A Biography of Arthur C. Custance and History of the Doorway Papers

ARTHUR C. CUSTANCE
1910 - 1985

Biographical Sketch

Arthur C. Custance was educated at Private School in England and came to Canada in 1928 at the age of 19 After three years on a farm and two winters in the Canadian bush, he received a scholarship to attend the University of Toronto.

In his second year he was converted to Christ, arid the experience so changed his thinking that he switched courses and five years later obtained an honours M.A. in Hebrew and Greek.

When World War II broke out, he was appointed to the position of materials control in a crown corporation manufacturing firing control instruments in connection with Canada's war effort. Soon after the war ended his continuing biblical studies led to a keen interest in biblical archaeology and then in anthropology, especially as related to human origins. He thus returned to the University of Toronto to obtain a Ph.D., believing that the Word of God could sustain the keenest scrutiny.

However, just before this was completed, he was invited to become head of the human engineering laboratories of the Defence Research Board in Ottawa, and in 1959 he completed his Ph.D. at Ottawa University. Until retirement in 1970 he pursued a very active program of research into thermal regulation in the human body during heat stress under combat conditions. His laboratory work led to the development of some entirely new techniques for the measurement of heat stress in active subjects.

It concerned Arthur Custance that scientists know little or nothing about theology, and that theologians know little or nothing about science. Since he believed that an established fact is as sacred as a revealed truth, his books form a bridge between science and theology. The hallmark of Christian scholarship is not that it states the Truth (which it certainly ought to do) but rather that it faces up to the Christian implications of the truths presented. His writings are characterized by a rare combination of scholarly thoroughness and biblical orthodoxy.

Custance was a Member of the Evangelical Theological Society, a Member Emeritus of the Canadian Physiological Society, a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, arid an elected Member of the New York Academy of Sciences. He is listed in the 1971 edition of American Men of Science.

He published some 30 articles in Christian magazines, has contributed articles to 11 scientific journals, and has authored some 30 government reports and papers. During 1957 to 1972 he wrote and published the Doorway Papers--60 monographs covering a broad spectrum of scientific and biblical studies. In retirement he wrote 6 major books.

On October 22, 1985, in his 75th year, Arthur Custance made the journey out of time into eternity, and is now in the presence of his Lord and Saviour with whom he walked by faith for over fifty years.

His Writings:

The Doorway Papers

The title for this Series of 60 monographs is intended to signify that these Paers are exploratory and do not pretend to provide final answers. They are designed to invite further exploration.

In the interest of clarity of exposition, no apology is made for statements which are matters of faith rather than fact, but as far as possible the distinction is indicated where appropriate.

They are the result of over twenty-five years of careful examination of the biblical records and the light they receive from, and contribute to, the whole field of modern knowledge.

As a rule, they represent new approaches of old issues, the author being fully persuaded that Scripture has nothing to fear and everything to gain from the closest examination possible.

Each Paer contains a full index of references giving complete documenation from original sources of material used so that the topics may be persuaded further by anyone who desires to do so.


1958

A Brief History of the Doorway Papers

Let me give you a little history. In 1956 Arthur Custance felt it was time to do some writing, and so he and I made a list of subjects (titles) that he could write about--and we ended up with 60 titles, not in any particular order or sequence. It was our "check" list--he did not write serially, beginning at 1 and going to 60 but wrote as "the spirit moved him," randomly. The first momographs came out in 1957 and the last one fifteen years later, in 1972--with indexes to all 60 Papers.

Then Zondervan Publishing Company (Grand Rapids, Michigan) approached us, and so in 1975 began "The Doorway Papers Series" of 9 volumes plus a 10th as the Index. But once again, the Papers did not appear serially. Arthur arranged them as to subject matter with some of volumes as miscellanies. It took Zondervan 5 years to complete the series. And within another 5 years the series was discontinued. Actually the letter informing us of this decision reached us one week after Arthur died--he never saw the letter.

Subsequently I received many orders for this series. I bought up some sets but complete sets were soon unavailable. In consultation with some friends in Brockville, we decided that the Papers should be made available again as monographs, and we found a way to do this without a huge outlay of capital. We made a good master copy, bought a photocopier (which would do double-sided copy), and a binder (a German one). And we made copies upon demand. We had a standard cover. I wrote an abstract of each Paper for the back cover. We changed some of the titles. When I moved to Hamilton, I sold the copier (really, gave it away!) and used commercial copiers (hasn't been too satisfactory). I still make copies (though don't use the binder now) but it doesn't give me much satisfaction.

The books--with the exception of "Without Form and Void" which was first published in 1970--were written in retirement: 1979, 1980 (2 in this year), 1981, and 1983. Zondervan published the Series, and another book with Probe Ministries ("Mysterious Matter of Mind"), Presbyterian & Reformed published "Sovereignty of Grace" and Doorway Publications had to publish the rest.

July 4, 1997.

General Information

Copyright© 1996. The material in the Arthur C. Custance Library is copyrighted and may not be reproduced in any form for commercial use without prior written permission from Doorway Papers, 38 Elora Drive, Unit 41, Hamilton, Ontario, L9C 7L6, Canada. Permission is granted to download for unlimited personal use and for reproduction and distribution for non-profit or non-commercial use such as study groups or classroom use.

Dr. Custance's books and papers are currently mostly out of print. It is our aim to recover as many as possible in this online library. Book publishers are invited to contact Evelyn M. White. For corrections and changes, send email to Lambert Dolphin. (dolphin@best.com).

BOOK PRICE: $9.95 (US) each, plus 25% of the total.for postage and shipping. Cheques should be made out to Evelyn M. White. Contributions for the maintenance and support of this library are gratefully received, as we do have certain ongoing expenses. A CD Rom disk containing this entire library is under development and should be ready for release in the summer of 1997.

Please send comments and questions regarding this library to the curator and head librarian,