Former Kirk moderator, Torrance, dies at 94

The Very Rev Prof Thomas F Torrance, Moderator of the General Assembly of 1976, passed away on 2 December 2007. He was aged 94.

The son of Christian missionaries, Professor Torrance was born in China in 1913. He served as professor of Christian Dogmatics at New College, Edinburgh University, for 27 years until his retirement in 1979.

Professor Torrance, author of a great many books, was elected moderator of the General Assembly in 1976 - a role in which his son, Iain, followed in 2003.

Commenting on the news, the Rt Rev Sheilagh Kesting, the present moderator, said: "I was saddened to hear of Professor Torrance's death. He has been a world-renowned theologian and was a leading thinker on the relation between theology and science and I was privileged to have him as one of my professors when I was training.

"During that time he became one of my distinguished predecessors as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The world has lost a distinguished theologian and his family a devoted father."