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Theology Is for Proclamation
"Gerhard Forde makes a dashingly bold move to construct a whole systematic theology on the model of Martin Luther's Bondage of the Will . Forde continues Luther's polemic against every theology that fools with God apart from the Word. . . Forde writes a theology that is good for nothing but proclaiming the living Word of God."
--Carl E. Braaten
Professor of Systematic Theology
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
"Here is a theologian, who believes in proclamation! Working from a distinction between God preached and the hidden God not preached, Gerhard Forde develops a theology for preachers. The thought is edgy; the style is exciting."
--David G. Buttrick
The Divinity School
Vanderbilt University
--Carl E. Braaten
Professor of Systematic Theology
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
"Here is a theologian, who believes in proclamation! Working from a distinction between God preached and the hidden God not preached, Gerhard Forde develops a theology for preachers. The thought is edgy; the style is exciting."
--David G. Buttrick
The Divinity School
Vanderbilt University
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 31, 1990
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83 people want to read
About the author
Gerhard O. Forde
21 books18 followersGerhard O. Forde was an American Lutheran theologian who wrote extensively on the Protestant Reformation and Lutheran Theology and tradition. He was professor of systematic theology at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota and even after Dr. Forde's retirement in 1998 he remained active as a teacher and lecturer for several years.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 30, 2025
This book proclaims (hence the title) the difference between abstract theological construction (good and necessary as that is) and proclamation "for you" (the Word of the sermon and the ordinances).
Forde clarifies that hearing "I love you" is very different from hearing a lecture about the nature of love in general (3). Similarly, there is a big difference between hearing about abstract qualities of God and hearing how God acts toward you in the here and now (14-24). Proclamation tells God's people His Word of "I love you." So, preaching is less about describing the intricacies of the nature of faith and more about eliciting faith through the proclamation of Jesus and presenting Him to us (137-140). Forde also has a masterful section on the beauty of the externality of the sacraments and what they dk for faith, namely, they keep the Word from getting lost in the internal abyss of the self (158-163).
Not being a Lutheran, I can't agree with everything he says. Also, because this book is more an example of proclamation (defined above...about preaching, sin, faith, Christology, the sacraments, etc.) than it is a systematic theology, I sometimes felt like I didn't have the background theological grounding or concepts for what he said. Chs. 2 and 4 could also probably be skipped. Finally, I was intrigued by some of the sources he cited, wondering how much he has been influenced by theologians I definitely wouldn't recommend (Moltmann, etc.)
But, with those qualifications, it was a great book and had several really good sections.
Forde clarifies that hearing "I love you" is very different from hearing a lecture about the nature of love in general (3). Similarly, there is a big difference between hearing about abstract qualities of God and hearing how God acts toward you in the here and now (14-24). Proclamation tells God's people His Word of "I love you." So, preaching is less about describing the intricacies of the nature of faith and more about eliciting faith through the proclamation of Jesus and presenting Him to us (137-140). Forde also has a masterful section on the beauty of the externality of the sacraments and what they dk for faith, namely, they keep the Word from getting lost in the internal abyss of the self (158-163).
Not being a Lutheran, I can't agree with everything he says. Also, because this book is more an example of proclamation (defined above...about preaching, sin, faith, Christology, the sacraments, etc.) than it is a systematic theology, I sometimes felt like I didn't have the background theological grounding or concepts for what he said. Chs. 2 and 4 could also probably be skipped. Finally, I was intrigued by some of the sources he cited, wondering how much he has been influenced by theologians I definitely wouldn't recommend (Moltmann, etc.)
But, with those qualifications, it was a great book and had several really good sections.
January 30, 2020
It's a good book that powerfully makes the case for the necessary relation between theology and proclamation -- i.e. the need to declare the gospel truths as having direct meaning for the hearing faithful. He applies critiques to pop religion from both the left and the right, and makes his arguments (for the most part) from a standpoint of Lutheran orthodoxy. There are a few places where he concedes too much to higher criticism, and the book can be a stretch if you're not a Lutheran -- and he makes sharp attacks on any doctrine of free will. But for the most part his content is compelling even for those of us who are Arminian. The book has a lot of quotables about faith, life, worship, doctrine, proclamation, the role of the proclaimer, and hearing.
March 2, 2023
This was the first homiletics book I had to read in seminary, and it was excellent. Forde’s systematic theology is brilliant and still applicable in our time as it challenges today’s postmodern conventions, especially those of the evangelical persuasion. His position can be summarised with his three basic premises: “getting God off our backs,” God preached vs. God not preached, and doing the text to the hearers. Overall, the goal of preaching is the proclamation of the forgiveness of sins.
In “getting God off our backs,” the atheist will get rid of God entirely whereas the Christian preacher will try to make God “nice” rather than maintaining the tensions within Scripture. This happens with theodicy, for example, which literally means “God justify,” making it the attempt to justify God. When dealing with the problem of suffering, the preacher will make God appear nicer instead of maintaining the scriptural tension that He does permit it for His multiple purposes we cannot fathom. The preacher does not try to get God off our backs through either of those methods.
The preacher should preach God preached (Deus revelatus) instead of God not preached (Deus absconditus). In short, this means we should preach what the Scriptures tell us about God rather than guesswork—fecklessly trying to peer behind the curtain of God’s mind—that the Scriptures do not tell us (aka, being a theologian of the cross rather than a theologian of glory).
Lastly, “doing the text to the hearers” is to get to the present tense of “your sins are forgiven.” Or as Lutheran preachers often say today, “Christ for you.” The preacher’s objective is not to make the text relevant (it already is!) but to proclaim God’s story therein so that it changes our story. Whatever the original hearers experienced in the text, the preacher brings that into the present reality of his hearers through Law & Gospel. This is the final aim of good preaching: proclaiming the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ through His means of grace, the Word and Sacraments.
In “getting God off our backs,” the atheist will get rid of God entirely whereas the Christian preacher will try to make God “nice” rather than maintaining the tensions within Scripture. This happens with theodicy, for example, which literally means “God justify,” making it the attempt to justify God. When dealing with the problem of suffering, the preacher will make God appear nicer instead of maintaining the scriptural tension that He does permit it for His multiple purposes we cannot fathom. The preacher does not try to get God off our backs through either of those methods.
The preacher should preach God preached (Deus revelatus) instead of God not preached (Deus absconditus). In short, this means we should preach what the Scriptures tell us about God rather than guesswork—fecklessly trying to peer behind the curtain of God’s mind—that the Scriptures do not tell us (aka, being a theologian of the cross rather than a theologian of glory).
Lastly, “doing the text to the hearers” is to get to the present tense of “your sins are forgiven.” Or as Lutheran preachers often say today, “Christ for you.” The preacher’s objective is not to make the text relevant (it already is!) but to proclaim God’s story therein so that it changes our story. Whatever the original hearers experienced in the text, the preacher brings that into the present reality of his hearers through Law & Gospel. This is the final aim of good preaching: proclaiming the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ through His means of grace, the Word and Sacraments.
October 16, 2019
I thought it was quite good. I find his encouragement to keep law as law and God as God as well as hidden God and revealed God stuff helpful. But I wasn't convinced that the need for the majority of the material though I found it good in most ways, as necessary as he was making it seem. but in fear of lacking understanding I would like to read some works opposing forde and forde-ism as is always wise when dealing with controversial thought
November 8, 2022
Wild and wacky! The best parts were when he was actually talking about proclamation. I enjoyed the bits on sacraments and Deus Abscondit as well, but thought his theology of atonement was pretty weak. Most of the material just seemed unnecessary for his main point and I wish he'd spent more time expounding what proclamation itself actually looks like and does.
September 10, 2012
Forde���s book is helpful in distinguishing the difference between primary discourse and secondary discourse. Simply put, secondary discourse is dialogue or words about God and primary discourse is the direct declaration of the Word of God; words from God.
According to Forde, ���All too often what happens is that the systematic theology short-circuits the process and usurps the place of proclamation. The secondary discourse about love displaces the ���I love you.������ Rather than systematic theology displacing proclamation, theology serves and makes the move towards proclamation inescapable.
Forde also spends time discussing the upward fall. Mankind���s fall into sin was not downward but upward. It is upward due to mankind���s aspiration and rebellion of wanting to be God. This was the temptation by the serpent in the garden. The understanding of an upward fall as well as the binding implications of original sin creates an environment where proclamation is necessary. One cannot simply appeal to the old nature, which is entrenched in climbing the spiritual ladder, by simple secondary discourse. One cannot reason with the old nature through secondary discourse expecting the sinful nature to say, ���Yes, I now agree with your secondary discourse reasoning.��� Rather the upward fall and the understanding of the bound will shape us towards the idea of proclamation��� primary discourse.
In primary discourse proclamation the preacher proclaims the text in a way that the text does to the hearer what it did to the original hearer. In other words, Forde states, ���That is to say, proclamation cannot end merely in an allegorical explaining of the text, however clever, so as to provide the hearer with options. Just as in Christology we were impelled to move from the language of being to the language of doing, so also the proclamation must move from explaining to doing the text. The proclaimer should attempt to do once again in the living present what the text once did and so authorizes doing again.��� In other words when proclaiming the text in a primary discourse manner, the message of the text is to do what it did to the original hearers rather than merely explaining the text.
Finally, Forde does an excellent job of framing primary discourse within or alongside the sacraments. The sacraments of baptism and communion are means of grace in which God delivers grace to sinful mankind. The sacraments are external and objective. When proclamation is divorced or distanced from the sacraments the Word will lose out as it is consumed by the spirit of Pelagius and brought inward towards the depths of the depraved self. Forde states, ���Without sacramental character, the Word degenerates into information about which the continuously existing old being is supposed to do something.��� This is the importance of unity between the Proclaimed Word and the Sacraments. Both are external and both pour Christ into the recipients. The proclaimed Word not only informs but it also gives! The proclaimed Word must be in unity to the sacraments, for the proclaimed Word to lose this unity would be to reduce it to secondary discourse and then place demands upon the old Adam; demands that the old Adam can���t and won���t follow through with.
According to Forde, ���All too often what happens is that the systematic theology short-circuits the process and usurps the place of proclamation. The secondary discourse about love displaces the ���I love you.������ Rather than systematic theology displacing proclamation, theology serves and makes the move towards proclamation inescapable.
Forde also spends time discussing the upward fall. Mankind���s fall into sin was not downward but upward. It is upward due to mankind���s aspiration and rebellion of wanting to be God. This was the temptation by the serpent in the garden. The understanding of an upward fall as well as the binding implications of original sin creates an environment where proclamation is necessary. One cannot simply appeal to the old nature, which is entrenched in climbing the spiritual ladder, by simple secondary discourse. One cannot reason with the old nature through secondary discourse expecting the sinful nature to say, ���Yes, I now agree with your secondary discourse reasoning.��� Rather the upward fall and the understanding of the bound will shape us towards the idea of proclamation��� primary discourse.
In primary discourse proclamation the preacher proclaims the text in a way that the text does to the hearer what it did to the original hearer. In other words, Forde states, ���That is to say, proclamation cannot end merely in an allegorical explaining of the text, however clever, so as to provide the hearer with options. Just as in Christology we were impelled to move from the language of being to the language of doing, so also the proclamation must move from explaining to doing the text. The proclaimer should attempt to do once again in the living present what the text once did and so authorizes doing again.��� In other words when proclaiming the text in a primary discourse manner, the message of the text is to do what it did to the original hearers rather than merely explaining the text.
Finally, Forde does an excellent job of framing primary discourse within or alongside the sacraments. The sacraments of baptism and communion are means of grace in which God delivers grace to sinful mankind. The sacraments are external and objective. When proclamation is divorced or distanced from the sacraments the Word will lose out as it is consumed by the spirit of Pelagius and brought inward towards the depths of the depraved self. Forde states, ���Without sacramental character, the Word degenerates into information about which the continuously existing old being is supposed to do something.��� This is the importance of unity between the Proclaimed Word and the Sacraments. Both are external and both pour Christ into the recipients. The proclaimed Word not only informs but it also gives! The proclaimed Word must be in unity to the sacraments, for the proclaimed Word to lose this unity would be to reduce it to secondary discourse and then place demands upon the old Adam; demands that the old Adam can���t and won���t follow through with.
March 4, 2011
Forde’s book is helpful in distinguishing the difference between primary discourse and secondary discourse. Simply put, secondary discourse is dialogue or words about God and primary discourse is the direct declaration of the Word of God; words from God.
According to Forde, “All too often what happens is that the systematic theology short-circuits the process and usurps the place of proclamation. The secondary discourse about love displaces the ‘I love you.’” Rather than systematic theology displacing proclamation, theology serves and makes the move towards proclamation inescapable.
Forde also spends time discussing the upward fall. Mankind’s fall into sin was not downward but upward. It is upward due to mankind’s aspiration and rebellion of wanting to be God. This was the temptation by the serpent in the garden. The understanding of an upward fall as well as the binding implications of original sin creates an environment where proclamation is necessary. One cannot simply appeal to the old nature, which is entrenched in climbing the spiritual ladder, by simple secondary discourse. One cannot reason with the old nature through secondary discourse expecting the sinful nature to say, “Yes, I now agree with your secondary discourse reasoning.” Rather the upward fall and the understanding of the bound will shape us towards the idea of proclamation… primary discourse.
In primary discourse proclamation the preacher proclaims the text in a way that the text does to the hearer what it did to the original hearer. In other words, Forde states, “That is to say, proclamation cannot end merely in an allegorical explaining of the text, however clever, so as to provide the hearer with options. Just as in Christology we were impelled to move from the language of being to the language of doing, so also the proclamation must move from explaining to doing the text. The proclaimer should attempt to do once again in the living present what the text once did and so authorizes doing again.” In other words when proclaiming the text in a primary discourse manner, the message of the text is to do what it did to the original hearers rather than merely explaining the text.
Finally, Forde does an excellent job of framing primary discourse within or alongside the sacraments. The sacraments of baptism and communion are means of grace in which God delivers grace to sinful mankind. The sacraments are external and objective. When proclamation is divorced or distanced from the sacraments the Word will lose out as it is consumed by the spirit of Pelagius and brought inward towards the depths of the depraved self. Forde states, “Without sacramental character, the Word degenerates into information about which the continuously existing old being is supposed to do something.” This is the importance of unity between the Proclaimed Word and the Sacraments. Both are external and both pour Christ into the recipients. The proclaimed Word not only informs but it also gives! The proclaimed Word must be in unity to the sacraments, for the proclaimed Word to lose this unity would be to reduce it to secondary discourse and then place demands upon the old Adam; demands that the old Adam can’t and won’t follow through with.
According to Forde, “All too often what happens is that the systematic theology short-circuits the process and usurps the place of proclamation. The secondary discourse about love displaces the ‘I love you.’” Rather than systematic theology displacing proclamation, theology serves and makes the move towards proclamation inescapable.
Forde also spends time discussing the upward fall. Mankind’s fall into sin was not downward but upward. It is upward due to mankind’s aspiration and rebellion of wanting to be God. This was the temptation by the serpent in the garden. The understanding of an upward fall as well as the binding implications of original sin creates an environment where proclamation is necessary. One cannot simply appeal to the old nature, which is entrenched in climbing the spiritual ladder, by simple secondary discourse. One cannot reason with the old nature through secondary discourse expecting the sinful nature to say, “Yes, I now agree with your secondary discourse reasoning.” Rather the upward fall and the understanding of the bound will shape us towards the idea of proclamation… primary discourse.
In primary discourse proclamation the preacher proclaims the text in a way that the text does to the hearer what it did to the original hearer. In other words, Forde states, “That is to say, proclamation cannot end merely in an allegorical explaining of the text, however clever, so as to provide the hearer with options. Just as in Christology we were impelled to move from the language of being to the language of doing, so also the proclamation must move from explaining to doing the text. The proclaimer should attempt to do once again in the living present what the text once did and so authorizes doing again.” In other words when proclaiming the text in a primary discourse manner, the message of the text is to do what it did to the original hearers rather than merely explaining the text.
Finally, Forde does an excellent job of framing primary discourse within or alongside the sacraments. The sacraments of baptism and communion are means of grace in which God delivers grace to sinful mankind. The sacraments are external and objective. When proclamation is divorced or distanced from the sacraments the Word will lose out as it is consumed by the spirit of Pelagius and brought inward towards the depths of the depraved self. Forde states, “Without sacramental character, the Word degenerates into information about which the continuously existing old being is supposed to do something.” This is the importance of unity between the Proclaimed Word and the Sacraments. Both are external and both pour Christ into the recipients. The proclaimed Word not only informs but it also gives! The proclaimed Word must be in unity to the sacraments, for the proclaimed Word to lose this unity would be to reduce it to secondary discourse and then place demands upon the old Adam; demands that the old Adam can’t and won’t follow through with.
January 21, 2010
This would be a 5 except the language is a little difficult. The concepts and content is fantastic.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews