The Christian Doctrine of God, One Being Three Persons (Second Edition)
Overview
Written by one of the twentieth-century’s foremost modern Trinitarian theologians The Christian Doctrine of God remains a classic ground work for scholars and students alike. In the book Thomas F. Torrance offers a detailed study of the most profound article of the Christian faith—the Holy Trinity. Torrance adopts a holistic approach when examining the inter-relatedness of the three persons—Father, son, and Holy Spirit—and their dynamic Communion with the Being and Nature of God. Combining immense academic range with his characteristically fresh theological perspectives, Torrance builds a significant theological bridge between ancient and modern, as well as between the Roman and Protestant theology; he engages deeply with the Church Fathers and discusses the ontological nature of God. Here Torrance conveys a simple message—the doctrine of the Trinity is the doctrine of God. This Cornerstones edition includes a new introduction written by Professor Paul D. Molnar, in which Molnar sets Torrance’s classic work in its modern context and considers how it continues to influence the way we think about the Trinity today.
Top Highlights
“If the covenant of grace is held to be the internal basis of the creation, and the creation to be the external basis of the covenant, then providence may be regarded as having to do with the history of the creation as the external basis of the covenant of grace, and therefore with the redemptive overruling of history in the service of God’s purpose of love not through absolute fiat but through incarnate grace.” (Page 223)
“Like the Son of God the Holy Spirit is no mere cosmic power intermediate between God and the world, but is the very Spirit of God who eternally dwells in him and in whom God knows himself, so that for us to know God in his Spirit is to know him in the hidden depths of his Triune Being as Holy Spirit as well as Father and Son. Apart from the Communion of the Holy Spirit we could not enjoy the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God the Father.” (Page 18)
“It is in the Lord Jesus, the very Word and Mind of God incarnate in our humanity, that the eternal God ‘defines’ and identifies himself for us as he really is. Only in Christ is God’s self-revelation identical with himself, and only in Christ, God for us, does he communicate his self-revelation to us in such a way that authentic knowledge of God is embodied in our humanity, and thus in such a way that it may be communicated to us and understood by us.” (Page 1)
“It is thus that the doctrine of Christ and the doctrine of the Holy Trinity belong intrinsically and inseparably together, and are to be coordinated in any faithful account of them.” (Pages 1–2)
- Title: The Christian Doctrine of God, One Being Three Persons (Second Edition)
- Author: Thomas F. Torrance
- Series: The Cornerstones Series
- Publisher: Bloomsbury
- Print Publication Date: 2016
- Logos Release Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Trinity; God (Christianity)
- ISBNs: 9780567658074, 9780567658081, 9780567658098, 0567658074, 0567658082, 0567658090
- Resource ID: LLS:CHRDOCTOFGOD2ED
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T22:38:52Z
Thomas F. Torrance (August 30,1913–December 2, 2007) was a Protestant Christian theologian and professor of Christian dogmatics for 27 years at the University of Edinburgh. Torrance was influential in the dialogue between science and theology.
He began studying in Edinburgh in 1931, focusing on classics and philosophy. At that time his own realist views of philosophy, theology, and morality started to develop, and they continued to do so as he moved to the study of theology at the Faculty of Divinity in 1934. From 1939 to 1940 Torrance studied at Oriel College, Oxford. He was ordained as minister on March 20, 1940.
He has authored several works, including Divine and Contingent Order, Ground and Grammar of Theology, and The Christian Doctrine of God, One Being Three Persons. Besides writing many books and articles, Torrance also translated several hundred theological writings into English from other languages, including the thirteen-volume, six-million-word Church Dogmatics of the Swiss theologian Karl Barth (co-edited with G.W. Bromiley).