Princeton Theological Seminary President Iain R. Torrance Attends 50th Anniversary of Haigazian University in Beirut, Lebanon
Princeton, NJ, August 17, 2005—Dr. Iain R. Torrance, president of Princeton Theological Seminary, was the speaker at the Baccalaureate Service marking the 50th anniversary of Haigazian University in Beirut, Lebanon, on June 26, 2005. He was also awarded the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by both the University of Aberdeen and St. Andrews University in Scotland at their summer graduation ceremonies.
Torrance preached at Haigazian’s Baccalaureate Service, held in theFirst Armenian Church in Beirut, for the university’s Class of 2005. In his sermon, titled “Hope in the New World,” he called Haigazian, an Armenian institution, “a beacon for hope and reconstruction in Lebanon as it stands at the threshold of a new stage in its history.” The university was founded as a creative response to the genocide of Armenians in Turkey by those who had escaped, “carrying their vision and faith with them,” Torrance said.
Both Haigazian’s founding president, Dr. John Markarian, and its current president, Dr. Paul Haidostian, are graduates of Princeton Seminary. “They both welcomed me warmly,” said Torrance, “as Christian and Muslim students gave thanks together. I was honored to underscore the ties of friendship between our two institutions.”
The University of St. Andrews conferred the Doctor of Divinity honoris causa on Torrance at graduation ceremonies on June 24. He was one of 13 eminent figures from the worlds of science, literature, politics, and religion, including Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney, to be so honored.
In the laureate address presenting Torrance, who is himself a graduate of St. Andrews, Professor Ronald Piper cited Torrance’s “distinction as a scholar, a church leader, and an academic leader, being president of one of the most prestigious and important institutions in the world of theological scholarship.” He said that Torrance’s inauguration had already “made significant overtures to the Jewish and Muslim communities,” and looked for Torrance to “make further significant contributions to the world of theological scholarship.”
Torrance’s father, theologian Thomas F. Torrance, was also awarded the Doctor of Divinity by St. Andrews, in 1960.
On July 6, the faculty of the University of Aberdeen, where Torrance was Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Divinity and professor in patristics and Christian ethics before being named to Princeton’s presidency, conferred the Doctor of Divinity honoris causa on their former colleague.
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