A Hermeneutic of Humility: T. F. Torrance in Dialogue with Paul Ricoeur
For T. F. Torrance, transcendence has a definite referent: the triune God whom the Nicene Creed identifies by means of its conceptual and narrative account of the Father, Son, and Spirit. This God reveals himself by means of becoming incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ, but the triune Lord never...
| Subtitles: | Transcendence and Hermeneutics: Toward a Synthesis |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2026
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| In: |
Modern theology
Year: 2026, Volume: 42, Issue: 1, Pages: 159-178 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | For T. F. Torrance, transcendence has a definite referent: the triune God whom the Nicene Creed identifies by means of its conceptual and narrative account of the Father, Son, and Spirit. This God reveals himself by means of becoming incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ, but the triune Lord nevertheless remains transcendent, for he discloses himself as mystery. The reality of the referent exceeds any expression language can provide, even as this expression can at least point in the direction of the Lord who is rightly loved above all else. There are two senses in which Torrance views theological understanding as party dependent. Knowledge of God requires experience of the divine, much of which is initially inchoate, and some of which always remains beyond full formalization. Furthermore, theological knowledge inevitably gains an inflection from its particular historical and cultural milieu. How does Torrance relate divine transcendence and party-dependence? It is fundamental to him that the human correlate to revelation is reconciliation, and therefore human subjects must undergo change as they respond to divine self-disclosure. Torrance worries that contemporary theology has often conflated the self and God with one another by giving too high a profile to the claim that we always and of necessity come to God with our own ideas set in place. His proposed solution is that the scope of the human element within knowledge should remain appropriately modest. This essay considers whether the language of the proposed solution suggests something other than a non-contrastive relationship between God and human beings, which surely runs against Torrance’s intention. The essay also attempts to create conceptual space for a wider range of traditions (e.g., the voices of women, theologians from the Global South, etc.) by engaging with Paul Ricoeur. |
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| ISSN: | 1468-0025 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Modern theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/moth.70045 |