What do you think?
Rate this book
T. F. Torrance: An Intellectual Biography
T. F. Torrance is widely regarded as the most significant British academic theologian of the twentieth century. He is especially noted for his ground-breaking contribution to the study of the relationship of Christian theology and the natural sciences. He is unquestionably one of the most prolific of theological writers and is the most senior member of the nearest thing to a 'theological dynasty' that Great Britain has ever produced. Here, Alister McGrath, himself one of this country's leading theologians, traces the development of Torrance's theological thought and provides a comprehensive account of his life and career. Particular attention is paid to the important role played by Torrance in the English-language reception of the theology of Karl Barth, and to his pioneering engagement with the relation between theology and science. While making extensive reference to Torrance's published works, McGrath also draws on important unpublished writings and private papers. The book contains many unpublished photograhs, together with a complete bibliography of Torrance's works.
316 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
2 people are currently reading
74 people want to read
About the author
Alister E. McGrath
451 books499 followersAlister Edgar McGrath is a Northern Irish theologian, priest, intellectual historian, scientist, and Christian apologist. He currently holds the Andreas Idreos Professorship in Science and Religion in the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford, and is Professor of Divinity at Gresham College. He was previously Professor of Theology, Ministry, and Education at King's College London and Head of the Centre for Theology, Religion and Culture, Professor of Historical Theology at the University of Oxford, and was principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, until 2005. He is an Anglican priest and is ordained within the Church of England.
Aside from being a faculty member at Oxford, McGrath has also taught at Cambridge University and is a Teaching Fellow at Regent College. McGrath holds three doctorates from the University of Oxford, a DPhil in Molecular Biophysics, a Doctor of Divinity in Theology and a Doctor of Letters in Intellectual History.
McGrath is noted for his work in historical theology, systematic theology, and the relationship between science and religion, as well as his writings on apologetics. He is also known for his opposition to New Atheism and antireligionism and his advocacy of theological critical realism. Among his best-known books are The Twilight of Atheism, The Dawkins Delusion?: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine, Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life, and A Scientific Theology. He is also the author of a number of popular textbooks on theology.
Aside from being a faculty member at Oxford, McGrath has also taught at Cambridge University and is a Teaching Fellow at Regent College. McGrath holds three doctorates from the University of Oxford, a DPhil in Molecular Biophysics, a Doctor of Divinity in Theology and a Doctor of Letters in Intellectual History.
McGrath is noted for his work in historical theology, systematic theology, and the relationship between science and religion, as well as his writings on apologetics. He is also known for his opposition to New Atheism and antireligionism and his advocacy of theological critical realism. Among his best-known books are The Twilight of Atheism, The Dawkins Delusion?: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine, Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life, and A Scientific Theology. He is also the author of a number of popular textbooks on theology.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 4, 2026
Torrance: “The concept of truth enshrines at once the real being of things and the revelation of things as they are in reality. The truth of being comes to bear in its own Iight and in its own authority, constraining us by the power of what it is to assent to it and acknowledge it for what it is in itself. St Anselm, who developed that further in a more realist way, held truth to be the reality of things as they actually are independent of us before God, and therefore as they ought to be known and signified by us.”
This book is the best secondary and holistic treatment on Torrance’s life and thought that I have come across so far. McGrath offers such an in-depth engagement with Torrance’s life and the key aspects of his theological vision—not to mention the extensive bibliography of Torrance’s 600+ published works included in at the end of this book. McGrath has done his research and knows Torrance very well, but is also not afraid to critique or show weaknesses in Torrance’s thought. Even though McGrath provides robust discussion on Torrance’s reception of Barth’s theology, his recasting of natural theology, and his engagement with theology and the natural sciences, McGrath is careful to point out that the core of Torrance’s life and work is his missionary and evangelistic concerns. McGrath’s biography is a stirring one even if it can be dense at times! My admiration and appreciation for Torrance has greatly increased as a result of reading this book, and I already loved Torrance’s work! I aspire to be a theologian like Torrance, but I also realize that his overwhelming literary output and his work ethic are almost impossible to emulate!
Torrance’s theological vision, illuminated as it was by the sciences, and shaped by the great thinkers of the faith such as Athanasius, Calvin, Barth, and Mackintosh, will make you excited about the task of theology and growing in knowledge of God as he has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. McGrath’s thorough treatment on Torrance’s engagement with natural science has also shaped my own views about theology and the sciences. Well done work from McGrath! One of the greatest theologians of the 21st century has written a biography on one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century.
This book is the best secondary and holistic treatment on Torrance’s life and thought that I have come across so far. McGrath offers such an in-depth engagement with Torrance’s life and the key aspects of his theological vision—not to mention the extensive bibliography of Torrance’s 600+ published works included in at the end of this book. McGrath has done his research and knows Torrance very well, but is also not afraid to critique or show weaknesses in Torrance’s thought. Even though McGrath provides robust discussion on Torrance’s reception of Barth’s theology, his recasting of natural theology, and his engagement with theology and the natural sciences, McGrath is careful to point out that the core of Torrance’s life and work is his missionary and evangelistic concerns. McGrath’s biography is a stirring one even if it can be dense at times! My admiration and appreciation for Torrance has greatly increased as a result of reading this book, and I already loved Torrance’s work! I aspire to be a theologian like Torrance, but I also realize that his overwhelming literary output and his work ethic are almost impossible to emulate!
Torrance’s theological vision, illuminated as it was by the sciences, and shaped by the great thinkers of the faith such as Athanasius, Calvin, Barth, and Mackintosh, will make you excited about the task of theology and growing in knowledge of God as he has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. McGrath’s thorough treatment on Torrance’s engagement with natural science has also shaped my own views about theology and the sciences. Well done work from McGrath! One of the greatest theologians of the 21st century has written a biography on one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century.
May 12, 2017
Excellent biographical sketch of Torrance's career, including his early life in China during his father's missionary work there.
Very helpful was the extensive bibliography which was STILL being updated at the publication of this work because I believe Torrance was still alive.
Very helpful was the extensive bibliography which was STILL being updated at the publication of this work because I believe Torrance was still alive.
January 2, 2016
This book is divided into two parts: a brief treatment of Torrance's life and an examination of his thought. His parents were missionaries to China and fostered a deep piety and evangelistic zeal in the young Torrance. Torrance grew up reading the bible through each year. His dad could repeat the Psalms and Romans by heart.
Of particular interest is Torrance's lectureships in America, ironically at liberal institutions. They were not ready for his evangelistic style of lecturing. Auburn Theological Seminary (largely liberal) invited a 25 year old Thomas Torrance to guest lecture. He ended up evangelizing his students on the deity of Christ. He was invited to teach at Princeton University but they told him it was to be a neutral atmosphere and that he shouldn't get involved with the students religious beliefs.
Torrance: I make no such promises. He was hired nonetheless.
McGrath skillfully makes use of unpublished mss and shows us a very interesting side of Torrance. Torrance's life often borders on a heroism found in novels.
His Thought
Was Torrance a "Barthian?" No. As he made powerfully clear to Donald Macleod he was an "Athanasian" before he was a Barthian. Nevertheless, Torrance's legacy is connected with Barth's.
On the reception of Barth
No one is a pure Barthian. McGrath notes the numerous difficulties in Barth’s reception in the English-speaking world. This narrative takes place within Torrance’s “cold war” with John Baillie. McGrath quotes A. Cheyne in suggesting four different ways someone could “receive” Barth’s teachings:
1. Superficial influence, but largely unchanged and staying within the liberal tradition
2. Entire outlook affected but withheld ultimate approval.
3. real but cautious admirers.
4. Uncritical admirers (Alec Cheyne, “The Baillie Brothers,” in Fergusson, Church and Society, 3-37, 33, quoted in McGrath, 89).
McGrath notes that Barth wasn’t well-received in the Scandinavian Lutheran countries, given Barth’s firm commitment to Reformed Christology. Barth took longer to make headroads into Anglican because, as McGrath ruefully muses, Anglicanism didn’t have much of a dogmatic center (McGrath 122-123). This was not the case in Presbyterian Scotland, which in many ways was a dogmatic center!
McGrath lists four criteria that must be in place if a foreign thinker like Barth is to make headway:
1. Competent translations of the most important works into the new language.
2. A journal dedicated to sympathetic viewpoints.
3. A publishing house which is prepared to handle primary and secondary material.
4. A platform where a rising generation may be influenced.
Torrance's thought is a Reformed reworking of Athanasius's insight that the homoousion--the oneness of being between Father and Son--means a oneness of Being-in-Act in God's saving and revealing himself to us. The doctrine of the Trinity is an outcome of an intellectual engagement with God kata physin. “The nature of God was disclosed to be such that Trinitarian thinking was the only appropriate response to the reality thus encountered” (161). Scientific realism allows direct correlations between self-revelation of God and God himself.
McGrath breaks new ground in shedding light on a key tension in Torrance's so-called "Barthianism." Can there be a positive relation between God's self-revelation and a bare natural theology? Maybe. Problem: If all theology proceeds from God’s self-revelation in Christ, then where can natural theology fit (185)?
Early Torrance: “revelation is an act in which God confronts us with his person, in which he imparts himself” (Torrance, Christian Doctrine of Revelation, 32, Auburn lectures). If this is the case, how can man "reason upwards to God?" Again, and as always, the solution is found in Athanasius. Knowledge of God and knowledge of the world share the same foundations in the rationality of God the creator.
1. God is in possession of an intrinsic rationality--the divine logos.
2. That logos has become incarnate in Jesus Christ, so that Christology becomes the key to accessing the inner rationality of God.
3. the divine rationality is also seen in the created order, in which the divine logos can be discerned at work in the contingent yet ordered nature of the world.
4. Creation (1-3) makes natural theology possible.
The book is magnificent. Its rather foreboding price prevents it from being an otherwise perfect introduction to Torrance's thought.
Of particular interest is Torrance's lectureships in America, ironically at liberal institutions. They were not ready for his evangelistic style of lecturing. Auburn Theological Seminary (largely liberal) invited a 25 year old Thomas Torrance to guest lecture. He ended up evangelizing his students on the deity of Christ. He was invited to teach at Princeton University but they told him it was to be a neutral atmosphere and that he shouldn't get involved with the students religious beliefs.
Torrance: I make no such promises. He was hired nonetheless.
McGrath skillfully makes use of unpublished mss and shows us a very interesting side of Torrance. Torrance's life often borders on a heroism found in novels.
His Thought
Was Torrance a "Barthian?" No. As he made powerfully clear to Donald Macleod he was an "Athanasian" before he was a Barthian. Nevertheless, Torrance's legacy is connected with Barth's.
On the reception of Barth
No one is a pure Barthian. McGrath notes the numerous difficulties in Barth’s reception in the English-speaking world. This narrative takes place within Torrance’s “cold war” with John Baillie. McGrath quotes A. Cheyne in suggesting four different ways someone could “receive” Barth’s teachings:
1. Superficial influence, but largely unchanged and staying within the liberal tradition
2. Entire outlook affected but withheld ultimate approval.
3. real but cautious admirers.
4. Uncritical admirers (Alec Cheyne, “The Baillie Brothers,” in Fergusson, Church and Society, 3-37, 33, quoted in McGrath, 89).
McGrath notes that Barth wasn’t well-received in the Scandinavian Lutheran countries, given Barth’s firm commitment to Reformed Christology. Barth took longer to make headroads into Anglican because, as McGrath ruefully muses, Anglicanism didn’t have much of a dogmatic center (McGrath 122-123). This was not the case in Presbyterian Scotland, which in many ways was a dogmatic center!
McGrath lists four criteria that must be in place if a foreign thinker like Barth is to make headway:
1. Competent translations of the most important works into the new language.
2. A journal dedicated to sympathetic viewpoints.
3. A publishing house which is prepared to handle primary and secondary material.
4. A platform where a rising generation may be influenced.
Torrance's thought is a Reformed reworking of Athanasius's insight that the homoousion--the oneness of being between Father and Son--means a oneness of Being-in-Act in God's saving and revealing himself to us. The doctrine of the Trinity is an outcome of an intellectual engagement with God kata physin. “The nature of God was disclosed to be such that Trinitarian thinking was the only appropriate response to the reality thus encountered” (161). Scientific realism allows direct correlations between self-revelation of God and God himself.
McGrath breaks new ground in shedding light on a key tension in Torrance's so-called "Barthianism." Can there be a positive relation between God's self-revelation and a bare natural theology? Maybe. Problem: If all theology proceeds from God’s self-revelation in Christ, then where can natural theology fit (185)?
Early Torrance: “revelation is an act in which God confronts us with his person, in which he imparts himself” (Torrance, Christian Doctrine of Revelation, 32, Auburn lectures). If this is the case, how can man "reason upwards to God?" Again, and as always, the solution is found in Athanasius. Knowledge of God and knowledge of the world share the same foundations in the rationality of God the creator.
1. God is in possession of an intrinsic rationality--the divine logos.
2. That logos has become incarnate in Jesus Christ, so that Christology becomes the key to accessing the inner rationality of God.
3. the divine rationality is also seen in the created order, in which the divine logos can be discerned at work in the contingent yet ordered nature of the world.
4. Creation (1-3) makes natural theology possible.
The book is magnificent. Its rather foreboding price prevents it from being an otherwise perfect introduction to Torrance's thought.
July 20, 2013
T.F. Torrance has been an important theologian for me during my years ministering to faculty and Vanderbilt and now in parish ministry. His groundbreaking work on the interface of the natural sciences and theology drew me initially to his writings, and his writings on the the Incarnation, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ have been invaluable to me in parish ministry.
Alister McGrath has provided an wonderful introduction to Torrance's life and thought. Dr. Torrance provided McGrath with access to his unpublished notes and sermons, and McGrath has provided a clear and succinct presentation of the development and contribution of Torrance's theology.
Alister McGrath has provided an wonderful introduction to Torrance's life and thought. Dr. Torrance provided McGrath with access to his unpublished notes and sermons, and McGrath has provided a clear and succinct presentation of the development and contribution of Torrance's theology.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews