T. F. Torrance’s Kataphysical Poetics: How the Incarnation Relates Science to Theology

For T. F. Torrance, theological and scientific inquiry stand or fall together. Whereas Western scientists and theologians, ancient and modern, too often depend on universal methods and criteria, Torrance’s fundamental axiom is to think everything, from amoebas to the Alpha and Omega, in ways appropriate to their respective natures. Scientific theology thus begins with incarnation—the self-communication of God in space-time—also the controlling center for the doctrine of creation, insofar as “all things were created through him and for him” (Col. 1:16). Viewing creation through the lens of Christology allows Torrance to integrate theology and science, and to argue that theology contributes something to our knowledge of the natural world hidden from the natural sciences, namely, its contingent order, triadic relationality, and proleptic conditioning by redemption.

Biography

Kevin Vanhoozer (PhD Cambridge University) is Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. His most recent work is Biblical Authority after Babel (Brazos Press, 2016). His two volumes—The Drama of Doctrine (Westminster John Knox Press, 2006) and Faith Speaking Understanding (Westminster John Knox Press, 2014)—were both awarded the Christianity Today Best Theology Book of the Year.