Athanasius is Torrance’s primary patristic mentor; Torrance mines him for his Nicene doctrine of the Trinity, his incarnational soteriology, and his insistence that the unassumed is the unhealed.[1][2]
## Methodological and dogmatic model
– Favorite theologian: Torrance explicitly identified Athanasius as his favorite theologian and set him alongside Barth as a primary dialogue partner.[3][4]
– Nicene framework: In works like *The Trinitarian Faith*, Torrance uses Athanasius as the chief expositor of Nicaea, especially for the homoousion as the key to both Trinity and salvation.[5][1]
– Knowing God from the Son: He repeatedly cites Athanasius’s principle that God is to be signified from the Son (calling him Father) rather than from abstract attributes, which undergirds his whole epistemology of God’s self‑revelation in Christ.[6][5]
## Incarnation, atonement, and fallen humanity
– Incarnation–atonement unity: Torrance follows Athanasius in treating incarnation and atonement as internally united; the hypostatic union is itself reconciling, not a mere precondition to a later “work.”[2][1]
– Fallen human nature: He appropriates Athanasius’s soteriological logic (“the unassumed is the unhealed”) by arguing that the Word assumed our fallen, sin‑stricken condition (without personal sin) in order to heal it from within.[7][8][9]
– Ontological healing and theosis: Athanasius’s vision of salvation as participation in the divine life shapes Torrance’s own ontological account of atonement and his cautious use of theosis language.[10][1]
## Trinity, anti‑Arianism, and anti‑subordinationism
– Anti‑Arian weapon: Torrance takes over Athanasius’s anti‑Arian insistence that the internal Father–Son relation has ontological priority over God’s relation to creation (no “lesser” Son).[11][6]
– Against eternal subordination: Using Athanasian logic, he argues that whatever can be said of the Father (apart from being Father) can be said of the Son and Spirit, which he then deploys against modern eternal functional subordination schemes.[6][11]
## Summary function in Torrance’s project
– Lens on the Fathers: Athanasius functions as Torrance’s chief lens on the “consensus patrum,” especially for a Trinitarian, incarnational, and participatory soteriology.[12][1]
– Bridge to Orthodoxy: His Athanasian–Cyrilline Christology and soteriology are a major reason Orthodox theologians regard him as a fruitful Reformed dialogue partner, even when they contest some of his extensions.[13][14]
Sources
[1] T.F. Torrance: The Trinitarian Faith – mercyuponall.org https://www.mercyuponall.org/
[2] [PDF] The Relationship between Incarnation and Atonement in the … https://digitalcommons.
[3] T. F. Torrance: a eulogy – Faith and Theology https://www.faith-theology.
[4] Vicarious Faith, Tom Torrance, and a Few Memories https://afkimel.wordpress.com/
[5] The Trinitarian Faith (Torrance) – The Puritan Board https://puritanboard.com/
[6] The Trinitarian Faith: The Evangelical Theology of the Ancient … https://www.
[7] The Unassumed Is the Unhealed – The Humanity of Christ https://www.
[8] T. F. Torrance and the Latin Heresy https://firstthings.com/t-f-
[9] Thomas F. Torrance and the Fallen God – Eclectic Orthodoxy https://afkimel.wordpress.com/
[10] Theōsis: A Comparative Study of TF Torrance and Rāmānuja https://digitalcommons.butler.
[11] T.F. Torrance Responds to the Eternal Functional Subordination … https://growrag.wordpress.com/
[12] [PDF] TF Torrance and the Consensus Patrum – ERA https://era.ed.ac.uk/
[13] TF Torrance and Reformed-Orthodox Dialogue https://orthodoxbridge.com/
[14] [PDF] T. F. TORRANCE and EASTERN ORTHODOXY – rIFDT https://rifdt.ifdt.bg.ac.rs/
[15] St. Athanasius and Thomas Torrance in Collusion on the … https://growrag.wordpress.com/
[16] T. F. Torrance as Missional Theologian – Against Magog https://tentsofshem.wordpress.
[17] The trinitarian faith: The evangelical theology of the ancient Catholic … https://www.abebooks.com/
