DOCSLIB.ORG

Thomas F. Torrance and the Chinese Church

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Thomas F. Torrance and the Chinese Church The missional nature of divine-human communion: Thomas F. Torrance and the Chinese church CG Seed 24135984 Thesis submitted for the degree Doctor Philosophiae in Dogmatics at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University Promoter: Prof Dr DT Lioy Co-Promoter: Prof Dr PH Fick MAY 2016 PREFACE I would like to thank Professor Daniël Lioy and Professor Rikus Fick for acting as promoters for this research. Their guidance and advice the whole length of the journey has been invaluable. In addition, the administrative personnel at Greenwich School of Theology and North-West University have been a constant source of advice and encouragement, for which I am grateful. Ken Henke and his team of archivists at Princeton Theological Seminary T.F. Torrance Manuscript Collection provided professional support and a positive research environment in which to undertake the primary research. I am grateful too to the Church Mission Society for allowing me study leave in the USA and to Professor David Gregory-Smith for making the trip possible. Thanks are also due to my brother, Mark Streater and his wife Diana in Connecticut, for hosting me and providing technical back up. My husband, Rev Dr Richard Seed, has accompanied me along the academic journey, providing moral encouragement and practical support in more ways than can be documented here. I could not have completed the work without him. Thanks are also due to friends in London who offered me accommodation while I was working in the British Library, to our son Richard and his wife Jess for accommodation while I was working at Tyndale House in Cambridge. I am also grateful to Africa International University in Nairobi for allowing me to use their library. All Bible quotations in this thesis are from the 2002 English Standard Version, London: HarperCollins. Chinese transliterations from the T.F. Torrance Manuscript Collection have been left in their original form with the exception of the references to the Ch‟iang people who are now known as the Qiang, using the Pinyin transliteration system. Place names are given in the original form on the map provided in the Annexure. ABSTRACT This thesis evaluates the conjunction of dogmatics and mission practice in the Torrance corpus by considering the missional nature of divine-human communion in Torrance‟s published works in the light of unpublished archive materials relating to his mission engagement with China. It shows that the previously noted holism of Torrance‟s theology has practical outcomes both in terms of its understanding of the integral nature of the theology of mission within dogmatics and in terms of his individual “call” to practical mission involvement with the Qiang peoples of Western China. Its major contribution to Torrance scholarship is that it locates his theology firmly within his persona in such a way that it considers Torrance‟s life and intellectual output as one and so challenges the tendency to intellectualise Torrance‟s theology to the neglect of his mission engagement. This has further implications for the conjuncture of dogmatics, biblical theology and biblical theology of mission. The thesis proceeds by evaluating previous research into aspects of divine-human communion that suggest missional outcomes. It establishes a biblical framework for evaluation using Torrance‟s theory of the threefold stratification of knowledge that moves from the exegesis to biblical theology to dogmatics. It then evaluates Torrance‟s theology of the missional nature of divine-human communion in the light of the biblical evidence before appraising unpublished sources relating to the practical involvement of the Torrance family in mission in China from 1895-1994. The thesis concludes that Torrance‟s theology of the missional nature of divine- human communion is premised on the covenantal obligations of Israel and the church to be a “royal priesthood” among the nations. The missional obligation of Israel and the missional calling of the church of the new covenant in Christ come together in the mission history of the Torrance family through the purported Israelite origins of Qiang people of the upper Min valley. The missio Dei that sent the Qiang to China in ancient times, sends the Son to the world in the fullness of time and thereafter sends the Torrance family to the Jewish Qiang to bring the good news that the Saviour has come. The unitary nature of mission practice and theology saturates Torrance‟s work on divine-human communion with missional purpose and gives it a particularly strong sense of the church‟s mission to the Jews. Key words mission, church, covenant, Israel, China, divine-human communion, incarnation, gospel, Qiang. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Problem Statement ............................................................................................................................ 3 1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study ...................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Central Theoretical Argument ......................................................................................................... 4 1.5 Methodology ...................................................................................................................................... 4 2.0 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE................................................................................. 7 2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 7 2.2 Torrance’s Trinitarian Theology ...................................................................................................... 9 2.2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 9 2.2.2 Torrance‟s Onto-Relational Framework ............................................................................................ 9 2.2.3 The Stratification of Knowledge ...................................................................................................... 11 2.2.4 The Relationship between Christology and Soteriology .................................................................. 12 2.2.5 Pneumatology .................................................................................................................................. 19 2.2.6 Resurrection and Ascension ............................................................................................................. 21 2.2.7 Eschatology ...................................................................................................................................... 24 2.2.8 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 25 2.3 Rejection of Dualism ....................................................................................................................... 25 2.3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 25 2.3.2 Torrance‟s Scientific Theology ........................................................................................................ 26 2.3.3 Torrance and Natural Theology ....................................................................................................... 30 2.3.4 Practical Implications of the Rejection of Dualism .......................................................................... 31 2.3.5 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 32 2.4 Missional and Practical Theology ................................................................................................... 32 2.4.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 32 2.4.2 The Missional Nature of Torrance‟s Biography............................................................................... 33 2.4.3 The Practical Nature of Torrance‟s Theology .................................................................................. 34 2.4.4 Ecclesiology ..................................................................................................................................... 38 2.4.5 Evangelism ....................................................................................................................................... 43 2.4.6 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 47 i 2.5 Criticisms ........................................................................................................................................ 47 2.5.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 47 2.5.2 Theological Method ......................................................................................................................... 47 2.5.3 Reductionism ..................................................................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Inventory Acc.13559 Reverend James Watson
    Acc.13559 March 2015 Inventory Acc.13559 Reverend James Watson National Library of Scotland Manuscripts Division George IV Bridge Edinburgh EH1 1EW Tel: 0131-623 3876 Fax: 0131-623 3866 E-mail: [email protected] © National Library of Scotland Papers, 1894-1942, of Rev James Watson, missionary with the Baptist Missionary Society, China. Papers of Reverend James Watson (1878-1954), Baptist Missionary Society (BMS), originally from Wishaw, Lanarkshire. The papers consist mostly of Watson‟s correspondence relating to his service in China from 1906 to the 1930s, but especially concerning his experiences during the siege of Xi'an, Shaanxi province, April-November 1926. The collection also contains other papers relating to Watson and his family. The main family personalities covered by the papers are James Watson, his wife Evelyn (née Evelyn Minnie Russell), their parents, and their children John, Helen, Wreford (who went on to be a noted geographer at the University of Edinburgh), Margaret and Andrew. Some other relatives appear in the papers as correspondents or mentioned in letters. A number of leading BMS missionaries in Xi'an and elsewhere also appear as correspondents or mentioned in letters, including A.G. Shorrock, John Shields, Clement Stockley, E.L. Phillips, Frederick Russell (also brother of Evelyn), William Mudd, and Jennie Beckingsale. The mission stations, schools and hospital in Xi'an, and other mission stations in the surrounding countryside of Shaanxi province, were one of two major centres of BMS activity in China, the other being in Shandong province. The Shaanxi work began in 1890, and the BMS workers were caught up in both the Boxer Rebellion of 1900-01 (during which around 40 BMS missionaries and their families were killed in Shaanxi) and the 1911 Revolution.
    [Show full text]
  • Mapping Mission As Translation with Reference to Michael Polanyi's
    Middlesex University Research Repository An open access repository of Middlesex University research http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk Haney, Richard L. (2014) Mapping mission as translation with reference to Michael Polanyi’s heuristic philosophy. PhD thesis, Middlesex University. [Thesis] Final accepted version (with author’s formatting) This version is available at: https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/13666/ Copyright: Middlesex University Research Repository makes the University’s research available electronically. Copyright and moral rights to this work are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners unless otherwise stated. The work is supplied on the understanding that any use for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. A copy may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial, research or study without prior permission and without charge. Works, including theses and research projects, may not be reproduced in any format or medium, or extensive quotations taken from them, or their content changed in any way, without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). They may not be sold or exploited commercially in any format or medium without the prior written permission of the copyright holder(s). Full bibliographic details must be given when referring to, or quoting from full items including the author’s name, the title of the work, publication details where relevant (place, publisher, date), pag- ination, and for theses or dissertations the awarding institution, the degree type awarded, and the date of the award. If you believe that any material held in the repository infringes copyright law, please contact the Repository Team at Middlesex University via the following email address: [email protected] The item will be removed from the repository while any claim is being investigated.
    [Show full text]
  • Hand-Book of Hamilton, Bothwell, Blantyre, and Uddingston. with a Directory
    ; Hand-Book HAMILTON, BOTHWELL, BLANTYRE, UDDINGSTON W I rP H A DIE EJ C T O R Y. ILLUSTRATED BY SIX STEEL ENGRAVINGS AND A MAP. AMUS MACPHERSON, " Editor of the People's Centenary Edition of Burns. | until ton PRINTED AT THE "ADVERTISER" OFFICE, BY WM. NAISMITH. 1862. V-* 13EFERKING- to a recent Advertisement, -*-*; in which I assert that all my Black and Coloured Cloths are Woaded—or, in other wards, based with Indigo —a process which,, permanently prevents them from assuming that brownish appearance (daily apparent on the street) which they acquire after being for a time in use. As a guarantee for what I state, I pledge myself that every piece, before being taken into stock, is subjected to a severe chemical test, which in ten seconds sets the matter at rest. I have commenced the Clothing with the fullest conviction that "what is worth doing is worth doing well," to accomplish which I shall leave " no stone untamed" to render my Establishment as much a " household word " ' for Gentlemen's Clothing as it has become for the ' Unique Shirt." I do not for a moment deny that Woaded Cloths are kept by other respectable Clothiers ; but I give the double assurance that no other is kept in my stock—a pre- caution that will, I have no doubt, ultimately serve my purpose as much as it must serve that of my Customers. Nearly 30 years' experience as a Tradesman has convinced " me of the hollowness of the Cheap" outcry ; and I do believe that most people, who, in an incautious moment, have been led away by the delusive temptation of buying ' cheap, have been experimentally taught that ' Cheapness" is not Economy.
    [Show full text]
  • T. F. Torrance on the Centenary of His Birth: a Biographical and Theological Synopsis with Some Personal Reminiscences
    T. F. TORRANCE ON THE CENTENARY OF HIS BIRTH: A BIOGRAPHICAL AND THEOLOGICAL SYNOPSIS WITH SOME PERSONAL REMINISCENCES Thomas A. Noble, PhD Professor of Theology, Nazarene Theological Seminary Senior Research Fellow in Theology, Nazarene Theological College, Manchester [email protected] Abstract: Given as a lecture at the meeting of the T. F. Torrance Theological Fellowship on 21st November, 2013, this paper celebrates the centenary of Torrance’s birth. It begins with the world into which he was born and the ethos of the evangelical missionary movement to which his family belonged. Major aspects of his thinking are considered against his biographical background as they became prominent in the development of his theology: the Reformed tradition and his ecumenical endeavours, his profound analysis of the scientic metho of theolog in relation to the natural sciences his focus on the Incarnation and the Atonement, his engagement with the Greek Fathers, and his place in the Trinitarian revival. The review of Torrance’s thought is interspersed with personal reminiscences from several years as Torrance’s student at New College, Edinburgh in the 1970s and from later contact. To return in thought to 1913, the year in which T. F. Torrance was born, is to return to another world. The German Kaiser, the Austrian Kaiser, the Czar of all the Russias, and the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire all still ruled – not to mention his Britannic Majesty, King George V, Emperor of India, presiding over the largest empire the world had ever seen. His Royal Navy dominated the oceans of the world and had been instrumental in abolishing piracy and the slave trade for ever (or so it was thought).
    [Show full text]
  • Theology Today
    Theology Today volume 67, N u m b e r 2 j u l y 2 0 1 0 EDITORIAL Christmas in July 123 JAMES F. KAY ARTICLES American Scriptures 127 C. CLIFTON BLACK Christian Spirituality in a Time of Ecological Awareness 169 KATHLEEN FISCHER The “New Monasticism” as Ancient-Future Belonging 182 PHILIP HARROLD Sexuality as Sacrament: An Evangelical Reads Andrew Greeley 194 ANTHONY L. BLAIR THEOLOGICAL TABLE TALK The Difference Calvin Made 205 R. BRUCE DOUGLASS CRITIC’S CORNER Thinking beyond Easy Tribalism 216 WALTER BRUEGGEMANN BOOK REVIEWS The Ten Commandments, by Patrick Miller 220 STANLEY HAUERWAS An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and Their Texts, by D. C. Parker 224 SHANE BERG TT-67-2-pages.indb 1 4/21/10 12:45 PM Incarnation: The Person and Life of Christ by Thomas F. Torrance, edited by Robert T. Walker 225 PAUL D. MOLNAR Religion after Postmodernism: Retheorizing Myth and Literature by Victor E. Taylor 231 TOM BEAUDOIN Practical Theology: An Introduction, by Richard R. Osmer 234 JOYCE ANN MERCER Boundless Faith: The Global Outreach of American Churches by Robert Wuthnow 241 RICHARD FOX YOUNG The Hand and the Road: The Life and Times of John A. Mackay by John Mackay Metzger 244 JOHN H. SINCLAIR The Child in the Bible, Marcia J. Bunge, general editor; Terence E. Fretheim and Beverly Roberts Gaventa, coeditors 248 KAREN-MARIE YUST TT-67-2-pages.indb 2 4/21/10 12:45 PM James F. Kay, Editor Gordon S. Mikoski, Reviews Editor Blair D. Bertrand, Editorial Assistant EDITORIAL COUNCIL Iain R.
    [Show full text]
  • Mission Studies As Evangelization and Theology for World Christianity
    Mission Studies as Evangelization and Teology for World Christianity Refections on Mission Studies in Britian and Ireland, 2000 - 2015 Kirsteen Kim DOI: 10.7252/Paper. 000051 About the Author Kirsteen Kim, Ph.D., is Professor of Teology and World Christianity at Leeds Trinity University. Kirsteen researches and teaches theology from the perspective of mission and world Christianity, drawing on her experience of Christianity while living and working in South Korea, India and the USA, with a special interest in theology of the Holy Spirit. She publishes widely and is the editor of Mission Studies, the journal of the International Association for Mission Studies. 72 | Mission Studies as Evangelization and Theology for World Christianity Foreword In 2000 and in 2012 I published papers for the British and Irish Association for Mission Studies (BIAMS) on mission studies in Britain and Ireland, which were published in journals of theological education.1 Tese two papers surveyed the state of mission studies and how in this region it is related to various other disciplines. Each paper suggested a next stage in the development of mission studies: the frst saw mission studies as facilitating a worldwide web of missiological discussion; the second suggested that mission studies should be appreciated as internationalizing theology more generally. Tis article reviews the developments in Britain and Ireland over the years which are detailed in these articles and bring them up to date. It further argues that, while continuing to develop as “mission studies” or “missiology”, the discipline should today claim the names “theology for world Christianity” and “studies in evangelization.
    [Show full text]
  • Evangelical Missiology from Africa 277 Authoritarian and Bureaucratic
    evangelical missiology from africa 277 Authoritarian and bureaucratic Christian missions. These independent church structures faith missions did two important things. African Christianity inherited hierarchi- First, they developed new church struc- cal, authoritarian, and bureaucratic church tures and organisations, and second, they structures from the missionaries. These trained Africans to take over their mission structures tended to undermine the Afri- work. They emphasised building churches can communal way of life. The recent Pen- that were self-governing, self-supporting, tecostal and charismatic emphasis on and self-propagating, in accordance with loose church structures and spontaneous the “three-self ” formula espoused by religious expression is now creating pow- Rufus Anderson, Henry Venn, and Roland erful, authoritarian church personalities. Allen. Denominational missions, on the The search for relevant church structures other hand, such as the Baptists, Presby- must cut across both the older churches terians, Methodists, Anglicans (CMS), and and the newer Pentecostal and charismatic Catholics, merely trained Africans to take churches. the places of missionaries and subse- quently incorporated the African mission Capital intensive missions churches into their world denominational The first Evangelical missions in Africa church structures. were industrial missions. They believed in Indigenisation principles had a pro- both the gospel and commerce. This con- found influence upon Christian missions. cept was later dropped as a result of the These policies defined in general terms debates between “social gospel” and “pure the nature of the church, its quality, struc- gospel,” that is, “deed” versus “word.” tures, etc. The preparation of Africans to Christian missions raised funds and take over the mission work depended very personnel from their home mission office much upon what missions understood by and gradually became more and more these indigenous policies and also what dependent on the home mission.
    [Show full text]
  • New College Magazine 2019 (PDF)
    NEW COLLEGE MAGAZINE2019 “ A VERY BRITISH TOUR-DE-FORCE” Miles Jupp Comedian, actor and alumnus P10 12 NEW COLLEGE NEWS HISTORY MAKERS YOUR NEWS Stories from around the School P4 A landmark year for women P7 Alumni updates P14 NEW COLLEGE 2019 EDITOR’S NOTE School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh, Mound Place, Edinburgh EH1 2LX. Tel: +44 131 650 8959 Email: [email protected] Website www.ed.ac.uk/divinity Facebook.com/SchoolOfDivinityEdinburgh Twitter.com/SchoolofDiv Welcome to New College, the School of Divinity’s annual © The University of Edinburgh March 2019. No part of this publication may be reproduced in magazine, formerly known as the Bulletin. I am honoured to any form without prior written consent. The views follow Emeritus Professor Larry Hurtado as editor. We are expressed are those of the contributors and do indebted to him for his contributions over a number of years, not necessarily represent those of the School and wish him well in his retirement. 2 of Divinity, New College or the University of Edinburgh. In these pages, you will find a window into an energetic, Change of address? engaging community of scholarship, already looking forward If you have changed address, please let us to its 175th year (see p 5). know. Contact the University’s Development and Alumni office on +44 (0)131 650 2240 or email This year’s magazine includes a lead article on our alumnus [email protected] Miles Jupp (MA Divinity, 2005), whose path, post-New The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body College, has taken him to radio, television, and more recently, registered in Scotland, with registration number Hollywood.
    [Show full text]
  • New College Bulletin 2016
    New College Bulletin 2016 Our students and programmes: An overview New College Alumni news Research New Books news update page 03 page 10 page 14 page 16 Foreword Contents New College news In this year’s New College Bulletin New College News .................................................... 03 For more on the following and other news items about staff activities and New College events, go to the web site our focus is on our students. of the School of Divinity: www.ed.ac.uk/divinity/news-events. So, we feature brief overviews Our Students and Programmes ................................ 08 of our undergraduate students Alumni news .............................................................. 10 Rooms named in honour of two and programmes (by Dr. Alison New Staff .................................................................... 12 remarkable female academics Jack) and our postgraduate students and programmes (by In memoriam .............................................................. 13 In coming months, two teaching rooms will Professor Susan Hardman Moore). be renamed in honour of former members Major research projects update ................................ 14 of staff Marcella Althaus Reid and Elisabeth As you will see from their comments, Reading matter: staff publications ............................ 16 Templeton. New College continues to thrive, with Scholarships update.................................................. 18 a robust number of applicants each Marcella Althaus Reid (1952–2009) was the year at all levels. We also
    [Show full text]
  • Noteworthy E
    Nolan, F. P. 1980 "Christianity in Unyamwezi, Coplans, B. A. R. 1878-1928." "Methodism and Sinhalise Ph.D. Cambridge. Buddhism: The Wesleyan Methodist Encounter with Buddhism in Ceylon, Porter, R. S. 1814-1868, with special reference to "The Christian conscience and the work of Robert Spence Hardy." industrial Welfare in China, Ph.D. Leeds. 1920-41." Ph.D. London, School of Oriental and African Studies. This listing was prepared by Dr. Ursula King, Department of Theology and Religious studies, The 1978 University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9fT, England. The fan, A. H information was gathered from the Index to "British and Canadian missionaries Theses Accepted for Higher Degrees by the in the Japanese Empire, 1905-1925." Universities of Great Britain and Ireland and Ph.D. Sheffield. the Council for National Academic Awards, published by Aslib, London. Theearlier volumes list always twoyears together without indicating thepre­ 1979 cise date ofthedissertations; thelater volumes list the Stanley, B. date for each dissertation individually. The present "Home support for overseas list does not include dissertations from the uniuersi­ missions in early Victorian England, ties of Abereen, Edinburgh, or Birmingham, which c. 1838-1873." were listed in earlier issues of the International Ph.D. Cambridge. Bulletin of Missionary Research. Noteworthy E Protestant Missionary Works in Chinese on Microfiche Meetings Over 700 selected titles of Protestant missionary works in Chinese The American Society of Missiology will hold its 1983 annual from the Harvard-Yenching Library, Harvard University, are now meeting at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois, June 17-19, on the available on microfiche from Inter-Documentation Co., Poststrasse theme "Spirituality for Mission." The Association of Professors of 14, 6300 Zug, Switzerland.
    [Show full text]
  • Ambassador of God. a Missionary's Task Is to Represent God and His Message to an Alien World. This Shows the Special Relations
    Amillennialism Ambassador of God. A missionary’s task is to Shared Perspectives. Dominating those com- represent God and his message to an alien world. mon features has been a confidence in the per- This shows the special relationship between the sonal, visible, and glorious return of Jesus Christ Creator and the messenger, who is dispatched as to consummate his work of redemption and resto- an envoy, an ambassador of God. An ambassador ration begun with his life, death, and resurrection. is an official diplomatic agent of high rank who Also shared, with varieties of interpretation, is sent out by a ruler or government as a public has been the neo-Augustinian perception of this representative. A missionary is one who is sent age stretching between the first and the second out to work as a citizen of the KINGDOM OF GOD, coming of Christ as a day of divine grace offered representing truth and light in a world of deceit to the sinner. and darkness. In the years following the sixteenth century, In the Old Testament there are numerous ex- that understanding combined especially with the amples of God’s ambassadors. Noah represented colonialist expansion of Europe. An expanded God’s righteousness to unbelievers. Moses pro- knowledge of the world called for an expanded claimed God’s power and justice in pharaoh’s effort to announce that divine word of grace and court. Joshua showed the might and strength of forgiveness in Christ. And sadly, in that expan- the Lord before the Canaanites. Both Gideon sion, Western ethnocentrism often had difficulty and Deborah were mediators between God and in extracting “Christianizing” from “civilizing.” the rebellious and defeated Israelites.
    [Show full text]
  • The Continuing Ministry of the Apostle in the Church's Mission
    THE CONTINUING MINISTRY OF THE APOSTLE IN THE CHURCH’S MISSION A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The School of Theology Fuller Theological Seminary In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Ministry by Stephen B. Addison October, 1995 A Basis for the Continuing Ministry of The Apostle in the Church’s Mission Stephen B. Addison Doctor of Ministry 1996 School of Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary The purpose of this paper is to establish a biblical, theological and historical foundation for the recovery and contemporary functioning of apostolic ministry in the church’s mission. The main thesis is that the Lord of the church continues to gift individuals for the apostolic ministry of church planting and strengthening. Apostolic ministry is grounded in the fact that the God of Scripture is a sending God who graciously reaches out to a fallen world. Jesus is both the supreme revelation of the God who sends and the perfect example of one who is sent as an apostle. The church is an apostolic people sent into the world. Jesus appointed the Twelve with unique authority as witnesses to the resurrection. Paul shared in that unique authority but also demonstrated that the ministry of apostle continues in a functional sense. The spiritual gift of apostle is given to individuals to equip the whole church in its apostolic calling. Apostles are called by God, but their calling is to be recognized by the body of Christ. The ministry of an apostle is trans-local and involves both church planting and strengthening existing churches.
    [Show full text]