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corpus by considering the missional nature of divine-human communion in Torrance‟s published works in the light of unpublished archive materials relating to his mission engagement with China.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 ..................................................................................................................................