The Torrance Retreat

Early in my application process I was put in touch with a handful of students studying Torrance in Scotland.  Along the way, a couple of these acquaintances shared with me about gatherings of scholars, pastors, laypersons, and students that centered around learning more about Torrance's theology.  When Alan, my supervisor, sent me information about one in November, Kate graciously agreed to let me go and so I signed up.

The retreats are at Firbush Outdoor Center, which is just off of Loch Tay in the Scottish Highlands.  The conference center is owned by the University of Edinburgh and it was a little on the rustic side but the beauty of the surrounding and the activities they offered during our down time more than made up for a couple of nights in a bunk bed and communal showers. Here was the view out our front door:

In the summer months you can go windsurfing here.  Didn't partake this time since it was a wee bit too cold. 

I joined one of my fellow St Andrews PhD students, Travis Stevick, for the trip and we caught a ride with Mike Stewart, an elder from Holy Trinity, a Church of Scotland congregation in town.  The trip was my first glimpse of the highlands of Scotland, and it was a beautiful trip.  It's been a great fall by Scottish standards, and the leaves were still turning as we drove up through the mountains, alongside Scottish Lachs (Lakes), and through some charming Scottish towns like Crieff and Killin.

Loch Earn, near the Firbush Outdoor Center

We arrived around noon for a brown bag lunch, and then they had allotted time for recreational activities.  Travis and I signed up for a hike guided by one of the staff workers there.  I didn't bring a camera on the trip (all the pictures are thanks to Travis, who has let me use some of his pics from his iPad), and I wish I had.  We headed uphill and passed by the ruins of a couple of Scottish villages - one of them around 500 years old.  Then we cut across a stream across an old bridge that had weathered the test of time, before heading back down through the forest.  The beauty was really stunning.  The ferns had turned a ruddy brown, the grass was still lush, and as we hiked it started to snow.  Amazing.

The retreat started that evening with a couple of sessions - the first on the relationship between incarnation and atonement in TF's thought, and the second on "The Trinity and Judgment."  It was an eclectic group of folks - Church of Scotland pastors, a handful of graduate students, and also an amazing group of laypersons.  One of the highlights of the weekend was getting to know these folks.

Day 2 was a full day - four different talks and a long afternoon blocked out for recreation.  Dr. Tom Noble from Manchester University gave a "Centenary Reminiscence and Assessment of TF" (TF was born in 1913).  Many of the pastors in the room had studied under TF at New College and there were some wonderful personal reflections that were shared.  Dr. Robert Walker, who is TF's nephew and who edited TF's lectures into the volumes Incarnation and Atonement (a great place to start in reading TF along with The Mediation of Christ) gave a talk on "The Trinity in the Christian Life."  I had a chance to chat a bit more with Bob about my dissertation and he was a great help.

The afternoon was blocked out for more recreation and since it was sunny Travis and I ventured on what ended up being a 14 mile bike ride (!).  It was more than worth it for the view.  We rode along the southern rim of Loch Tay.

We got back just in time for the evening lectures.  David Torrance, TF's youngest brother, gave a lecture on the "The Vicarious Humanity of Christ and the Christian Life."  David followed TF and middle brother J.B. in theological studies and even had a year in Basel under Karl Barth.  But at the close of his first year he was told that there was a great need for pastors to aid in the effort surrounding Billy Graham's evangelistic work in Scotland and he turned in 40 pages of his dissertation and never looked back.  His talks were full of pastoral wisdom, and I was thankful to meet him.

The last talk of the night came from Dr. John Miller, on "The Role of Dogma in Preaching the Trinity."  John spoke movingly from his 37 years in the same church which was in the Castlemilk area of Glasgow.  It's what is called in Scotland a "housing scheme" but what we call in the US "the projects."  I found this article written on the occasion of John's retirement when I googled his name.  Spending some time with John was the highlight of highlights of the retreat. 

The final day had a talk on "The Christian Nurture of Children" given by David Torrance.  It was a great practical close to the retreat before a short plenary session where we all gathered around to talk about lingering questions we had and conversations we wanted to pursue a little bit further.  

Then Travis, Mike and I jumped in the car and headed back.  I was looking forward to seeing my family.  Thanks again to Kate for graciously sacrificing so that I could have this time.  

Oh, and I also got to take a picture here:

The site was made famous by this scene.  Brought back some memories of my adolescent years, when I watched this movie about 100 times: