The risen and ascended humanity of Christ in Thomas F. Torrance’s holistic Christology

This thesis presents the first full-length treatment of Thomas F. Torrance’s theology of the ascension, demonstrating that he developed it holistically by taking into account the ontology, spatiality, and present ministry of the ascended Jesus. Through a methodological approach located in constructive dogmatics, this study seeks to interpret and constructively develop Torrance’s theology in critical dialogue with contemporary theological interlocutors. It concludes that Torrance has propelled the discussion on the ontology, spatiality, and present ministry of the ascended Christ away from generic affirmations to specific declarations; namely (1) Jesus’s ascended humanity has an ontology that is a composite of body-soul, gender, and ethnicity, and he lives an immortal life in creaturely dependence upon God; (2) Jesus’s ascended humanity has a spatiality that is defined by a duality, which is a corporeal, human existence as well as a ubiquitous divine existence that cannot be defined by human characteristics; and (3) Jesus in his ascended humanity has a present ministry that is active, dynamic, and one that will last into eternity, even when sin and evil have been dealt with.
This work has also highlighted areas of critique, such as Torrance’s doctrine of individual eschatology, wherein he seemingly affirms an instantaneous resurrection, thereby undermining his overall proleptic and expectant eschatology. Through a constructive theological proposal, this work suggests that by affirming a non-dualist embodied intermediate state, Torrance’s theology can circumvent criticisms of his individual eschatology. Additionally, Torrance’s rhetoric, specifically his acknowledgement of mystery at key places in his theology, with the ascension as an example of this feature, is an area that this study uniquely focusses on. Finally, with missions being the impulse in all of Torrance’s theology, this study concludes with some suggestive and promising aspects, specifically related to Christian theology in India, that can be explored further.