Synopses & Reviews
The third of Gerhard Forde's texts published in Lutheran Quarterly Books, "The Preached God" speaks directly to preachers, calling them to deliver the truths of forgiveness, life, and salvation to all who listen. It is an inspiring collection of lectures, essays, and sermons centering on the proclamation of the Gospel in word and sacrament.Closely tying preaching to theology and vice versa, this book argues that preaching itself is a sacrament, and is God's election of the ungodly. This collection provides a window into the way that Forde taught others to do the kind of preaching in which God himself is done to hearers by word and sacrament. If, as Forde claimed, theology is for proclamation, here is a collection of theological thought on preaching that will challenge any to proclaim in faith and conviction.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Taking the risk to proclaim -- God preached and not preached: -- Whatever happened to God?: God not preached -- When the old gods fail: Martin Luther's critique of mysticism -- Karl Barth on the consequences of Lutheran Christology -- Doing the Word: -- Preaching the sacraments -- Public ministry and its limits -- Something to believe: a theological perspective on infant baptism -- The Lord's Supper as the testament of Jesus -- Absolution: systematic considerations -- Called to freedom: -- Speaking the gospel today -- Lutheran faith and American freedom -- Human sexuality and Romans, chapter one -- Fake theology: reflections on antinomianism past and present -- The Lutheran view of sanctification -- Reflections on the Fries-Rahner proposal: thesis I -- Called to freedom -- Sermons: -- The doing of God: John 1:8 and 5:19 -- Until he comes: 1 Corinthians 11:26 -- The interrupted party: Mark 14:25 -- Abstractions aside: Mark 14:25 -- Celebrating the future: Mark 14:25 -- Ascension day: Later! Acts 1:6-9 -- Moses' baccalaureate: Exodus 4:21-26; Psalm 90; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 -- Breaking the conspiracy of silence: Psalm 51:15 -- You are witnesses (Ordination): Luke 24:44-49 -- On preaching good news to the poor: Matthew 11:2-5 -- A voice from the darkness: Mark 1:24 -- A gracious neighbor or a gracious God?: 2 Samuel 24:1-5; Romans 3:9-10; Matthew 5:43-48 -- The laborers in the vineyard: Matthew 20:1-16 -- Yes!: 2 Corinthians 1:17b-19 -- Bibliography of the writings of Gerhard O. Forde