The late Thomas F. Torrance has been called "the greatest Reformed theologian since Karl Barth" and "the greatest British theologian of the twentieth century" by prominent voices in the academy. His work has profoundly shaped contemporary theology in the English-speaking world. This first of two volumes comprises Thomas Torrance's lectures delivered to students in Christian Dogmatics on Christology at New College, Edinburgh, from 1952 to 1978 and amounts to the most comprehensive presentation of Torrance's understanding of the incarnation ever published. In eight chapters these expertly edited lectures highlight Torrance's distinctive belief that the object of our theological study-Jesus Christ-actively gives himself to us in order that we may know him. They also unpack Torrance's well-developed understanding of our union with Christ and how it impacts the Christian life, as well as his reflections on the in-breaking of Christ's kingdom and its intense conflict with and victory over evil. Decidedly readable and filled with some of Torrance's most influential thought, this will be an important volume for scholars, professors and students of Christian theology for decades to come.
"Torrance presents a full, deeply biblical account of the classical and Reformed doctrines of the person of Jesus Christ and contends that his hwole life is of saving significance."
Interpretation, July 2009
"No more books by Thomas F. Torrance were needed to confirm his standing among English-speaking theologians, or to display his gifts as the most readable and challenging Scottish theologian of all time (not forgetting John Duns Scotus, for whom hehad such esteem). None of the books that appeared in his lifetime bears in such a focused way on the person of Christ and his significance for salvation. With his almost unique command of the biblical as well as of the patristic sources, clarity ofexpression, passion for orthodoxy, and unmistakable (though unobtrusive) personal faith, Professor Torrance still has something new to teach us."
Fergus Kerr, OP, FRSE, Honorary Fellow, School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh