Customer Reviews

Theology in Reconstruction

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I bought this obscure and esoteric book as a result of a strong recommendation from a missionary to Guatemala, who translated the Bible into various indigenous languages. Torrance is a very learned man, but this book will never be as popular as a the latest Pixar movie or pop culture sensation.

I do not consider myself an unintelligent person, nor ignorant of theology and Church teaching, but he has a very deep grasp of the history of ideas within theology, and also a keen sense of how this relates to the contemporary situation. Thus, though it is sometimes understandable, at other times key meaning hinges on technical terms that would be unfamiliar to the non-theologian or even terms in other languages that can be translated with different nuances, that are significant for his arguments.

The book is very enlightening, but I doubt that 1 in 10 priests would be able to grasp the cogency of the arguments to a sufficient level for it to have an impact in their lives.

Minor flaws are that the book is actually a series of somewhat disconnected essays rather than an actual text, and that at times Torrance gives excessive weight to contemporary thinkers or makes extrapolations to the contemporary situation that are imprecise.

As a historian and theologian whose keenest interest is how reform theology contributed to the development of science and theology over the past few centuries he is unparalleled.

Having said this, it is written at a level that any objective and unbiased scholar of humanities and linguistics can appreciate it, from Noam Chomsky to even committed atheists with an open mind. But I think that a safe bet is that at a minimum a master's degree from a top school in linguistics, philosophy, theology, or a related discipline is necessary to have the intellectual and cultural background to appreciate his insights.