Gerhard O. Forde (1927-2005)

Luther Seminary gives thanks for the witness and wisdom of Professor Emeritus Gerhard O. Forde, who died Aug. 9, 2005. For almost 40 years he shared his passion for the Reformation with generations of pastors and lay leaders. "I have tried through the years to present the integrity and truth of the tradition, especially as found in Martin Luther, in a way that is interesting, compelling and exciting," he said at his retirement in 1998.

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.

His teaching career began at St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn., where he was instructor in religion in 1955-56.

He received the B.A. degree from Luther College in 1950, attended the University of Wisconsin 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).

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 Captivation of the Will: Luther vs. Erasmus on Freedom and Bondage (Lutheran Quarterly Books, 2004)
• A more radical Gospel : essays on eschatology, authority, atonement, and ecumenism (Eerdmans, 2004); 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.