Publisher's Synopsis
T.F. Torrance's Conflict and Agreement in the Church gathers
together his most influential essays and articles on topics relating to
ecumenism. Himself involved heavily in the ecumenical movement, he wrote that
'ours must be the task of learning together again how to confess, like the
early Church, faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour and God in all its breadth and
length and height and depth, and therefore in the overflowing love of God.' Out
of this conviction grew a comprehensive doctrine of the Church 'in which our
differences are lost sight of because they are destroyed from behind by a
masterful faith in the Saviour of men.'
In this second volume, Torrance's thought on inter-denominational
cooperation in light of the Church's mission is presented. He begins by
suggesting that 'the lines of conflict and agreement in the Church coincide
less and less with the frontiers of the historic communions'. This opens the
door for greater union between those communion, but also exposes significant
challenges to unity within them. Addressing the major debates on the sacraments
of baptism and the Eucharist, along with the priesthood and biblical exegesis,
Torrance proposes a constructive way forward sealed by 'reconciliation in the
Body and Blood of Christ'.
