Thomas Torrance - Churchman

Churchman

As an ordained minister in the Church of Scotland he served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from 1976-1977, as did his son Iain from 2003 to 2004. As a Reformed churchman and theologian Torrance worked tirelessly toward ecumenical harmony with Anglicans, Lutherans, Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics throughout his career. In recognition of his ecumenical work with the Eastern Orthodox church, he was consecrated a Protopresbyter in the Patriarchate of Alexandria by the Archbishop of Axum in 1973. Torrance himself served on the Reformed–Roman Catholic Study Commission on the Eucharist which met at Woudschoten, in the Netherlands in 1974, during which time he formed a personal relationship with the Roman Catholic cardinal and renowned ecumenist, Yves Congar. He represented the Church of Scotland in conversations with the Church of England between 1949 – 1951 and fought tirelessly for the visible union of the Church, and not merely a spiritual union; he was the Convener of the Church of Scotland Commission on Baptism from 1954 to 1962 (with John Heron, the father of Alasdair Heron, acting as secretary to the Commission); and was present at the World Council of Churches meeting in Evanston, Illinois, in 1954.

Torrance led a colloquy in Switzerland in March 1975 which discussed Karl Rahner’s work on the Trinity because he believed that Rahner’s work offered an opportunity for genuine ecumenical convergence between East and West, Catholic and Evangelical Christians. Torrance made significant contributions to Reformed and Roman Catholic discussions of Justification by Faith and by Grace as well. It should also be noted that there is much in Torrance’s writing that could form the basis for significant fraternal dialogue between Christians and Jews. Torrance studied with the distinguished Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth in Basel, completing his dissertation on "The Doctrine of Grace in the Apostolic Fathers" in 1946, after his service as a chaplain during World War II. In 1948, he was the founding Editor of the important and highly regarded peer reviewed journal, the Scottish Journal of Theology, which his son Iain continues to edit along with Bryan Spinks of Yale University.