04/12: Thomas F. Torrance (1913-2007)
Category: From the Heart
Posted by: an okie gardener
Thomas F. Torrance has died. One of the theological giants of the latter half of the 20th century. In constructive theology, he will be remembered for his writings on the Trinity, and on the relationship of science and Christianity. He was a minister of the Church of Scotland, a Reformed theologian, a Barthian, a scholar.
A remembrance here on the Faith and Theology blog.
Here is the Widipedia entry; the first paragraph of which reads:
Thomas Forsyth Torrance (30 August 1913 - 2 December 2007) was a 20th century Protestant Christian theologian who served for 27 years as Professor of Christian Dogmatics at New College, Edinburgh in the University of Edinburgh, during which time he was a leader in Protestant Christian theology. While he wrote many books and articles advancing his own study of theology, he also translated several hundred theological writings into English from other languages. Torrance edited the English translation of the thirteen-volume, six-million-word Church Dogmatics (germ. "Die Kirchliche Dogmatik") of celebrated Swiss theologian Karl Barth. Torrance's work has been influential in the paleo-orthodox movement, and he is widely considered to be one of the most important Reformed theologians of his era.
This scholarly organization studies his work, and does constructive theological reflection in dialogue with Professor Torrance's writings. The Torrance biography on that site does a very good job of presenting his contributions in theology.
Professor Torrance was a hero of mine, the kind of person I want to be like when I grow up. He was a churchman, the son of missionaries in China who himself served two parishes in the Church of Scotland; he had courage and a sense of duty, as war threatened in Europe in 1939 he left the United States, walking away from a job offer at Princeton University, in order to serve as a military chaplain with the British Army in the Middle East and Italy; he was a family man, married with three children whose welfare he valued, turning down an offer to serve as Karl Barth's handpicked successor at Basel because he did not want to uproot his children and transplant them into a foreign culture and language; he was an academic of amazing productivity, rigorous thought, who did theology not to impress other academics, but to help the Church understand its beliefs; he was a man of faith, a devout Christian. Brother Torrance, R.I.P.
A remembrance here on the Faith and Theology blog.
Here is the Widipedia entry; the first paragraph of which reads:
Thomas Forsyth Torrance (30 August 1913 - 2 December 2007) was a 20th century Protestant Christian theologian who served for 27 years as Professor of Christian Dogmatics at New College, Edinburgh in the University of Edinburgh, during which time he was a leader in Protestant Christian theology. While he wrote many books and articles advancing his own study of theology, he also translated several hundred theological writings into English from other languages. Torrance edited the English translation of the thirteen-volume, six-million-word Church Dogmatics (germ. "Die Kirchliche Dogmatik") of celebrated Swiss theologian Karl Barth. Torrance's work has been influential in the paleo-orthodox movement, and he is widely considered to be one of the most important Reformed theologians of his era.
This scholarly organization studies his work, and does constructive theological reflection in dialogue with Professor Torrance's writings. The Torrance biography on that site does a very good job of presenting his contributions in theology.
Professor Torrance was a hero of mine, the kind of person I want to be like when I grow up. He was a churchman, the son of missionaries in China who himself served two parishes in the Church of Scotland; he had courage and a sense of duty, as war threatened in Europe in 1939 he left the United States, walking away from a job offer at Princeton University, in order to serve as a military chaplain with the British Army in the Middle East and Italy; he was a family man, married with three children whose welfare he valued, turning down an offer to serve as Karl Barth's handpicked successor at Basel because he did not want to uproot his children and transplant them into a foreign culture and language; he was an academic of amazing productivity, rigorous thought, who did theology not to impress other academics, but to help the Church understand its beliefs; he was a man of faith, a devout Christian. Brother Torrance, R.I.P.
