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The Very Rev Professor Thomas Torrance

The Very Reverend Professor Thomas Torrance, who died on December 2 aged 94, held the chair of Christian Dogmatics at Edinburgh University from 1952 to 1979, and was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1976-77.

He was one of Scotland's foremost theologians of the last century and enjoyed an international reputation as the leading exponent of the work of Karl Barth, the Swiss Protestant scholar whom Pope Pius XII described as the greatest theologian since St Thomas Aquinas.

Torrance's output of published work continued into old age; the bibliography of his writings consistsof nearly 650 items.

Besides his teaching at Edinburgh, where the Faculty of Divinity became world famous under his influence, he was in constant demand for lectures, particularly in North America, and was also given honorary doctorates by several leading European universities.

Following retirement Torrance devoted much time to fostering closer relations between the Reformed and Orthodox Churches, leading to an agreed statement on the Holy Trinity in 1991.

Full story at the Daily Telegraph.