Persons, Powers, and Pluralities

Synopsis: Through an intimate conversation with the writings of Thomas F. Torrance, Flett articulates a Trinitarian theology of culture. Torrance's work suggests that Christian assumptions in the areas of God, creation, and humanity had an important influence upon the development of Western scientific culture. This book develops each of these areas of Torrance's thought in order to articulate a theology of culture rooted in a Christian understanding of God as triune, creation as contingent, and human persons as stewards created in the image of God. Drawn together, these three areas of Torrance's thought suggest that human culture and cultural plurality ultimately originate in the creative action of a triune God, mediated through the creative activity of the human creature as it engages a contingent created order in its attempts to foster human flourishing and to bear embodied witness to its Creator. The result is not only a unique contribution to the emerging secondary material on Torrance's work, but also a contribution to the field of theology of culture as a systematic locus in its own right. Endorsement: "T. F. Torrance's vitally important work is only just beginning to receive the wide hearing it properly deserves. Flett has done us a great service in presenting a bold vision of the nature of human culture that emerges directly out of Torrance's work. This deserves to be read and discussed widely." -Jeremy Begbie Thomas A. Langford Research Professor in Theology Duke University "Persons, Powers, and Pluralities provides a clear and compelling case for developing a theology of culture in conversation with the work of T. F. Torrance. This volume is a must read for those engaged in the discipline of theology of culture and is a fitting introduction to the great Scottish theologian's Trinitarian vision. Far from subverting the created order and human culture, we find here the celebration of creation and culture in and through the triune God's personal and dynamic engagement of the world." -Paul Louis Metzger Professor of Christian Theology & Theology of Culture Multnomah Biblical Seminary "Flett is on the right track here. Many North American Christians are struggling to figure out what culture is and how to 'engage' it well. Approaching culture theologically is crucial and T. F. Torrance is, in my view, one of the most important Protestant theologians of the last century. Thinking about culture in light of Torrance's Trinitarian outlook makes a lot of sense." -Christian Smith author of What is a Person?: Rethinking Humanity, Social Life, and the Moral Good from the Person Up Author Biography: Eric Flett is Associate Professor of Theology and Culture at Eastern University, St. Davids, Pennsylvania.