David Wishart Torrance (born 22 June 1924) is a retired

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

minister and part of the well-known Torrance family of theologians and Christian ministers. He is the youngest of six children to Rev

Thomas Torrance Thomas Torrance (1871–1959), born in Shotts, Scotland, was a Scottish Protestant missionary to China. He was first sent there by the China Inland Mission (CIM), and later by The American Bible Society. He married Annie Elizabeth Sharp (1883– ...

(1871–1959) and Annie Elizabeth Torrance (1883–1980), both missionaries to

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

West China Western China (, or rarely ) is the west of China. In the definition of the Chinese government, Western China covers one municipality (Chongqing), six provinces (Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Qinghai), and three autonomous region ...

. Like his two brothers,

Thomas F. Torrance Thomas Forsyth Torrance (30 August 1913 – 2 December 2007), commonly referred to as T. F. Torrance, was a Scottish Protestant theologian and minister. Torrance served for 27 years as professor of Christian dogmatics at New College ...

and James B. Torrance, David became a church minister in the Church of Scotland. He was ordained on 14 November 1955. He served in three parishes across Scotland; Livingston, Summerhill Church in Aberdeen, and Earlston in the Scottish Borders. Unlike his two brothers, he did not go onto academic work. David continued in church ministry until his retirement from Earlston Parish Church in 1991. He published a series of memoirs titled 'The Reluctant Minister' in 2015.

Personal Life

His wife was a medical practitioner who died in 2008. His son, also named David Torrance, followed his father into Church of Scotland ministry. He died in October 2023. He now lives in North Berwick. And, according to the Church of Scotland's records of 2023-2024, only eight other surviving Church of Scotland ministers have been ordained longer than him. He turned 100 on 22 June 2024.

References

1924 births Living people Presbyterian writers 20th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland 20th-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers Alumni of the University of Edinburgh University of Basel alumni {{Scotland-reli-bio-stub Centenarians

Personal Life

See also

References