Communion with the Triune God

The Trinitarian Soteriology of T. F. Torrance

Dick O. Eugenio

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781625640369
  9781498267441
• eBook ISBN:
  9781630872991
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

The revival of Trinitarian studies in the twentieth century ushered in a new era of theological innovation. The renewed and dedicated articulation of the Trinity as a doctrine in its own right is indeed noteworthy, but more important and praiseworthy are the recent endeavors of theologians in integrating the doctrine of the Trinity with other Christian doctrines and with the many variegated aspects of the life and ministries of the church. Today, it is common to encounter the term "Trinitarian" being used as a modifier: Trinitarian worship, Trinitarian ecclesiology, etc. This book presents Thomas F. Torrance as a participant theologian in this integrative paradigm. Because Torrance argues that the Trinity is "the ground and grammar of theology," his doctrine of salvation is consistently Trinitarian. But how did he formulate his unique Trinitarian soteriology? This book attempts to spell this out.

1

Scientific, Evangelical, and Trinitarian Soteriology

Almighty God, who hast given us thine only begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin: Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with thee and the same Spirit ever one God, world without end.1

In Daniel Hardy’s evaluation, in respect to content and form, Torrance’s theology is both declarative and relational. First, it is declarative because it determines and demonstrates core Christian doctrines as they developed through the history of the church, particularly in relation to the patristic conciliar declarations on the doctrine of the Trinity. Evidence is found in his conspicuous preoccupation with the doctrinal formulations of Athanasius and the Reformation in his writings. In this sense, Torrance’s theology is more analytic than constructive, but it is false to assume that Torrance possesses no originality.2 His recurrent recourse to historical theology is apologetic, in that he seeks to show that his theology is grounded upon and is an exposition of creedal beliefs. Furthermore, as T. A. Noble writes, Torrance approaches classical theologians “as a ‘historical theologian’ interested in the profound convergence of thought, rather than as a ‘theological historian’ concerned with cultural relativities.”3 Secondly, his theology is relational because it is not only integrative, but also unique.4 A theological glue holds together Torrance’s over six hundred published materials, and makes the several interrelated themes and aspects within them consistent and coherent. This is why an introductory presentation of other aspects of his thought is necessary for us to understand his trinitarian soteriology. There are two important aspects in particular: (1) scientific theology, and (2) evangelical theology. Torrance admits that the nature of trinitarian theology requires a circular procedure in presentation, but adds that this does not imply “operating with a vicious cycle, begging the question, or falling into the fallacy of a petitio principii.”5 Rather, this procedure actually prevents theologizing from moving outside of its own theo-logic, or arguing from some starting point of our own choosing through which theological truths may be judged or validated.

Scientific Theology and the Trinity

Torrance ranks among a few recent theologians whose interest in science overlaps and influences their theology. In Torrance’s case, the awareness came early. Upon Hugh Ross Mackintosh’s introduction of the theology of Barth to him in 1935, and his consequent reading of Barth’s Church Dogmatics I/1, Torrance was “immensely exhilarated by the insight of Barth . . . and by his presentation of dogmatics as a science.”6 Equally enlightening to him was Barth’s scientific-trinitarian theology, as also manifest in the creeds. Torrance was immediately convinced that any serious scientific attempt at knowledge should be governed by the given data. In the case of theology, therefore, theologizing should be governed by the self-revelation of God as recorded in the Scriptures, and particularly by the self-manifestation of God in history in the incarnate Son and the Holy Spirit. As will be seen later, this has profound consequences in Torrance’s trinitarian soteriology.

General Relationship between Science and Theology

Torrance acknowledges the animosity between the church and the sciences, and his attempt to reconcile these two often bifurcated fields is primarily apologetic.7 Firstly, he shows scientists that theology is a science in its own right; and secondly, which comprises the larger part, he enlightens the church that science and theology inform one another, and that science is not inherently an enemy of the Christian truth. Torrance even asserts that thinking about the interrelation of theological and natural sciences is a part of the calling of both Christians and scientists.8 The church’s hostile disposition against science and its agenda, Torrance states, is grounded upon false and obsolete presuppositions. The idea that science is an enemy of the Christian faith, he optimistically proclaims, is no longer true. Modern science’s arrogant superiority complex has already been abandoned by contemporary science. Forced by the very advances of science itself, scientists are beginning to realize the boundaries of natural investigation and the futility of the modern agenda for a methodological secularization. Since natural science is concerned not simply with the convenient arrangements of observational data which can be generalized into universal explanatory forms, but with the intrinsic structures of the universe, the relation of the universe to God seems to be steadily forced on scientists by their own limitations to explain certain events and principles. This is encapsulated by Albert Einstein’s redefinition of physics: “a finite but unbounded universe with open, dynamic structures grounded in a depth of objectivity and intelligibility which commands and transcends our comprehension.”9

Secondly, the church is appropriating an outdated science. Torrance asserts that science has already moved on, but the church has failed to recognize it. This unawareness on the part of the church portrays her inability to take on the challenge of keeping up-to-date with new discoveries and trends. Torrance’s favorite example is the obsolete dualist frame of thought that still pervades theology today. Augustinian and Thomist dualism should now be replaced by a holistic framework, just as Newton’s dualistic and mechanistic concept of the universe has already been discarded by science in favor of Einstein’s ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword - T.A. Noble
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Scientific, Evangelical, and Trinitarian Soteriology
• Chapter 2: The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ
• Chapter 3: The Love of God the Father
• Chapter 4: The Communion of the Holy Spirit
• Chapter 5: Communion with the Triune God
• Summary and Conclusions
• Bibliography