The Surprising God

This post concludes a series looking at key concepts in   The Christian Frame of Mind  by Thomas F. Torrance (TFT).   To read other posts in the series, click a number:  1 ,  2 ,  3 , 4 . Jesus Christ (fully God, fully human) (public domain via Wikimedia Commons) This series has examined a fundamental precept of TFT's theology---one derived from the Bible, affirmed by the Nicene faith of the early church Fathers, and confirmed in the natural sciences (quantum physics in particular). The precept is this: The order in the universe is  contingent order, meaning that it has an intelligibility grounded in a source beyond itself. As scripture shows, and the early church taught, that Source is the Word ( Logos ) of God, who is both Creator and Sustainer of the universe. The Creator become Redeemer Scripture also reveals that to restore the order lost in the fall, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe became its Redeemer. The Word of God accomplished this re-ordering by a

In this series we're looking at what Thomas F. Torrance (TFT) has to say  in  The Christian Frame of Mind  concerning  the integration of science and theology in light of the Incarnation of the Word of God.  For other posts in the series, click a number: 1 , 2 , 3 , 5 . Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons Last time we explored TFT's theologically- and scientifically-reasoned understanding that the order in the universe is  contingent order , meaning that its "ground of being" lies outside itself. In this post we'll see how that concept has (in both theology and science) displaced the idea of a universe possessing non-contingent order--- the viewpoint that dominated much of theology and science in the modern era. The ascending viewpoint of  contingent order The concept of the universe possessing contingent order and thus being open and dynamic has been emerging in the natural sciences and in theology since at least the time of Einstein. In science the ev

In this series we're looking at what Thomas F. Torrance (TFT) has to say  in  The Christian Frame of Mind  concerning  the integration of science and theology in light of the Incarnation of the Word of God.  For other posts in the series, click a number: 1 , 2 , 4 ,  5 . Quarks spinning in a particle accelerator (public domain via Wikimedia Commons) As noted last time , by thinking with and through the mind of Christ, we are enabled to grasp the reality that the order we perceive in the cosmos is  contingent order ---order with a "controlling ground" beyond itself---order that is dependent on something (someone?) outside itself. As noted by TFT, thinking in this disciplined way yields important insights in both science and theology: Science and theology are each dedicated in their own way, not only to clarifying and understanding order, but to achieving order... through relating actual order to the ultimate controlling ground of order from which all order procee

In this series we're looking at what Thomas F. Torrance (TFT) has to say  in  The Christian Frame of Mind  concerning  the integration of science and theology in light of the Incarnation of the Word of God.  For other posts in the series, click a number: 1 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 . Last time we saw how the Greek Church Fathers taught that the Word of God, via the Incarnation, assumed our fallen nature (mind), and then through his life, death, resurrection and ascension, healed it. In and through the "personalizing person" of Jesus Christ, the corrupt human mind has been renewed---set on an entirely different foundation. And now, by faith, through the Spirit, we are enabled to think with, in and out of that mind, which is the mind of Christ. Though once we were blind, now, by grace, we can see things as they actually are. The Church Fathers (public domain via Wikimedia Commons) In Scripture we are told that Jesus has made "all things new" (2 Cor. 5:17; Rev. 21: