Thomas F. Torrance

[bookslover]

Professor Torrance is 94 years old today (August 30th). His 1996 book on the Trinity, The Christian Doctrine of God: One Being, Three Persons is a great volume.

He was born on Saturday, August 30, 1913, in Chengdu, China, the son of Scottish Presbyterian missionaries.

 

[Dieter Schneider]

Professor Torrance is 94 years old today (August 30th). His 1996 book on the Trinity, The Christian Doctrine of God: One Being, Three Persons is a great volume.

He was born on Saturday, August 30, 1913, in Chengdu, China, the son of Scottish Presbyterian missionaries.

What a shame that so few understand T F Torrance.

 

[polemic_turtle]

The fellow is still alive? Curt Daniel covered him in his lectures on the History of Calvinism and I've listened to a little of his own lectures on.. something. I tried to listen to him while punching out a framing job and failed to pick up much I can remember now. He sounded extremely erudite, though.

 

[bookslover]

The fellow is still alive? Curt Daniel covered him in his lectures on the History of Calvinism and I've listened to a little of his own lectures on.. something. I tried to listen to him while punching out a framing job and failed to pick up much I can remember now. He sounded extremely erudite, though.

He's neo-orthodox in some ways (he studied under Barth himself in the late 1930s), but his volume on the trinity is excellent (it's pretty hard to be neo-orthodox on the trinity).

 

[py3ak]

Carl Trueman claims to have devoted his life to the destruction of Torrance's historiography.

 

[Dieter Schneider]

Carl Trueman claims to have devoted his life to the destruction of Torrance's historiography.

Can you give me a source for this?

 

[Dieter Schneider]

T F Torrance can be listened to here. He is largely responsible for exporting Karl Barth into Scotland, with some success, it seems, though the Church of Scotland has now reached a post-liberal mindset.
What one may make of Karl Barth is anyone's guess. I find him superb - in many respects, but nevertheless most dangerous. Van Til's critique is fully justified in not yielding an inch.
I possess a letter written by T.F. Torrance which attacks John Murray in a surprisingly vicious and unworthy manner. I deem Murray to be far more preeminent in many respects.
Both Barth and T F Torrance's contributions are distinctly non-Reformed, contrary to their protestations. Much of what they say is stimulating, but Barth, if one may say so, speaks with a 'forked tongue'. Both men, with their learning, have distracted the Church from the simplicity of the Gospel, with disastrous consequences. For academic purposes neither Torrance nor Barth can be ignored, but their legacy is mixed, to say the least.
It is gratifying to look at Karl Barth's response to a question related to his written works. Let's hope that his reply was unequivocally non-Barthian.

 

[py3ak]

Sure. Try this link.

 

[Dieter Schneider]

Sure. Try this link.

Thanks. I think the author would not narrow his life's mission down to just being anti-Torrance. At any rate we know each other from our student days in Scotland.