T. F. Torrance on the Centenary of his Birth

Given as a lecture at the meeting of the T. F. Torrance Theological Fellowship on 21st November, 2013, this paper celebrates the centenary of Torrance’s birth. It begins with the world into which he was born and the ethos of the evangelical missionary movement to which his family belonged. Major aspects of his thinking are considered against his biographical background as they became prominent in the development of his theology: the Reformed tradition and his ecumenical endeavours, his profound analysis of the scientific method of theology in relation to the natural sciences, his focus on the Incarnation and the Atonement, his engagement with the Greek Fathers, and his place in the Trinitarian revival. The review of Torrance’s thought is interspersed with personal reminiscences from several years as Torrance’s student at New College, Edinburgh in the 1970s and from later contact.