This thesis offers a constructive engagement with T.F. Torrance’s theological reading of the patristic tradition. It argues that Torrance reconstructs the Fathers into a Consensus Patrum, or “Consensus of the Fathers” consisting of catholic/ecumenical themes and figures. Torrance’s consensus is a creative attempt to produce a Reformed and evangelical version of the consensus which involves significant changes to both standard readings of the Fathers in other approaches to the consensus and Torrance’s own Reformed evangelical tradition. It is unique among other interpreters of the Fathers and ecumenically relevant, offering much to contemporary theology in both substance and method. In order to view Torrance’s project in historical context this thesis examines the notion of the consensus as found in historical Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant theology. Each tradition has a lens through which they view the Fathers: Aquinas for the Roman Catholics, Palamas for the Orthodox, Augustinian themes for the Reformers, and “de‐Hellenization” for liberal Protestants. This thesis places Torrance’s project within other contemporary retrievals of the church Fathers arguing for its uniqueness as a distinctively Reformed evangelical approach to the Fathers on their own terms. It inspects the Torrancian consensus exploring its consistence of a Reformed and evangelical approach to patristic themes and figures, rooted in the primary theme of the Nicene ὁμοούσιον and the primary figure of Athanasius of Alexandria. It examines Torrance’s creative reconstruction of the Fathers into a Reformed evangelical consensus and points to his constructive achievements demonstrating that Torrance’s approach is ecumenically relevant, as seen particularly in his work in the Reformed‐Orthodox Dialogue. A critical adoption of the Torrancian consensus is proposed in conclusion.

Due to the lack of comparative studies referring to so-called values among the Jewish and Christian faith, the following study examines various interpretations of the Decalogue in the Hebrew Bible. These expositions originate from the Roman Catholic, Jewish and Reformed Evangelical tradition. Since the Ten Commandments have been considered influential in several traditions, this study attempts to identify their authority, purpose and status based on the writings of three different theologians. The analysis does not take the whole tradition itself into account, but seeks to discover diverse perspectives, in order to promote a nuanced result. Hence, the results neither speak for the entire denomination nor its believers. Furthermore, the approach of the study is an analysis of ideas, a commonly used method regarding statements of all kind, principally political and religious commentaries. The method endeavors to describe in order to supply further information not explicitly mentioned by the material itself. Thus, the analysis proceeds from theoretical perspectives such as the Euthyphro dialogue, Biblical hermeneutics and covenant. The theologians agree that morality originates from God because of God’s will. Yet there is disagreement regarding its purpose among all three authors. The Roman Catholic and Jewish author emphasize the covenant as a reason to honor the Ten Commandments and have a liberal approach combined with a historical-critical perspective of the Bible, whereas the Reformed Evangelical author expresses a conservative view, equating the Bible with the actual word of God. The Decalogue enjoys a higher status among the Christian authors, although the Roman Catholic author values the Golden Rule significantly more. The issue regarding whether the Decalogue ought to be treated as being above every other law remains unclear based on the material, but is highly more focused than other commandments in the Hebrew Bible. Definitively the study identifies uniting differences from a wide range of beliefs in the theological area.