Christian Frame of Mind: Reason, Order, and Openness in Theology and Natural Science

by Thomas F. Torrance

The Christian Frame of Reason, Order, and Openness in Theology and Natural Science is an exhilarating exploration by one of this century's premier theologians of the relationship between science and theology. This collection of essays, which focuses on themes central to Thomas F. Torrance's lifelong work of integrating Judea-Christian theology and natural science, illuminates the distinctive contribution of the Christian frame of mind to human life and thought particularly in the rise of modern science. Arguing to close the gap between theological and natural science erroneously opened by "the narrow-minded rationalism of the Enlightenment" Dr. Torrance builds upon the work of scientists such as James Clerk Maxwell, Albert Einstein, and Michael Polanyi in promoting dialogue between the two disciplines. The resultant conversation is a brilliant and stirring analysis of common ground in scientific and theological inquiry. Torrance discards a dualist separation for a unitary understanding of reality, in which the invisible guides the interpretation of the visible as scientist and theologian alike adopt self critical openness and the auditive mode of inquiry in response to the pressing questions of their task. Dr. Torrance urges this unitary understanding of the intelligibility of the universe as a shared goal of science and theology. His vision of a foundational convergence between them, where the "boundary points" of contingent reality find their reference in the transcendent, uncreated reality of the Word of God is breathtaking in beauty and scope. The introduction by Dr. W Jim Neidhardt, physics professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, provides a lucid summary of key themes in Torrance's lifelong integrative work.

Genres: Religion

164 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Thomas Forsyth Torrance, MBE FRSE (30 August 1913 – 2 December 2007), commonly referred to as T. F. Torrance, was a Scottish Protestant theologian. Torrance served for 27 years as Professor of Christian Dogmatics at New College, Edinburgh in the University of Edinburgh. He is best known for his pioneering work in the study of science and theology, but he is equally respected for his work in systematic theology. While he wrote many books and articles advancing his own study of theology, he also edited the translation of several hundred theological writings into English from other languages, including the English translation of the thirteen-volume, six-million-word Church Dogmatics of Swiss theologian Karl Barth, as well as John Calvin's New Testament Commentaries. He was also a member of the famed Torrance family of theologians.
Torrance has been acknowledged as one of the most significant English-speaking theologians of the twentieth century, and in 1978, he received the prestigious Templeton Foundation Prize for Progress in Religion.[1] Torrance remained a dedicated churchman throughout his life, serving as an ordained minister in the Church of Scotland. He was instrumental in the development of the historic agreement between the Reformed and Eastern Orthodox Churches on the doctrine of the Trinity when a joint statement of agreement on that doctrine was issued between the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Orthodox Church on 13 March 1991.[2] He retired from the University of Edinburgh in 1979, but continued to lecture and to publish extensively. Several influential books on the Trinity were published after his retirement: The Trinitarian Faith: The Evangelical Theology of the Ancient Catholic Church (1988); Trinitarian Perspectives: Toward Doctrinal Agreement (1994); and The Christian Doctrine of God, One Being Three Persons (1996).

Reviews

[Kenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Torrance is always good, but the topics here are more fully addressed in Divine and Contingent Order.