While there is increasing interest in the "theology of the cross," few people have specific knowledge of what makes it different from other kinds of theology. In On Being a Theologian of the Cross, Gerhard O. Forde provides an introduction to this theological perspective through an analysis of Luther's Heidelberg Disputation of 1518, the classic text of the theology of the cross. The book first clarifies the difference between a theology of glory and a theology of the cross and explains how each perspective shapes the very nature of being a theologian. The main body of the book provides...

This book about Luther's theology is written out of a two-fold conviction. First, that many of our problems have arisen because we have not really understood our own traditions, especially in the case of Luther; and second, that there is still a lot of help for us in someone like Luther if we take the trouble to probe beneath the surface. It is an attempt to interpret Luther's theology for our own day. The fundamental theme of the book is the down-to-earth character of Luther's theology. In using this theme, Forde points out that we have failed to understand the basic thrust or direction of...

How can we grow closer to God? Is there a secret to spriritual life? Do we need a second blessing? Is sanctification God's work or ours? Is it instantaneous or is it a process? The nature of Christian spirituality has been widely debated throughout the history of the church. The doctrine of sanctification was one of the main fissures separating Luther from the Catholic Church. Even today different groups of Protestants disagree on how we draw closer to God. What distinguishes the different poisitions and what exactly is at stake in these recurring debates? To answer these questions Donald L....

Description:
""Justification by faith alone"" labels theologically the motor that energizes the Reformation. The dynamic behind the language can still mean renewal for theology and church today, but only if that legal metaphor is not left to stand alone.

Gerhard Forde calls for a recovery of Pauls equally vital metaphor of death-resurrection, which speaks of our dying to the old and being raised to new life in Christ. Justification, he contends, is death and rising, and where these complementary metaphors are allowed to interpret one another the Gospel can once again explode with all its...

The Captivation of the Will provocatively revisits a perennial topic of controversy: human free will. Highly esteemed Lutheran thinker Gerhard O. Forde cuts to the heart of the subject by reexamining the famous debate on the will between Luther and Erasmus.