EQ 88.4 (2016/17), 349–366 The Person of Jesus Christ as the Normative Basis for the Doctrine of Creation: Re-Envisioning T. F. Torrance’s Christocentric Doctrine of Creation Alexander J. D. Irving Alexander J. D. Irving is currently serving a curacy at St Stephen’s Church, Norwich having completed doctoral research on T. F. Torrance at the University of Oxford. Keywords: T. F. Torrance; Creation; Christology; Hypostatic Union; Athanasius T. F. Torrance established his understanding of the relationship of God and crea- tion on the person of Jesus Christ. For Torrance, the relation between God and creation has its centre and derives its objective content from God’s self-reve- lation through Jesus Christ. 1 This Christocentric approach begins with the rev- elation of God as the Eternal Father of the eternally begotten Son out from the being of the Father and holds this in contrast to creation made from nothing in accordance with the will of the Father. With some caveats, this essay welcomes Torrance’s Christocentric approach to the doctrine of creation. However, Tor- rance’s approach should be expanded so as to incorporate the relationship of di- vinity and humanity in the person of Jesus Christ, articulated in the conceptual structure of the hypostatic union. Such an extension of Torrance’s Christocentric approach to the doctrine of creation is a natural development of core methodo- logical convictions which he derives from the union of God and humanity in the person of Jesus Christ. In this way, a Christocentric doctrine of creation will be established within an objective framework with two fundamental parameters: (i) the Father-Son relation and (ii) the relation of divinity and humanity in the person of Jesus Christ. I The Doctrine of Creation Torrance’s Christocentric doctrine of creation is consistent with Torrance’s broader contention that there is no inherent proportionality between God and creation through which the relationship of God and creation may be understood by an analysis into created being alone. 2 Alongside a robust doctrine of sin— which includes both (i) an attenuated human reason incapable of attaining the knowledge of God and (ii) an impulse toward autonomy which rejects human 1 T. F. Torrance, The Trinitarian Faith: The Evangelical Theology of the Ancient Catholic Church (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1988), 84; T. F. Torrance, God and Rationality (London: Oxford University Press, 1971), 60–63. 2 T. F. Torrance, Theology in Reconstruction (London: SCM Press, 1965), 108.