Gerhard Forde

Gerhard O. Forde (1927 – August 9, 2005) was an American Lutheran theologian who has written extensively on the Protestant Reformation and Lutheran Theology and tradition. He was raised near Starbuck, Minnesota. He received the B.A. degree from Luther College in 1950, attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison for one year, and then earned the B.Th degree from Luther Seminary in 1955. He earned the Th.D. degree from Harvard Divinity School in 1967. Forde also studied at Tubingen University and was the Lutheran tutor at Mansfield College, Oxford University, 1968-70. He also spent sabbatical years at Harvard (1972-73), Strasbourg (1979-80), and the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research, St. John's University, Collegeville, Minn. (1988). He was a pastor in the American Lutheran Church and was a rostered pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America after its founding.

Forde's teaching career began at St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn., where he was instructor in religion in 1955-56. Gerhard Forde joined the Luther Seminary faculty as lecturer in church history in 1959-61. After moving to Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, as assistant professor of religion in 1961-63, he returned to the seminary as instructor in 1964 and was promoted to professor ten years later. Even after Dr. Forde's retirement in 1998 he remained active as a teacher and lecturer for several years.

A member of the American Academy of Religion, Forde had also been active as a member of the board of dialog, A Journal of Theology; the Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue; the commission for the new Lutheran Church; and the editorial board of The Lutheran Quarterly, new series.

His publications include:

*"The Preached God: Proclamation in Word and Sacrament" (2007) Lutheran Quarterly Books
*"The Captivation of the Will: Luther vs. Erasmus on Freedom and Bondage" (2004) Lutheran Quarterly Books
*"A More Radical Gospel : Essays on Eschatology, Authority, Atonement, and Ecumenism" (2004)Eerdmans; edited by Mark C. Mattes, and Steven D. Paulson.
*"On Being a Theologian of the Cross: Reflections on Luther's Heidelberg Disputation, 1518" (1997)
*"Theology Is for Proclamation" (1990)
*"Forensic Justification and Law in Lutheran Theology, Justification by Faith, Lutherans and Catholics in dialogue VI" (1985)
*"When the Old Gods Fail, Piety, Politics and Ethics, Reformation Studies in Honor of George Wolfgang Forell" (1984)
*"The Work of Christ and "Christian Life," Christian Dogmatics" (1984)
*"Justification by Faith: A Matter of Death and Life" (1982)
*"Where God Meets Man" (1972)
*"The Law Gospel Debate" (1969)

A festschrift, By Faith Alone: Essays on Justification in Honor of Gerhard O. Forde, (Eerdmans, 2004) has also been published.