encountering Reality argues for a new appreciation of T. F. Torrance on epistemology and reality. According to Torrance's realism, all authentic knowledge involves the nature of the object impressing its inherent rationality on the mind. Consequently, knowledge involves thinking in accordance with the nature of the object. We shall explore the place and function of “ultimate beliefs” in epistemology, as well as the question as to whether such beliefs imply a retreat to either foundationalism or fideism. The inescapability of ultimate beliefs in all human knowledge requires a shift in the traditional notion of objectivity. We find that shift in the account provided by T. F. Torrance, whose epistemological position implies an alternative notion of truth. Drawing on distinctly Christian sources, Torrance emphasizes the distinction between truth and truthfulness thereby reorienting the discussion from a focus on statements to a focus on being. This shift challenges the dichotomy between correspondence and coherence theories of truth and provides one way of transcending the scientific realism/anti-realism debate and gives rise to a practical epistemological tool, disclosure models, which function as self-correcting, self-marginalizing lenses through which we encounter reality, yielding knowledge in accordance to the nature of the thing known.
In this volume, Jason Radcliff examines T. F. Torrance's reading of the church fathers. Radcliff explores how Torrance reconstructs the patristic tradition, producing a Reformed, evangelical, and ecumenical version of the Consensus Patrum (Consensus of the Fathers). This book investigates how Torrance uniquely understands the Fathers and the Reformers to be mutually informing and how, as such, his approach involves significant changes to both standard readings of the Fathers and Torrance's own Reformed evangelical tradition. Torrance's approach is distinctive in its Christocentric rootedness in the primary theme of the Nicene homoousion (of one essence [with the Father]) and its champion Athanasius of Alexandria. The book explores Torrance's inherently broad ecclesiology and constructive achievements, both of which contribute to his ongoing ecumenical relevance.
Thomas F. Torrance is considered by many to be the most important English-speaking theologian of the last fifty years. Torrance has written extensively (over six hundred items) on nearly every theme in theology, especially theological method and the nature of theology. Yet little secondary literature about his theology has been published to date. The significance of this book by Elmer M. Colyer is that it discusses a theme (the nature of doctrine) that takes readers into the heart of Torrance's critical realist epistemology, theological method and understanding of the nature and purpose of theology. Colyer also contributes significantly to the ongoing conversation concerning the nature of doctrine, since Torrance's understanding of doctrine moves considerably beyond the work of George Lindbeck (The Nature of Doctrine) and Alister McGrath (The Genesis of Doctrine) in this area.
