Arthur Custance was born and educated in England and moved to Canada when he was 18.
In his second year at University of Toronto, he was converted to faith in Christ.
The experience so changed his thinking that he switched courses, obtaining an honours M.A. in Hebrew and Greek.
In his formal education, he explored many facets of knowledge and was particularly interested in anthropology and origins.
He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Ottawa in 1959 while serving as head of the Human Engineering Laboratories of the Defence Research Board in Ottawa and was engaged in research work for 15 years.
During that time, he also wrote and published The Doorway Papers and when he retired in 1970, he wrote 6 major books.
Dr Custance's writings are characterized by a combination of scholarly thoroughness and biblical orthodoxy.
Dr Custance is the subject of
The Biography of
Arthur C Custance
A Christian in the World of Science
by Evelyn White
published in 2007
by Doorway Publications.
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The following papers are representative of Dr. Custance's unique melding of
scientific thought, Biblical interpretation and sanctified reasoning.
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In the Sweat of Thy Brow
 While at Canada's Defence Research Board Arthur Custance researched physiological stress under combat operations. He held several patents in the area of applied physiological instrumentation, including the Custance Sudorimeter, which permits exceedingly accurate measurement of levels of sweating. He presented numerous classified papers before scientific and military audiences, and his significant research in physiological heat stress resulted in a score of government reports as well as publishing in scientific journals.
Originally published under the title The Meaning of Sweat as Part of the Curse, Sweat of Thy Brow by Arthur Custance finds that Scripture has little to say about sweating, but what it does say is remarkably significant. This significance is only apparent when one has learned something about the intricacies of the sweating mechanisms physiologically considered.
Hence, most of the paper is occupied with things physiological. Nevertheless, several interesting lines of thought develop in the process with respect to the relationship between man and the animals, and between fear and pain.
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Did Eve Give Adam an Apple?
It is the contention of The Nature of the Forbidden Fruit that Adam and Eve were real people.
They were placed in a Garden which contained a variety of trees providing them with shade and with food.
Presumably their diet consisted not merely of fruits, but also of herbs, berries, and probably nuts.
Two trees were singled out, the one a kind of medicine tree to keep them in perfect health, the
other a forbidden tree by which their obedience and faith was to be tested.
 The forbidden fruit was either a grape or something similar, from which could be derived a poisonous juice whose action on the body was similar to that of alcohol.
It is possible that Adam and Eve might have been unharmed by the forbidden fruit if they had eaten it without hesitation.
The delay, occasioned by their doubts, allowed time for fermentation to begin, illustrating unexpectedly the truth that whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
The poison entered their bodies and made them self-conscious physiologically for the first time. This poison reached the male seed whence it is passed on to all mankind at the time of conception, so that we all die.
But the seed of the woman is not affected by it except through the seed of the man, thereby leaving the way open for the re-appearance by a supernatural generation of One who truly represented in His Body a second Adam.
To make this completely possible, the woman was taken out of the man while Adam was yet unfallen, and her body distinguished from his by this one feature, namely, that she became a vessel capable of carrying the seed from generation to generation without corrupting it.
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How Did Jesus Die?
The paper How Did Jesus Die? by Arthur Custance examines how crucifixion caused Jesus Christ's death.
Crucifixion was a common form of capital punishment from the 6th century BC, especially among the Persians, Egyptians, Carthaginians, and Romans. Constantine the Great out of respect for Jesus Christ abolished the practice in 337 so there can be no empirical evidence of how crucifixion causes death.
It has been impossible for scientists to create a research method that is a realistic, while humane, ethical and painless. As a result, the observations of Dr. Custance are as valid today as when he wrote them.
The final observation of Dr Custance's paper is:
(Jesus Christ) did not "yield up" His spirit as man is called upon to do, but rather dismissed His life voluntarily, at one and the same moment committing His spirit into the Father's hands and passing out of the confines of incarnation into an entirely new level of existence, made finally and fully complete with the resurrection and glorification of His body.
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Creation and the Theory of Relativity
The paper Creation and the Theory of Relativity by Arthur Custance discusses: How much 'time' was taken for creation. Did God work 'slowly' or did He create it all in a moment of time? Would He create something and give it an appearance of age it didn't have? Is eternity an extension of time? Can time and eternity even be compared? And what will heaven be like without time?
On time and creation, Dr Custance writes:
There is something rather frightening in the thought that at one moment nothing whatever existed, and then five minutes later everything existed and that this happened only a few hours before man appeared on the scene. Such a situation has all the features of the "sudden and unexpected", which we usually find disturbing. This is completely contrary to our experience. What we do for others is to a large extent evaluated by them in terms of the time taken, because for us time and
energy are equated. In this context time means forethought, and forethought means a plan, and plans take time. If we discover that no time at all was taken in preparing for us -- which could mean either that there was no planned preparation, or that it was effortless and immediate -- the impression we gain is that our coming meant very little to the One who prepared for it. Perhaps God was pleased to take the long course (or at least to appear to have done so) in order that we might discover how carefully He planned and made preparations for us.
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