“Seeking Love, Justice and Freedom for All”: Using the Work of T. F. and J. B. Torrance to Address Domestic and Family Violence

This chapter will outline the interdisciplinary contributions which the work of theologians Thomas F. Torrance and James B. Torrance offer to Christians who are experiencing domestic and family violence, and the church leaders who support them. There are significant and beneficial commonalities in theological method and teachings in the work of both Torrance brothers which shed light on this issue. Both Torrances rejected dualism and embraced holism. They wrote harmoniously about covenant, and on the person and work of Jesus, and what these truths tell us about personhood, human relationships and dignity, mediation and reconciliation. All of these concepts speak powerfully to the way in which the Father, Son, and Spirit view issues such as domestic and family violence, which fundamentally informs what a ‘Christian’ response to those situations may look like for church workers and for people experiencing violence.