Transformation and Convergence in the Frame of Knowledge

The essays which make up this volume arise out of the author's ongoing engagement with the tension between Christian theology and the general frame of thought that has dominated European culture for several hundred years. The early Christian Church set about not only to communicate the Gospel to the Greco-Roman world but also to transform the prevailing mode of thought and culture so that the Gospel could take deep root and develop within it. Therefore, in every age, says Thomas F. Torrance, "the Christian faith must be brought to bear transformingly upon the whole frame of human culture, science, and philosophy."

Thomas F. Torrance was born in China in 1913 to missionary parents. For nearly 30 years until his retirement in 1979 he was Professor of Christian Dogmatics (Systematic Theology) at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. A prolific writer on many topics, he has published numerous books and papers on the Philosophy of Theology dealing with the epistemology of theological concepts and with the relation of theology to natural science. In 1976-7 Torrance served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and in 1978 he was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. Having reached the 21st Century, he is still an active scholar and researcher.