Gospel-Centered Interpretation
If you've never read anything by T.F. Torrance, you need to pick up one of his books. I would recommend starting with The Mediation of Christ. He is not easy to read but who cares about easy when you can find hundreds of paragraphs like the following:
“This does not mean that all our knowledge of God can be reduced to Christology, but that, as there is only one Mediator between God and man, who is himself both God and Man, and only one revelation of God in which he himself is its actual content, all authentic knowledge of God is derived and understood in accordance with the incarnate reality of God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ, and is formulated in doctrinal coherence with Christology. That is to say, doctrinal statements about God are possible and true only when Christologically grounded” (T.F. Torrance, The Christian Doctrine of God, p. 17).
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Dan,
Thank you for your recommendation of Torrance. Having graduated in my MA program I have some gift money that is just dying to be spent. My plans are to get some of the works by Torrance and some of the others you cite on your blog. It's always good to learn of new (to me) writers that reflect biblical content, good theology, a high view of the text, etc. In one of my thank you notes I used the Torrance quote that you include in your emails. This note went to an aunt and uncle who have been believers for probably 50 years. They have served in and are faithful members of their church. I was struck by the fact that they regarded the quote as "deep theology." I suspect Torrance has a great deal of good content, but either I am at a level at which I can comprehend him or those who have been in the church for several decades have not had a level of teaching that will equip them to appreciate or understand him. This is sad, especially when his material seems so rich. What a blessing many are missing due to the teaching, or lack of it, that they have had. I trust you are communicating to your students the task that lies before them as they embark upon their ministries. i can't imagine what it must be like to undertake the task of trying yo overcome the level of biblical illiteracy that exists today.
Highlander
Congrats on the new degree!! I forgot you were finishing that up. Congrats!! I think your assessment is correct. It seems to me that the church unfortunately has become theologically illiterate. That is one reason why I work very hard to help my freshmen students become theologically literate by exposing them to the writings of great theologians.
Anyway, I would recommend Torrance's The Mediation of Christ and The Doctrine of God. I think you will find him a theologian of kindred thinking to Richard Hays (The Faith of Jesus Christ).
Yay! Another blogger who has read Torrance :)
Great quote and great site. I shall add you to my list of regular reads.
God bless,
Sven